WA distributors owed millions

Interesting I guess but do I care about the politics of distributorship? It seems a contract is a contract or am I missing something? #ImNoLawyer

 

Well well well, Columbia distributing in hot water. I do not find this surprising in the least.

 

This sure is a funny way of saying cheap, mass produced lager sells well.

 

I can see where yanking the PBR brands away from the portfolio of a regional distributor could be devastating. You could carry quite a few craft beers on the cushion those brands provide. With them suddenly gone, not so much.

 

I generally don't drink cheap, mass produced lager. As far as I'm concerned, Pabst, Olympia, and Rainier are effectively the exact same beer these days. I never drink Pabst and rarely touch Rainier, but every now and then I do enjoy an Olympia tallboy. If it were available in the old stubbies, that would be even better.

Why? My grandfather always drank Olympia. Preferably from a stubby bottle, although I do remember seeing him with the occasional can in his hand. When I see an Olympia on a table in front of me here in Portland, it gives me a small sense that I am having a beer with him, which is something I wasn't nearly old enough to do before he passed away.

Brand loyalty is a weird and very real thing. The brand matters.

 

I will drink a Rainier now and again.
It really is not the same as PBR or Olympia. Little bit more hops..you can even taste them now and again!

 

As someone that lives in an area that is solely serviced by Columbia Distributing, I will say to anyone that loss of a competing distributor will only result in lower quality and variety of beers in their area.

 

Thanks for the tip! I may have to do a side-by-side-by side tasting so that I actually have a basis instead of just an uninformed opinion.

Also, my wife likes a Rainier from time to time.

 

In 1972, I was in the Army, in Korea, a long way from home. The post movie theater was showing Sometimes a Great Notion. And, as I remember, somewhat dimly at a distance, the opening scene shows rain, rain, and more rain. Paul Newman motors across a river in a small boat, gets out, slogs through the mud and rain up to a house, goes in, and cracks open an Oly.

Yes!!, I said to myself, that's the Pacific NW that I know and love. It was both the incessant rain and the Oly.

Of course that's back when Oly was actually a real local beer, brewed in Tumwater, with a claim to their special water. Now, of course, all these beers are just graphics on a can, with not much, if any connection, to the original local breweries, all of which have passed on to that great corporate graveyard in the sky.

 

Damn this conversation is getting close to my youth. Rainier was my beer of choice back in the day. And at least then it did have more hops than Oly. It's what set them apart.

 

pain

 

I had a Tsingtao with some Chinese dumplings yesterday after a long hike, and quite enjoyed it. As with most things, there is a time and a place...

 

This, it needs to be explicitly mentioned, is a poignant and lovely reflection upon a memorable experience personally lived.

And this is precisely the same for an experience which, regrettably, could not be.

As always, I appreciate the dignity, perspective, and wisdom the elder statesmen bring to this forum. It's what separates it from unt@ppd toasts and Facebook posts as commentary on the beer world.

Thanks for keeping it real. And at least semi-meaningful (you old fogeys)...

 

Watch your language, you young whippersnapper.