"Importing" craft beer

now if we can just get some really good local sours and barley wines on a regular basis.

 

Hopefully the Barley Wine is taken care of on Friday

 

Don't forget the Commander. That one was nice...

 

true, but a regular offering of it, 12 oz bottles or even better 16 oz cans that can be bought for a good amount of time, not just 700 bottles that will last a weekend. although I am excited to get the steel toe barley wine, how awesome would it be if someone produced a big batch like SN Big Foot?

 

Bravo to the guys at Lucette! I am a fan of your product and will be an even bigger supporter now. I just don't agree with the amount of natural resources that are wasted shipping a product that is mostly water.

Over the years, I have heard a few BMC (or distributor) employees say that they cannot wait for the craft boom to be over and for things to go back to "normal". These people love to reference the craft boom of the 90's that did not last. Garret Oliver from Brooklyn once addressed this notion. He said that the current state of the market is the return to "normal". Garret said that, pre-prohibition people always bought beer from their local and regional breweries, and the part of history that was not "normal" was the rise of macro beer and widespread distribution.

I visited a bar the other day that does not support Summit. The manager told me that the reason they do not support Summit is we are too large and mainstream. The same bar carries products from a few breweries that are much larger and more mainstream such as Bell's and Lagunitas. Bell's will produce 5 times more beer than we will this year. Lagunitas will make 6 times more beer than us this year. A few years ago, I never would have guessed that you could wander into a Chammp's sports bar and order a Surly or a Bell's product. Now there are very few Chammp's in town that do not carry both of those brands. To me, Chammp's epitomizes mainstream. Not that there is anything wrong with mainstream. Typically if your product is successful enough to achieve mainstream availability, you have made a pretty good product.

incutrav... I think you will be impressed with Saga. The pilot brew we did was very impressive. Also, I'm fighting like hell to get you another option for a pretty good rye beer. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

I think people that are on a "strictly local" plan need to take a step back on this issue (again, it's just beer).

On the one hand, I totally love and support all the local folks. There's a reason Minnesota is earning cred as a great beer state and it's because of the efforts of all the people busting their asses to make delicious beer at a local level. I am proud to stand among these people and be part of what is only the beginning of a great movement. They have given me a career and a life's passion that I love to share with anyone near me, obviously all local based.

However, there's nothing wrong with folks that want to go pick up a sixer of Lagunitas, Bells or Brooklyn. These are the beers that drive people to seek out local breweries. I would be nowhere without the help of Two Hearted, Brooklyn Lager, Hop Stoopid and Arrogant Bastard. While these beers are now "mainstream", they led me to Fulton, Brau Bros, Townhall, Steel Toe and every other local beer that I now take pride in saying "this is my local brewery".

I don't think Lucette really has a place in saying whether or not people should "import" craft beers. The only brewery that I personally believe has a say on this one, being the Godfather of MN Craft beer, is Summit. But I cannot think of a time I have been out to pretty much any restaurant and not seen EPA available. Is this bad? Hell no. That's my staple beer. I have consumed more Summit EPA than most other Crafts combined. They are relatively big for the state, but small for the big picture.

So that being said, when do you draw the line? Who is "too big"? Larger breweries have first choice of hops. They have better QC, more resources, better trained brewers, more consistency and plenty of pricing advantages due to the economies of scale they enjoy. If you love the hell out of a beer, and it's from Cali or Colorado, who cares? Enjoy it!

Think of the little guys when you're out eating dinner or looking to try something new, but don't feel ashamed supporting quality breweries that have built a name on great beer. Grab a brew you enjoy, take a breath, and enjoy the variety we are blessed to have in this state (local or non).

Cheers.

 

I cannot wait for Saga. Keep up the great work over there!

 

Eh...I'm in KC and as such I must drink Boulevard, and lots of it. Fortunately, they are very good (just finished a Nutcracker I had from the holidays). Variety is big for me though so I invariably end up with others. Schlafly is priced so well around here I buy a decent amount of it too.

It is plenty good enough to favor local but not to the exclusion of variety. I know many would advocate I travel to get that variety, but that is simply not an option for me at this time of my life.

 

It's so easy for you guys that live near world class breweries to say you support local.....

/jealous

 

I understand people want to fund the local beer economy, and I support that. Pretty much the only bar I drink at is Town Hall.

However saying we should only drinking within 500 miles of the production center is just stupid.

1) You're limiting the business potential of breweries to expand. You're telling these breweries that they will reach a certain growth point, and then no longer be able to expand. Because people will not drink your beer if you get any bigger. Deal with it. How is limiting economic expansion a good idea?
2) You're telling me, that I need to be limited in beer styles and tastes, by what the brewers near me want to create and like. So regardless of what I might enjoy, I need to deal with what is local, or start my own brewery and risk the money I don't have, in a field I'm probably not qualified for. And even then, I may still never be happy with what I brew.
3) Beer is about creativity. Regardless of what it is or how it is made, every body makes something different. So you're telling me every BA on here should restrain from expanding their horizons, and enjoy only what can be made locally. So you're telling anyone here locally in MN, that has ever enjoyed a world class sour (that no one makes here), that they should ignore the possibility that there is anything better out there, and deal with the option of... Nothing.
4) You're banking that a area even has breweries near them! And if they only have 1 in close proximity, tough! Buy local!


To me, that makes no sense at all. So what people are saying, is right now, Summit Brewing should pull out of 7 of the 14 states they distribute in. Because they are not local enough. Sorry, cut your production back, cut your profits back, let go of some MN employees that benefit from this expansion, because we only drink within 500 miles of the brewery. Tell that to the peoples who's families depend on the income provided by the breweries expansion over the years.

500 miles is a pretty arbitrary number too. Odd that it seems to be exactly within the range Lucette is working in right now. Since you can buy Slow Hand Stout at Manitoba Liquor Mart in Canada(As noted by the Rate Beer Beer Finder). Maybe they should stop buying Lucette because it's not from the same country as them?

I would challenge that! I would say, if we are going to buy local, we should not buy anything not made within 30 miles of us! Why should we be funding these other states that do nothing to help our local economy! Drink local!!!



In all, I have no respect for a statement made by a company the clearly benefits from the restraints it suggests. If they had said 50 miles, which cuts them out of the Twin Cities and Madison, I would have been more impressed with them being bold. But they aren't. They ranted about something that would benefit them. I doubt they will sing the same tune if they ever become truly big and have the chance to expand.

/rant