Words of wisdom from Fred Eckhardt.
Craft brewery exceptionalism . . . and reality
In “Craft: An Argument,” Pete Brown writes, “(Craft) isn’t just about the things we make; it’s about the kind of people we are. And for this, we get to an unspoken assumption we may be reluctant to admit even to ourselves; we believe that makers and buyers of craft products are morally superior to other people.”
When will people quit believing that?
The Kansas City Star dug deep into what has been going on for years at Boulevard Brewing for years but remained mostly secret outside the brewery doors until last week. The headline — Boulevard leaders knew of sexual harassment but didn’t stop it. ‘They were all aware’ — only hints at how bad things were.
To cut to the chase, “Sixteen former and current Boulevard employees interviewed by The Star said an intense and insular culture helped to breed a toxic workplace that is especially unsafe for women — ranging from a ‘boys’ club’ atmosphere to gender discrimination to sexual harassment and assault.”
Notice the difference as this story unfolded between when women were speaking and when men did. Patt Mullin, digital marketing director, Tuesday tweeted: “Behind almost every company crisis or controversy are a lot of innocent people within who are hurting, frustrated, trying their best to do right and just LIVE. Remember those people.”
Another Friday, another story about Covid-19 and the mystery of smell
I often use this illustration when I am speaking to a group about hops and aroma. I also posted it here a few years ago. I call it “your brain on hops.”
Following up on last week’s post about Covid-19, loss of smell and catty IPAs there is this very long article from The New York Times Magazine. I don’t know how many words there are in the story, but it takes 50 minutes to listen to it.
It turns out that examining the impact of Covid-19 on aroma may help us understand both better. All the attention focused on anosmia, and parosmia, that results from Covid-19 has made more people appreciate the sense of smell. It has gone from a “bonus sense” to a dominant one.
Or as Brooke Jarvis writes: “Smell is a startling superpower. You can walk through someone’s front door and instantly know that she recently made popcorn. Drive down the street and somehow sense that the neighbors are barbecuing. Intuit, just as a side effect of breathing a bit of air, that this sweater has been worn but that one hasn’t, that it’s going to start raining soon, that the grass was trimmed a few hours back. If you weren’t used to it, it would seem like witchcraft.”
And I’ll be adapting these thoughts for my next presentation: “Genetics plus life experience, the natural attrition and regrowth of your epithelium (it may be that the more you smell an odor, the more receptors you develop that can perceive it), mean that 30 percent of your receptors may be different from those of the person next to you. Culture, too, plays a role: Whether you think lemon smells ‘clean’ or not may depend on whether you grew up associating it with cleaning products or with hot, overripe citrus groves.”
I’ve been busy with hop-related matters this week. As a consequence I’ve noticed more than one brewer listing “hand-selected hops” in their beers. “Nose-selected” sounds awfully strange, but it would be more accurate.
Drunk every day in California since 1851
In case you missed it, Anchor Brewing unveiled new labels this week. Many words have been spilled analyzing the new look, what this means, Whether it was a good idea, and so on. I will not be adding any.
Instead, here are two of six frames from a tri-fold brochure the brewery produced in the 1970s. Beer should be fun. This is.
Lagers, lifestyles and F. Scott Fitzgerald
Two stories, both rather long, to be considered in tandem:
Why Is Screaming Eagle’s Winemaker Making $90 6-Packs of Lager?
The headline nicely summarizes a 2,700-plus-word tale. After signaling he might not think much of the story on Twitter, Jeff Alworth followed with a blog post making that real clear. Paul Jones at Cloudwater Brew and Chris Lohring at Notch Brewing were equally unimpressed. But nobody is denying that this is a story about lifestyle as much as beer.
No Bad Days — Island Brands Wants to Cash in on “Cool Vibes” to Challenge Michelob Ultra, Corona
Did somebody say lifestyle? “[The founders] say they want their beer to function as a lifestyle brand, citing the pricey outdoor gear company Yeti as a successful example. The lifestyle Island is targeting is coastal, active, fitness- and sports-oriented; the brewery’s ambassadors—who are compensated via discounts and free beer—include wind surfers, kayakers, and Crossfit influencers.”
Make no mistake, authentic/traditional/craft beer is also about lifestyle. Thinking about that I tracked down a conversation I had with Saint Arnold Brewing founder Brock Wagner in 2003.
“We’re trying to add 10 customers at a time. The big brewers are trying to add a million. We’re in different businesses,” he said. “We both make something called beer, but they don’t really taste much alike. The big brewers are of a completely different mindset. A-B has more in common with Coca-Cola than they do with us. That’s not to say their beer is bad. It’s just different from what we make. If you look at their advertising you see they are trying to sell lifestyle.”
I asked him what Saint Arnold was selling.