HOT TRUB/BEER BASICS.COM
A newsletter of special interest to brewers,
members of the brewing community, chefs,
restaurateurs,
and members of the media that cover the beverage
alcohol business.
Vol. 2 No. 38 --- 3 October 2001
Published by: Peter LaFrance peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
Journalist, covering the beverage
alcohol industry since 1985.
Author of:
Beer Basics (ISBN 0-471-11936-9)
Cooking & Eating with Beer (ISBN
0-471-31879-5)
visit www.beerbasics.com
If you wish to be dropped from this list
please respond to this posting to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
include the word remove in
the Subject: line.
(The subscriber list is the sole property of the
publisher and will not be sold, given or otherwise distributed.)
===============================================
Greetings,
Welcome to Hot
Trub/Beer Basics.com ...
LATEST NEWS:
At least three
breaking stories affecting the beer industry, with probable repercussions
in the food service industry.
ASK THE PRESS:
This is a page that
reports the answers I receive when I ask members of the media a question I feel
has to be asked. All responses are presented as received.
PROMOTIONS
- EVENTS - DINNERS - From this issue through one calendar year. (All are
invited to send events to be included: date, event name, brief description,
contact name & phone/web address.)
This week I welcome Claire Zuckerman
as editor,
and Marty Jones as contribution
editor.
I invite your
comment and criticism.
Cheers!
Peter LaFrance
===================================
LATEST NEWS:
===================================
The 20th GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL - Nuts & Bolts
By Marty Jones
This year’s 20th
anniversary showing of the Great American Beer Festival continued the GABF’s
run as the nation’s largest and best beer festival. Held September 27-29 in
Denver, Colorado, the event featured 350 breweries serving 1,488 different
beers to approximately 20,000 folks.
Behind the
scenes, the festival’s Professional Blind Taste Testing and its 98 judges
assessed 1,918 beers in 55 categories, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals
to the best three beers in each division.
This year’s GABF
attendance totals (not fully tallied at press time) were a slight drop from
last year’s figures, festival director Nancy Johnson reports. She attributes
the drop to one obvious factor. “September 11,” Johnson says. “We definitely
felt a trickle-down effect from the attacks, but overall we’re pleased with the
turnout.”
For consumers on
hand at GABF 2001 (which took place inside Denver’s Colorado Convention Center)
the decrease in attendees had its benefits. Smaller crowds made for easier
access to the event’s array of the nation’s best beers, all conveniently
gathered in one place. The benefits of that gathering were enhanced by the
GABF’s one-ounce beer serving requirement, which encouraged variety tasting
over volume drinking. (Lines outside the festival’s restrooms were also
noticeably shorter this year.)
Fort Collins,
Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing was the biggest winner among industry attendees,
claiming the award for Mid-sized Brewery of the Year for the second year in a
row. New Belgium secured the honor by
winning four medals, two in the Belgian-style ale bracket. Anheuser-Busch won
the title for Large Brewery of the year, while Snake River Brewing Company
earned honors for Small Brewing Company of the Year.
Brewers in the
state of California won the state-vs.-state competition by picking up 23
medals, including 10 golds. Colorado finished second with 21 medals; Oregon’s
brewers claimed 15 medals. For a complete list of GABF winners, visit http://www.aob.org/GABF/01winners.htm .
Next year’s
Great American Beer Festival is scheduled for October 4-6 and will
again take place in the Colorado Convention Center, in Denver.
===============================================================
GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL OBSERVATIONS
By
Marty Jones
In 1982, Charlie
Papazian’s newly formed Association of Brewers hosted its first Great American
Beer Festival in a Boulder, Colorado hotel. Twenty-two breweries served forty
different beers to a crowd of 800 beer nuts, in a cheekily titled event that
hardly lived up to its name. Twenty years later, the Great American Beer
Festival is an accurate moniker for the nation’s greatest beer festival.
GABF 2001
featured a whooping selection of 1,488 beers from 350 brewers, an All-American
beer list that attracted visitors from around the world and the United States.
(Festival staffers reported that the terrorist attacks of September 11 led to a
decrease in local GABF visitors. But many foreign beer fiends carried out their
plans to attend this year’s event.)
The GABF’s
lengthy roster of breweries was proof of the stability of the craft beer
industry. Long-lived craft pioneers such as Anchor, Boulder/Rockies, Coors,
Leinenkugel and Sierra Nevada marked their own 20th anniversaries at
the festival. Many other breweries were attending for the tenth or fifteenth
time, beating the predictions of a few years ago that forecast the craft industry’s
demise. (Fifty and one-hundred percent growth rates can’t last forever, in beer
or technology circles.)
The festival’s
staggering beer selection also served as evidence of a healthy U.S. craft
trade. Hundreds of small and medium-sized breweries padded their beer lineups
with ambitious, gonzo beers. Genre-bending classics from the nation’s veteran
brewers were joined by equally heady offerings from Dogfish Head, Pizza
Port, New Glarus and others. Many of these
beers sported kitchen-sink ingredient lists and assertive flavors that upheld
the pioneering spirit of the early micro movement.
Equally
encouraging were palate-thrilling beers from some of the nation’s brewpubs. A
rash of medals won by Rock Bottom and Big Horn outlets proved that chain brews
aren’t always shackled, dumbed-down beers aimed at the masses. The fifteen
keenly crafted-brews from Iron Hill (a small East Coast chain of brewpubs) made
for one of the GABF’s best single-source beer lists in years.
Not that the
festival was without shortcomings. The demographics of the GABF audience
revealed the craft beer market’s continuing inability to attract minorities to
its ranks. A few of the craft segment’s former leaders (Pete’s Brewing, for
example) hosted crowds lured more by free schwag and marketing campaigns than
memorable beers.
In the marketing
realm, the unofficial “Worst of Show” award went to the Josef Bierbitzch
company. To sell its forgettable lager,
the company employed posters of a model stepping out of her panties and a back-story
“legend” about the company’s namesake. The alleged founder’s surname appeared
in ads for T-shirts bearing such offensive slogans as “Swallow Bitzch” and “Get
Me Another Bierbitzch”. At least for
this firm, sex in advertising has decayed into sexism in advertising. Pathetic.
Granted, such
promotional sins (and a number of poorly executed beers among the GABF’s
choices) couldn’t dim the mood. The festival’s sense of good cheer was apparent
in pairs of strangers having deep discussions of the intricacies of various
beers, and beer-line collisions followed by smiles and “no problem” pats on the
back. That mood and the positive vibe among the brewing ranks made for a nice
escape from the nation’s recent heartbreaks.
It served as a beer-blessed addition to the patriotism flowing over post-attack
America.
=================================================
New Belgium Brewing Co. Mines Bronze and Gold at GABF
2001
1
October 2001
(Fort
Collins, CO.) New Belgium Brewing Company was named Mid-Size Brewery of the
Year for the second year running at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver,
Colorado, last week. Jeff Lebesch took Mid-Size Brewmaster of the Year for the
second consecutive year as well.
In
addition to these honors, the Fort Collins brewery took home two gold and two
bronze medals. Trippel and Abbey garnered gold and bronze medals in
the Belgian Style Ale category respectively. Blue Paddle Pilsener won a bronze medal in the German Style
Pilsener competition. La Folie, a
wood-conditioned sour brown aged one to three years in French Oak, won gold in
the Belgian and French Style Specialty category.
“For
La Folie to win in such a competitive category was very rewarding for me,” said
New Belgium brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert. “Also, for Blue Paddle to win for a
second year now is nice because it is a challenging beer to make.”
Bouckaert
was also pleased at how Trippel performed.
“Now
that Trippel has won a gold over (bronze medal winner) Abbey,” Bouckaert
quipped, “maybe we need to start working more on Abbey?”
Ironically,
the beer New Belgium is best known for, Fat
Tire Amber Ale, was not even entered in the GABF.
“As a
Belgian-style amber, there really is no GABF category for Fat Tire,” Marketing
Director Greg Owsley commented. “We could put it up against Abbey and Trippel,
but then we’re competing against ourselves.”
For
further information please contact:
Bryan
Simpson
Media
Liaison
970-221-0524
New
Belgium Brewing Company
500
Linden St.
Fort
Collins, CO. 80524
==================================================
HEARTLAND
CHOPHOUSE BENIFIT
For those of you in the NYC
area…
Ale
Street News needs you to help put your shoulder to
the wheel of support for the families of the World
Trade Center tragedies. We are holding a fundraiser at
the Heartland Chop House & Brewery Tuesday, October 9,
from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. All Heartland Brews including
Seasonals, Selections of Belgian and European Beers
and passed Hors d'oeuvres are included in the $30
donation. 100% of all proceeds will be donated to The
September 11 Fund and/or The Twin Towers Fund.
Pledge your support and RSVP to Heartland Chophouse:
646-366-0235 or Ale Street News 800-351-2537.
=================================================
ASK THE PRESS:
(Edited for spelling, sometimes. Essential response
is unedited.)
Greetings fellow journalist,
Two questions - the first is for
the record and the second is a personal one and responses will be off the
record.
However, I will include the spirit
of those answers in my closing editorial comments.
1) How will the ripple effect of the
economic situation effect the brewing industry?
2) Writing about the beverage and
food industry has been my profession for over a decade.
As I make my phone calls now, and
send my email messages,
the importance of the work seems
trite when placed in context with "hard news."
Nevertheless I sit here and keep
doing it.
Without a water-cooler to gather at
it is not easy to keep perspective.
Any of your observations on the
preceding thoughts would be appreciated.
(Responses to question #2 can be off
the record.)
Cheers!
Peter LaFrance
publisher
Send responses to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
=================================================
(POSTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY FILE NAME.)
From William H Loob william.h.loob@aexp.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 02,
2001 5:13 PM
To: Peter LaFrance
Peter, how are you?
This is only the third
business day I've had external e-mail coming through to
the office since the
11th. I'm sure you know well enough my
parent company's
mail servers were in one of
the towers downtown. All incoming
messages to me
since then have simply been
vanishing into the wiring under the rubble.
No one
even got his or her messages
bounced back, apparently.
As a result, I never got the
two Hot Trub questions you sent, but I just read
the responses in your latest
issue. Here, I offer my belated two
cents. If
you feel you want to devote
space to these questions in the next issue, feel
free to include (both
responses).
For #1: How
will the ripple effect of the economic situation affect the
brewing industry?
I'm sure you got all the
views on immediate aftershocks, lack of on-premise
drinking for a week, and so
on. Many industry observers have
commented with
words to the effect of,
"people still drink when times are tough," which may be
true, but I suspect it may
mostly be the working class that supports the
industry so steadily. It is a class of consumer that has not
warmed to craft
brewed product in
significant numbers, and the bad economy may well favor big
brewers, who can offer
discount kegs to support those cheap pints and
two-for-one happy hour
deals. The small-time brewer, who may
have more of a
following among middle class
professionals, will be hit harder hit by lower
consumer optimism, driven
more by the perception of continuing low returns on
investments than actual
spare change in the pocket.
For #2: The importance of the work (covering
beverage industry news) seems
trite when placed in context
with "hard news."
Yes it does, but the world
really can't come to a standstill at the news of
every tragic event, and
one's work, whatever it is one does, doesn't always
have to be the primary
source of inspiration and reward in life.
Even when
times are bad, there is room
for doing a good job, then putting those concerns
aside at the end of the day,
and getting out there to do what one feels he or
she needs to do about the
state of the world.
Writers specializing in the
day-to-day concerns of the beverage industry have a
seemingly unimportant role
in all this, compared with the grand scope of hard
news in the days following
the tragic attacks. Though looking
deeper, the
whole world needed people
who kept the systems running normally when it looked
as if the shock of the
bad news could cripple us by bringing a whole country's economy
to a screeching halt. Perhaps it offers little solace, but we will
eventually be able to
acknowledge that people still needed to keep things going
as well as they could. All the talk of the terrorists winning the
psychological battle
if they could see a country
paralyzed by fear wasn't, after all, purely political grandstanding.
Society as a whole, and I
think world community, needed reassurance that this one day,
for all the sorrow it
caused, wouldn't cause everything to fall apart. Each of us who went
about getting things back to
normal did our small bit to offer that reassurance.
Taking in the longer
perspective, focusing on our fundamental identity as
writers rather than on our
specialization as "drinks writers" allows us to
contribute our skills to
society's need to heal its wounds. I
know artists
around New York who felt
they needed to get out there immediately after the
towers collapsed to paint or
sculpt or otherwise record and comment on the
tragedy. Musicians also came together to create
commemorative work and perform for benefits.
Probably not a single one of
those artworks will have any
immediate effect on helping
out the rescue effort, but in the longer term
society will need ways to
interpret the events and remember the effects of what
happened. Recovery will take a long time, and art has
long been seen as one
way for a culture to salve
its deep psychological pain, to come to terms with
the reality of what happened
and to build a framework for drawing from the
memory a heightened
awareness of the human spirit.
I hope this contributes to
the virtual water-cooler discussion in a positive
way.
William Loob
Food & Wine, 1120 Avenue
of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10036
tel: 212-382-5621 *
fax: 212-764-2177 * e-mail: wloob@foodandwine.com
================================================
ASK THE BREWER:
This week I am asking all the breweries that
subscribe to HOT TRUB/BEER BASICS the
following two questions:
1) Are you planning to attend the GABF this year?
2) How has the event of 11 September 2001 affected your brewery?
Thank you for your response.
Cheers!
Peter LaFrance
publisher
Send responses to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
=================================================
(POSTED IN ORDER RECEIVED.)
From: todd ashman tashman@ameritech.net
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 11:47 PM
To: Peter LaFrance
Peter-
We saw a slight rise in
business as I feel folks wanted to get away from
their TV's. Though there wasn't a TV in our place that wasn't covering
the 'attacks on America'. So, really our place was really being used
for it's intended use as a "public house".
Food??? Jeez, my guess
would be burgers and steaks.
I myself will continue to
brew even though I feel compelled to try and
make a difference. I'm working on some kind of fund raiser to help
either the Red Cross or the United Way. There is a grass roots effort
coming out of the Pennsylvania Brewers Guild called Unity Day. Proceeds
from each pint will be sent to above named charities.
Todd Ashman
Flossmoor Station
==================================================
From: Jim Scussel brew@fourpeaks.com
Sent: Wednesday, September
26, 2001 11:07 AM
To: Peter LaFrance
Peter,
About the GABF. This
year will be my seventh and I, presumably like
you, wonder about the
attendance. A national chain that has a
store in town
cancelled all the airline
tickets for it's local brewers. Some
are still
going to drive but some
decided to stay home. I hope this kind
of seemingly
irrational behavior isn't
pandemic. I'm not saying that a certain amount
of trepidation is
inapropriate, but like I said earlier, fear and division
is what they want. In light of that a poorly attended GABF would be
disheartening, and a well
attended one would show incredible unity and
resolve. Let's hope for the latter.
Andy
================================================================
===================================
NEW PRODUCTS:
(All products provided by breweries.
Tasting notes are done by the publisher in beer-clean
2 oz. straight edged tasting glasses between 0900-1000 in an aroma-neutral
environment.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Floyds Opens Tasting Room and Gift Shop
Munster, IN- Three Floyds Brewing Company has
just put the finishing touches
on their in-house tasting room and gift shop.
Fans of Three Floyds can stop by and sample some
of the beers that
have been made available in16 states.
Current samples include our flagship, Alpha
King, Robert the Bruce Scottish,
Ale, Pride and Joy Mild, Calumet Queen Kolsch,
Dreadnaught Imperial IPA and
Black Sun Stout. Products will be rotated on a seasonal basis.
After quaffing these fine ales, pick up Floyds
"Beer Geer", which include
t-shirts, Bucktown Football League Soccer
shirts, hats and women's tanks and
t-shirts.
For more information and directions to the brewery, visit
www.threefloyds.com.
For Three Floyds information: Contact John Freyer at Three Floyds (888)
266-0294.
(++++++++++++++++)
===================================
PROMOTIONS - EVENTS - DINNERS
* NEW LISTING
===================================
*Heritage
Beer and Dinner Tour of Old Toronto
Oliver Dawson,
of the Beer Lovers' Tour Co. , has announced the fall Heritage Beer
and Dinner Tour of Old Toronto to be held on Saturday, October 27th, 2001.
It's a full day tour that will include brewery visits, lunch, a "Wild
Essen" Bavarian dinner, an exploration of the "lost
breweries" of Toronto, and tutored tastings.
For information visit The Beer Lovers' Tour Co. website: http://www.beerloverstour.com/toronto.html
Or call:
905-850-9570
=================================================================
Philadelphia
Beer Classes
Philadelphia beer maven Jim
Anderson will present educational events exploring beer styles,
flavors and compatibility with foods.
The following
sessions are now available.
-- 3 different 2-session classes at The Restaurant School in Philadelphia
throughout November 2001, contact: 215-222-4200
-- 2 different 1-session classes at La Campagne in Cherry Hill, NJ
10/16/01 & 11/6/01, contact: 856-429-7647
===================================================
*The biggest Belgian Beerfestival
This year on a new location and a new date:
The biggest Belgian Beerfestival
24 uur van het Belgische Speciaalbier
3-4 november 2001
Oude Beurs - Meir (twaalfmaandenstraat) - Antwerp - Belgium
More info: www.24-uur.be
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EVENTS:
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OCTOBER
6
-- Fifth Annual Branwell Oktoberfest, Bramwell, WV, contact: George Sitler,
1-800-221-3206, gvsitler@hotmail.com
6
-- Viking Brewing Company Oktoberfest, Dallas, WI, Contact: Ann Lee,
715-837-1824
6
-- World Beer Festival, Durham, NC, 800-977-BEER, www.allaboutbeer.com
6
-- Waffles and Puppets at Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY, 607-547-8184, www.belgianexperts.com
6-8 --
9th Annual NBC-10 International Oktoberfest, Newport, RI, 401-846-1600, ext.
221, www.newportfestivals.com
6-9 --
Brewers' Association of America Conference, Chicago, IL, 919-530-8140, www.brewersadvocate.org
7-19 --
MBAA Brewing & Malting Science Course, Madison, WI, rjacobson@mbaa.com
13
-- DOGtoberfest, Portland, OR Contact: Gary Geist, 503-236-3555 www.Luckylab.com
13
-- 10th Great Eastern Invitational Microbrewery Festival, Adamstown, PA,
717-484-4385, www.stoudtsbeer.com
13-14 --
Grand Old Portsmouth Fall Brewers Festival, Portsmouth, NH, 603-422-7503
23 -- 4th Annual WhiskyFest, Marriott Marquis, NY Contact: 800-610-6258, www.maltadvocate.com
27
-- ASH Octoberfest, Tempe, AZ, 480-775-2660, www.azbrewers.com
27
-- Washington Cask Beer Festival, Seattle, WA, Contact: Doug Hindman, dhind@quidnunc.net
27
-- Ashland Oktoberfest, Ashland, OR, Contact: Robert Mathis, 541-944-4198
NOVEMBER
3 -- The 8th Annual Maine Brewers' Festival, Portland, ME, Contact: Gritty
McDuff's Brewing Co., 207-771-7571 eastcoastevents@mindspring.com
4-7 --
MBAA Annual Convention, Guadalajara, Mexico, 414-774-8558, www.mbaa.com
9-10
-- 8th Annual Great NE International Beer Festival & 4th Annual NE Beer
& Cider Competition, Providence, RI, 407-274-3234, www.click2beers.com
9-11
-- 3rd Annual Orlando Beer Festival, Orlando, FL, Contact: Dayna Garrison,
407-224-5767
17
-- 2nd Annual Whiskies of the World Expo, San Francisco, CA, Contact:
888-748-2400, www.celticmalts.com
30-Dec
2 -- Holiday Ale Festival, Portland, OR, Contact: Chris Crabb, 503-228-3119
(info), 503-282-1583 (media), crabbsoup@earthlink.net - http://www.holidayale.com
30 - Dec 1 -- Great Canadian Beer Festival,
Victoria, BC, Contact: gcbfoffice@pacificcoast.net
###