Bottle Conditioned

Whew. That’s all I have to say about the Avery Experience here in Nashville…whew.

Ok, so it’s not all I have to say, but it’s a good start. I’m still attempting to recover from last night’s antics. On with the play-by-play.

The Avery Experience is just that, a chance to experience almost all of Avery Brewing’s offerings. Over the course of about 2.5 hours, we tasted 15 different beers, in five flights of three. The event was hosted by Adam Avery, founder and president of Avery Brewing Company.

The night was a blast. Adam Avery is a great guy, very friendly, and very passionate about his beer (and craft beer in general, for that matter). The beers were fantastic, and ran the gamut from a witbier to a couple Imperial Stouts, with all sorts of interesting offerings sprinkled in between (the Imperial Oktoberfest and Belgian Dubbel IPA come to mind). Small hors d’oeuvres from Flying Saucer were served, and were a nice complement to the meal (yes, these beers together could very well be considered a meal).

The beers sampled were as follows:

• American Brown
• Wit
• IPA
• American Porter
• Weizen Doppelbock
• Belgian Dubbel IPA
• Belgian Strong Golden Ale
• Belgian Quad Dark Strong Ale
• Hog Heaven American Barleywine
• Maharaja Imperial IPA
• Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest Strong Lager
• Russian Imperial Stout
• Grand Cru Belgian Dark Strong Ale
• English Oak-Aged Barleywine
• Belgian Imperial Stout

Among the standouts were the Weizen Dopplebock, the Dubbel IPA, the Barleywine and the RIS (which was vintage 2003…very nice). All were great beers, and we’re very excited that Avery is finally going to be coming into the Nashville market. If you get a chance to go to this tasting somewhere near you, I highly recommend you check it out. Below are a couple pics from last night:

Me, Adam Avery, Mollie and Neil McCormick from Lipman Bros Distributing:

A fuzzy shot of Adam talking a bit about the beer:

Big thanks to Adam Avery for coming all the way out here to Nashville to do this tasting, as well as to Neil McCormick, who is largely responsible for Avery finally coming here and has helped Mollie and I out immensely. Thanks Adam and Neil!

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We’ve finally moved into the merchandise department.  Starting today, you can now grab some great craft beer related apparel and other such stuff, direct from Davis on Draft.  We’ve got t-shirts, buttons, magnets, hoodies, etc…  To grab some stuff, just check out the banner over on the right hand side of this page that says “Wear your beer”.

Wouldn’t you love to show up at your next party with a button that says “Cheap Beer Sucks”?  Grab one today!

(Sorry about the temporary use of this blog as an advertisement :)  Actual real, worthwhile posts are upcoming.  Tonight, we’ll be attending the Avery Experience in Nashville - a tasting of Avery beers that includes 15 different samples.  A full report on that coming tomorrow.)

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Turns out, when you get interviewed at GABF, it actually DOES make it out somewhere. Such is the case with me, and a short little bit I did at Flying Dog. This was the odd chance of me sitting on the other side of the microphone. So, without further adieu, here ya’ll are:

You’ll also see us randomly sitting in there doing a short podcast from GABF. Give it a listen and complete the experience.

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Ok, so I didn’t keep my promise about live blogging from here. Too much going on, and too little time to stop and punch on a small keypad on a phone. Sorry ya’ll.

However, I thought I’d sit down and rehash some of what we’ve seen and done over the past two days. Suffice to say, we’ve experienced about a week’s worth of events over the course of the past 48 hours.

Firstly, I’ve got to note how impressed I’ve been with the brewers and other beer personalities that we’ve met. All very nice and accommodating folks who love great conversation about craft beer. Among some of the folks we’ve seen and chatted with:

• Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery
• Adam Avery from Avery Brewing (had a chance to actually have a beer with him)
• Charlie Papazian, founder of the American Homebrewer’s Association.
• Sam Calagione, owner and brewer at Dogfish Head. We’ve seen Sam a few times, a really great guy.
• Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams/Boston Beer Company. Got to taste some Utopias with Jim - what a nice guy
• Vinnie Cilurzo, head brewer of Russian River Brewing.
• Ray Daniels, known for his work on many beer publications as well as his work on the new Cicerone program (listen to our podcast for the full interview with Ray)
• Matt Brophy, head brewer at Flying Dog (again, listen to our podcast for an interview with Matt
• Jay Brooks, beer writer and blogger (Brookston Beer Bulletin)
• fellow beer podcasters from BrewCRAZY, Pacific Brew News Radio, Craft Beer Radio and fellow Tennesseans Big Foamy Head

So, there’s the abbreviated list. Suffice to say, we’ve talked to a bunch of folks here and have really enjoyed getting to know everybody. There are certainly a bunch of nice people in the craft beer world.

Aside from the people, the events have been spectacular. Yesterday, we attended a media lunch with a great beer and food pairing demonstration by Sam Calagione and Marnie Old. Also in attendance was Lucy Saunders, author of the new book The Best of American Beer and Food. This lunch was spectacular - expect some audio clips of it to surface on the podcast.

Yesterday, we also dropped by Flying Dog for the release of the Collaborator Dopplebock, the newest addition to their Wild Dog series. After tasting a few great beers at Flying Dog and speaking with Matt Brophy, we dropped in on a mead tasting hosted by Redstone Meadery. Following that we went to the festival, tried a bunch of great beers, and then spent some time at Falling Rock with Sam Calagione.

Today involved a Sam Adams brunch, including tasting the Long Shot contestants, tasting Utopias, and speaking with Jim Koch. We went to the festival afterward where we tried more great beers and spoke with Ray Daniels.

Whew. Tired much, eh?

So, that’s the recap of how GABF has gone so far. There is much, MUCH more to write and speak about, and that will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

In summation, this has been a great event. I highly recommend attending, and if you can get a media pass…do so.

More to come later. We’re not done here yet, hitting a few more brewpubs tonight before packing it up and heading back east tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for other, more detailed and specific posts.

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Well, here we are in denver and it’s time for live blogging. So , for the first post, i thought i’d try a beer i’ve wanted to try for a long time - fat tire. As i sit here trying the beer in pizza joint with tons of beer on tap, i’ll let you know what i think. Not bad. Not great, but i disagree with folks saying it’s the most overrated beer out there. Thinish body with a decent malty/toasty center. Quite sessionable and drinkable. I appreciate the subtle malt depth and quaffability. Overall, not bad in my book. More live blogging to come - stay tuned.

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The Associated Press is reporting today that macro-brewers Miller and Molson Coors are planning to combine U.S. operations to help compete with Anheuser-Busch.  The big just keep getting bigger.

The creativity that is so evident in their beer production is also apparent in the name of the new company:  MillerCoors.

This merger raises some interesting questions and will be intriguing to watch over the next year.  Firstly, it shows that the big beer companies may not be near as worried about competing with craft beer as they are each other, which probably makes sense for them given the amount of dollars involved.

That said, I think this is only going to widen the gap between craft beer and “big” beer more, alienating the macro-beer producers and pinning them into a more definite role/stereotype.  With (soon to be) two companies controlling the vast majority of macro beer out there, it seems evident that the variety (if you want to call it that) present in that market will become much more narrow.

In addition, this throws an interesting message to the consumer.  This hammers home the point that the big beer companies really are about mass producing the most beer for the cheapest price possible.  Although this may be lost on many beer drinkers out there, I don’t think it will go completely unnoticed.  To the craft beer producers’ credit, they remain true to the art of producing good, interesting beer, regardless of market pressures or money games.  Go them.

Let’s look more into the future.  As has been reported many times recently, hop and grain prices are on the rise, and next year, they’re going to be out the roof.  This is going to mean an across-the-board increase in beer prices, as the price to produce beer goes up.

Couple the ingredient price increases with a merger that is based largely on saving money (up to $500 million is reported saved in ops costs by this merger), and it doesn’t take much to see that next year could bring an even blander crop of macro beer.  As prices go up and MillerCoors merges to cut costs, undoubtedly some recipe and ingredient changes will probably take place, watering down an already pale product.

What else does that mean?  Well, it could mean that the “craft label” efforts that Coors is currently courting (such as Blue Moon), could become a back burner deal.  Coors has stated in the past that fostering the growth of craft brands is important to them, and in a rare move, I applaud them on that (that is, if they do it right).  However, merging to cut costs and stay competitive with AB, who doesn’t produce any worthwhile craft labels, doesn’t seem to bode well for the future of innovation at Coors.  Just my thoughts and predictions.

So…what does this mean for you, the craft beer lover?  Well, maybe not a whole heck of a lot, but it could mean a widening gap between craft and macro beer that could possibly help to shine the light on craft beer producers more.  As this merger happens, craft beer producers have the opportunity, however brief, to make it evident to consumers that there are great brewers out there whose beer doesn’t revolve around a bottom line.  This could be a big boost to the craft beer market, if it’s approached right.  Will everyone out there catch on?  No, but if a few more people leave behind the mass market machine of malted mess, then it’s all the better for craft beer lovers.

Time to pop the popcorn, grab a great craft beer and watch the show.  Looks to be an interesting one, that’s for sure.

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The nation has already seen how ridiculous Tennessee can be when crafting laws related to the purchase and consumption of beer.  The mandatory ID law that was passed earlier this year solidified this state into the hall of fame of legislative craziness.

However…they’ve one-upped themselves now.  And this time, it’s far more broad and dangerous.

First, a little background. 

Recently, in a move of state idiocy, law enforcement agents have been monitoring the borders to arrest people buying cigarettes from across state lines and bringing them back into Tennessee.  2 cartons of cigarettes brought back into the state counts as a misdemeanor, with over 25 cases being noted as a felony.  A felony?  Geez.

Now…it’s on to beer.

An article printed in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel points out that this enforcement is now reaching to cover beer as well, with beer being bought from out of state being considered a criminal act.  Wow.  As if you didn’t think it could get worse (yeah right, never think that when it comes to government).

Currently, the enforcement is only applied to beer bought concurrently with cigarettes, and the beer is confiscated at the time that the cigarettes are.  However, it appears that it’s very likely that that could change.  The law is aimed an preventing cross-border purchasing that is rampant due to insanely high taxes on beer in the state.  Hey, Tennessee…what about lowering taxes as a solution, eh? 

In Tennessee, taxes levied on beer are done in several ways.  First, two taxes are levied at the wholesale level:  a $4.29 tax per barrel(collected by the State Dept of Revenue), and then a 17% tax on value(collected by local city governments where the beer is sold).  In addition, the beer is then taxed at the retail level.  A state sales tax of 7% is added, in addition to a local sales tax that can go as far as an added 2.75%.  These sales taxes are levied on retail price which includes the barrellage tax and the wholesale tax, which means that the tax is a tax on taxes…get it?  Further past that, an $18 per barrel federal tax is applied. 

Convoluted, eh?  Welcome to bureaucracy.

So, all of this brings up an interesting discussion, and one that is exacerbated by the lack of knowledge by the legislators about how beer works in this country.

The most pressing issue is this: comparing the cigarette distribution trade with the beer distribution trade is not equal comparison - akin to apples and oranges.

The biggest example of this has to do with craft beer varieties and manufacturers.  In Tennessee, because of the ridiculous taxes, we don’t get much craft beer.  Sure, we’re getting more and more, but compared with other states around us, our selection is pretty pitiful. This is fundamentally different that the cigarette trade where almost all manufacturers are sold in every state - a much more homogeneous distribution network nationally.

So, what do we do?  We go up to Kentucky, over to South Carolina, down to Georgia, etc… to get the beer we can’t get here.  Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, to do with taxes.  This begs the question, how will the state deal with this difference?

If I drive to Bowling Green, KY to buy some beer that isn’t distributed in this state, and I am then arrested for bringing it back across state lines, I have indeed been arrested for a reason that doesn’t even fit with my motive for buying beer in another state.  There is zero logic for this scenario to play out, as it has nothing to do with taxes, which is purportedly the reason behind the enforcement of the law.  However, it’s going to happen this way, I promise.

So, what to do?  I suppose you could only arrest people buying beer that is also sold in the state, but then that would have to be broken down by region, city, municipality, etc…  For instance, if I live in Nashville and drive to Kentucky to buy anything made by Duck-Rabbit, should I be arrested because I can actually get it in Knoxville (which, incidentally is twice as far away)?

This is a major problem that represents a lack of Tennessee government’s ability to take cues from the marketplace and fix a broken system. 

How about this Tennessee - lower your damn taxes and stop wasting taxpayer money on enforcing laws that amount to nothing more than a 3 year old throwing a fit because they can’t get their way. Don’t treat the symptoms - cure the illness here - fix the damn system.

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