Schell's Response to the Brewer's Association

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by RKPStogie, Dec 15, 2012.

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  1. rlcoffey

    rlcoffey Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2004 Kentucky

    What revision? Correct me if Im wrong (others do it, Im cool with it). What was Schell doing in that 50 year period that was so out of the mainstream with the rest of the brewing industry? Ive never even been in the state of MN, I dont have any clue to their history. I know what my local was doing during that time...adopting the pop tap can and creating Billy Beer. One of those is marginally interesting. But it doesnt lead to good beer.

    Its, as best I can tell, very similar to current zoigl recipes. When I get to Franconia to compare and contrast I will let you know (and probably alter my recipe a bit, but I doubt much).
     
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  2. SatlyMalty

    SatlyMalty Initiate (0) Sep 12, 2012 Washington

    Taking an unnecessary dig at homebrewers makes me want to give you another punch in the stomach. I'm happy for you that you can brew beer for a living. I really am. I'm also happy to brew beer at home and don't like reading elitist shit from a brewer (professional or otherwise).
     
  3. RKPStogie

    RKPStogie Initiate (0) Nov 4, 2011 Minnesota

    Everyone needs to relax. The point of starting this thread was to drum up support amongst MN BA's (or at least highlight) Schell's response to the brewers association. And to point out that they are hypocritical and flat out wrong in their "blacklist." Peronally, I'd rather argue with someone from the brewers association...though I don't know if anyone from them are on BA.

    The Brewers Association needs to fix their rectal cranial inversion...
     
  4. cmmcdonn

    cmmcdonn Initiate (0) Jun 21, 2009 Virginia

    I'm not sure what your roll has been at the brewery for the last 6 years, but bickering back and forth with people on the internet (whether right or wrong) makes your brewery look bad.
     
  5. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm gonna start using the term a "Nabomac brewery". The first word of which comes from the Old English (the language, not the malt liquor) root word meaning...oh, wait, no it's the phonetic pronunciation for the acronym "Not Anheuser Busch or MillerCoors".

    Yeah, I know, an acronym not yet it use by the beer geekery but I sort detest "BMC" since there is no "Budweiser" brewing company (at least, not since they closed the one below, in Brooklyn circa 1900). So, does "BMC" mean the breweries, the beers, all "AAL's", all the beers made by parent co's ABI, SABMiller, MolsonCoors?

    Uh - huh... it is a clumsy acronym but, after all, I'm talking about a group which call rare beers "wales" and will "save time" by using "u" for "you", so it's not like they're real fussy about such things.

    But ultimately it is AB and MC with their 75% combined market share that is really the "enemy" - of both the B.A. craft members and all small US breweries. Does Mendocino/Saratoga's Indian ownership really hurt "craft" brewers? NAB's importation of the Labatt brand affects craft beer---how?

    But it is the hypocrisy of the organization whose Purpose Statement opens with the phrase "To promote and protect small and independent American brewers..." and then creates a DO NOT BUY sort of blacklist pdf that is most disgusting. A "blacklist" that names the very (few) small brewers in the US - Schell, Straub, The Lion, Yuengling, Genesee, City, Cold Spring, Minhas, etc - that still compete head to head with AB and MC by continuing to brew and market US style/adjunct "light lager" and "light beers". (And sells them at a similar price point or below, in most cases.) Those beers are still far and away the dominant beer styles sold in the US, accouting for over 90% of the market.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    No, Yuengling uses corn grits in all their beers, most of which (Premium, Porter, Lord Chesterfield Ale, etc) pre-date the "craft era". Their Black and Tan and their now-flagship Yuengling Traditional Lager (something like 80% of their production) were both developed in the 1980's, when Dick, Jr. took over and tried (and succeeded beyond anyone's expectation) to reverse their downward course.

    It was curious when at the beginning of last year Yuengling joined the Brewers Association but didn't request the "craft" designation (after all, Yuengling Lager is not that different from the "craft" Shiner Bock as far as adjunct and other ingredients go). IIRC Yuengling was not a member of the old "small brewers" Brewers Assoc. of America. I wonder how Dick, Jr. is reacting to the Non-Craft Brewers pdf by the organization he pays maximum dues rate to. (He could just be too busy maxing out the capacities of his 3 adjunct lager breweries to notice).

    Beer writer Lew Bryson once brought up the lack of an all-malt Yuengling beer after an interview with brewer Ray Norbert (who developed the "Lager" recipe, based on either an old Bohemian one or a pre-Pro Yuengling beer depending on what article you read). Norbert responded: "I'm running two shifts, 6 days a week; we just put in a major expansion that doubled my capacity, and the sales force is still selling more beer than I can make. Tell me: what's broken that I need to fix?"
     
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  7. bergbrew

    bergbrew Initiate (0) Jan 12, 2004 Minnesota

    You're right. That was a poor choice of words, and I apologize for using them.
     
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  8. bergbrew

    bergbrew Initiate (0) Jan 12, 2004 Minnesota

    What I meant is that Zoigl is more of a communal brew, not a single person brewing it at their house. It has a specific meaning both yesterday and today, and that meaning stems on not only what it is, but the region where it is made.

    It wasn't meant as a dig on homebrewers, although I'm the first to admit it certainly came across that way.
     
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  9. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    It was a great play-on-words, actually - if a bit obscure and maybe too "insider"- so some have taken it to be mean-spirited and "elitist" if they didn't click on the link in your post in the phrase "something like this" and read the article.
     
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  10. RKPStogie

    RKPStogie Initiate (0) Nov 4, 2011 Minnesota

    Keep up the great work at Schell's you will always have my support. Now to celebrate being off call with a Chimney Sweep. Yes, it's 7:30am
     
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  11. kelvarnsen

    kelvarnsen Pundit (944) Nov 30, 2011 Canada (ON)

    Although I have never had Schell's this thread is kind of interesting. I am curious though, Schell's made the list by being an "adjunct" brewer right? But how come they are on the list, but not FX Matt, whose Flagship beer is Utica Club?
     
  12. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    F. X. Matt considers its flagship beer brand these days Saranac, and that line probably easily accounts for more than the necessary 50% of production to met B.A.'s "Either/Or" rules on "Traditional".

    Utica Club today is a minor brand, and not nearly as well-distributed as Saranac.

    Also note that Nick Matt is a former Chair, and an At-large member of the Board of Directors of The Brewers Association.
     
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  13. RichardMNixon

    RichardMNixon Initiate (0) Jun 24, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Huh... I knew that much but didn't know those used corn grits. Good on them I guess, no skin off my back as long as it's not fizzy and yellow.
     
  14. JediMatt

    JediMatt Zealot (549) Jun 18, 2010 Iowa

    Great response to the article. I am a big Schell's fan and buy a lot of their beers. They are definitely a craft brewery in my book. And they should be in BA's book too.
     
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  15. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Fizzy and amber, then? :wink: What's the Lager - SRM 3 - 5 or so?
     
  16. mjryan

    mjryan Maven (1,485) Dec 22, 2007 Minnesota

    So Schells gets "blacklisted" because they brew a couple of adjunct lagers? Pure stupidity. What on earth is the Brewers Association hoping to accomplish here? August Schells is, in every sense of the word as we here know it, craft. They are a craft brewery and the fact that the B.A. doesnt see this really speaks volumes about the orginization and its leadership.
     
  17. Centennial

    Centennial Initiate (0) Nov 9, 2009 Vermont

    Lion brewery is on the list as an "adjunct brewer" so does that mean the brands they contract brew belong on the same list? These brands are marketed and sold by craft breweries such as sixpoint as "craft beer".
     
  18. GregoryVII

    GregoryVII Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2006 Michigan

    I believe, as you say, the main intent of this campaign was to bring attention to the fact that Blue Moon, Shock Top and the like are not independently owned breweries and that the way BMC portrays them is misleading to the public.

    The "blacklist" or list of "domestic non craft breweries" perhaps did go too far (though, for what it's worth the list does acknowledge that August Schell is small and independent). I still think it is worth bringing attention to the consumer who makes their beer. And, while I cannot agree with this particular move, I think a lot of people are reacting too far in reverse. The BA has done so much for the industry, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
     
  19. GregoryVII

    GregoryVII Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2006 Michigan

    Completely discrediting itself? Hardly. Ill advised move, yes. But as for Boston Beer Company, they do best by dates...how is the it their fault that a south Alabama bar is serving an 8 month old light struck beer? Are they personally responsible for how every single person serves their beer? Sounds like the bar is to blame. Don't frequent the bar, but don't blame Boston Beer Company.
     
  20. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch story the Brewers Assoc. authors stated that "The Brewers Association has defined a craft brewery but we have not defined craft beer" but I always swear that on their website they once did state something to the effect that "...only a craft brewer can brew craft beer..."

    Obviously, the wording I remember was a simply way to disqualify the Blue Moons and ShockTops from the macros, but it also could be read as to eliminate the contract-brewed craft beers that come out of non-craft breweries like The Lion, City's 3 breweries, NAB-Genesee, formerly Miller-Eden for BBC, etc.

    But I could never find it again (the one thing annoying about the web vs. printed material, too easy to do a Pravda and make the old stuff disappear. When I used to Google it, I'd only find my own quotations of it! :grimacing:)

    Finally found a Google cache of a Suite 101 beer article What is Craft Beer? from 2007 which quotes it

     
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