From All About Beer (and to quote myself), Vince Cottone did not envision in 1984 “that his terminology would work its way so deeply into American beer culture, that craft beer would be used both as a marketing term and an anti-marketing term, or that some would still embrace at least parts of his rather specific definition, and others would find their own entirely different one.”
Oh, and spread around the world.
h/T @BarMas
Some short items that don’t fit neatly into Monday beer links or that, oops, I overlooked.
Can Craft Beer Truly Express a Sense of Place?
Of course the answer it yes. That doesn’t mean I expect every beer will, or even that I think it should. Nonetheless, I’m delighted to see more people joing the conversation. As a whimsical aside, the other day the Wall Street Journal reported that Fox will begin selling Duff beer. And the thought occurred to me that if they are going to claim it tastes of Springfield, The Simpsons will finally have to reveal where Springfield actually is located. [Via Punch}
What do protected origin labels mean to consumers?
There are 1,310 Protected Order of Designation, Protected Geographical Indication, and Traditional Specialty Guaranteed products in EU. No surprise the designations are turning into marketing tools. [Via Food Navigator]
“Faux craft” – a good thing?
Not a new question, but it provoked interesting comments, including this from StringersBeer: “Choice has to be about more than what yr beverage is flavoured with, or what it wears on the label. A choice of who we get to deal with – of what kind of organisations, with what ethos – that’s a good thing.” Indeed. You are not required to care if a beer is locally brewed or if it comes from a conglomorate, but you should be allowed to. [Via Stonch’s Beer Blog]
Critical Drinking with Dave Engbers of Founders Brewing Co.
A long one, so I suggest Pocket-ing it. Interesting fact: they’ve not got 4,700 bourbon barrels filled with various beers deep inside an old gypsum mine that has been turned into a storage facility (for multiple Grand Rapids businesses). And to return to a question that runs through all of the stories above, Engbers says, “The biggest challenge our sales crew has is ‘local.'” That doesn’t mean that you can taste local, but it sure indicates it matters. [Via Good Beer Hunting]
20 tradicních ceských hospod, kde se psala historie. Basically “20 traditional Czech pubs with history.” It is in Czech, but Google will volunteer to translate you. Check out the stuff on the wall at Klášterní pivovar Strahov (Praha). [h/T Max Bahnson]
Israeli Craft Beer.
Hebrew has no word for “brewery.” Who knew? Anyway, “There is something mystical about walking through the market after hours, when it is closed and the piles of post-market trash are being carried away, the yelling has stopped, the crowds are gone, and turning the corner into a side street you find Beer Bazaar open.” [Via Make Mine Potato]
Nobody cheers for the guy who brings a watermelon wheat beer. #ThisBudsForYou pic.twitter.com/4OZ7vEgcwj
— Budweiser (@Budweiser) July 10, 2015
When this showed up on my Twitter feed Friday I went looking for a photo (below) taken at the Oregon Brewers Festival last year. It shows the line for Hell or High Water Watermelon Wheat brewed by 21st Amendment. (Taking a picture of a line at a beer festival is a losing proposition. Too hard to show. But I wanted to send it to Shaun O’Sullivan, the 21st Amendment brewmaster, who didn’t stick around for the Saturday session. So I put my glass down, took the photo and sent it to him via a DM. When I turned around I discovered somebody had stolen my glass. Who the heck steals a glass at a beer festival?)
By the time I found the photo it was apparent how ill advised the Budweiser tweet was. Click on the date (or here) and you will see the responses just keep coming.
The Good, the Bad & the Murky — Brew Britannia: One Year On.
Boak & Bailey are taking off the rest of July after posting this epic (11,000 words) look at the British beer world since their wonderful book, “Brew Britannia,” came out last year. If you find sentences like this seductive (I do) you need to set aside some time: “When we can buy a bottle of London murky brewed in Berlin, Barcelona or San Diego, then we’ll know for sure it has become ‘a thing’, as London porter did centuries before.” [Via Boak & Baley’s Beer Blog]
Toward sincere beer.
I wish I’d written this. The first chapter of the book that was going to be called “Indigenous Beer” and now might be called “Brewing Local” will be about place and, ahem, terroir. That means trying to sort out post-industrial, postmodern, and post-Fordist beer. This really smart writing from Joe Stange increases the chance I might make sense. [Via DRAFT]
It was going to be a long night at U Fleku…
Here’s the first chapter of a beer book “that would fuse travel, history and beer” Adrian Tierney-Jones was thinking he’d like to write. The book is on hold for now, and it might take on a radically different form should it spring back to life, so Tierney-Jones writes we should consider this a first draft. In any event, another one for Pocket. [Via Called to the Bar]
The story behind Not Your Father’s Root Beer.
Geez, this alcoholic beverage sure pisses off some people on my Twitter feed. I’ve succeeded so far in paying a minimum of attention, but this story from Don Russell is too interesting to pass on. [Via Joe Sixpack]
Is New York in Danger of Losing Its Most Interesting Beer Boutiques?
If so, why? [Via Grub Street]
The Haight.
Ron Pattinson was in California last month, among other things selling what he calls his “proper” book— “Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beer.” But he has many more to choose from. Reading about adventures in and about The Haight reminded me of some of the travel-oriented ones, of which “Trips (South)” is my favorite. [Via Shut Up About Barclay Perkins]
Seventeen Go To Berlin And Have A Really Good Time.
Road trip. [Via Total Ales]
Earlier today Brewers Association economist Bart Watson tweeted this:
“Small breweries are small. Looking at CA 2014 data: Breweries < 100 bbls = 144. 100 < breweries < 1,000 = 209. Breweries > 1,000 = only 122.”
If you break down the percentages that’s 30% under 100 barrels, 44% between 100 and 1,000, and 26% at 1,000 or more.
What does this mean? I don’t know. I’m not sure how much context taking a look at numbers from way back adds, but since I totaled them up . . .
In 1879 California had 195 brewers, with 24 selling less than 100 barrels, 118 between 100 and 1,000, and 53 more than 1,000. The percentages: 12%, 61%, 27%.
Of course, brewing was pretty new in California, less than 30 years old. New York breweries went much further back and there were more of them than in any other state.
So New York in 1879: 30 breweries under 100 barrels, 116 between 100 and 1,000, 219 above 1,000. That’s 60% of the breweries selling more than 1,000 barrels and almost 100 more than California today. Only 8% of New York breweries made less than 100 barrels, 32% between 100 and 1,000.
Could food trucks make that much difference?