Tag Archives: extreme beer

Good Read on a Better Brew

Posted on by
Reply

New YorkerA friend of mine gave me a great article from the New Yorker on beer called A Better Brew. It was about Dogfish Head Brewing, their founder Sam Calagione, and extreme beers. But it was more than that… it was an extremely well written story that really gives you a good picture of Dogfish Head and what they are about. I highly suggest taking the time to read the full article. Here is one of the ways the author, Calvin Trillin, discovered what Sam Calagione believes about extreme beer,

Extreme beer is a return to normality, too, Calagione believes. It’s just the normality of a thousand years ago, or several thousand, rather than a hundred. If the Reinheitsgebot is still the touchstone for most American brewers, Calagione’s is a bronze bowl from King Midas’ tomb.

One of the things I found most interesting was the lengths Dogfish Head would go through just to try something different. For example, they brewed with heated rocks because when sahti was first brewed in the middle ages they used wooden kettles; so hot rocks was the method of choice.

The online New Yorker also has an audio discussion about the article with additional insight. Again, this is some high quality stuff (not like you would find on just some beer blog). It is also worth a listen.

Big beers gain marketshare

Posted on by
1

Photo by Jason McArthurI love seeing craft beer in mainstream media. It heartens me to know that people are paying attention and that it’s not being dismissed as an insignificant niche. (Next thing you know, Rush will be nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.)

Anyway, I stumbled across an Associated Press article recently about the increasing popularity of “big” beers and craft beer in general.

Beers with more alcohol, flavor gain market share

High-alcohol brews like Black Butte XX and The Abyss, known in the trade as big or extreme beers, are among many craft beers that are grabbing a growing market share in the United States from their mass-produced and heavily advertised counterparts. Even at prices ranging from $4 to more than $100 for a single bottle.

“We are looking for what we like to term that `Wow Factor,’” said Deschutes CEO Gary Fish. “We want somebody to take a drink, stop, look at the glass and say, `What was that?’”

Sales of premium beers, which include the household names of Budweiser, Coors Light and Miller High Life, have been nearly flat — up just 1.9 percent last year according to Information Resources Inc., a retail research firm.

As consumer tastes change and rising costs for ingredients pinch their profits, the nation’s biggest brewers are looking for relief in consolidation. No. 1 Anheuser-Busch is being taken over by Belgian beverage giant InBev SA. No. 2 Miller Brewing Co. and No. 3 Molson Coors Brewing Co. are combining U.S. operations.

Meanwhile, craft brewers are grabbing more of the market as they reshape the image of beer. They posted 17.1 percent growth last year over 2006 and accounted for 6.5 percent of the $9 billion in supermarket sales of beer in the U.S., up from 4.5 percent in 2003. Many in the craft beer industry expect their products to continue tugging at “premium” beers’ share of a market valued at $95 billion, including sales in bars and restaurants.

“They are not lawnmower beers,” cautioned Don Younger, owner of the Horse Brass Pub in Portland.

Yeah, no kidding. An 11% ABV late in the evening recently really kicked me in the head. Fortunately I wasn’t driving.

Their small size gives craft brewers the freedom to explore the outer limits of beer, and they are being rewarded by consumers who value good flavor, said Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Del.

“This hasn’t happened because of some half-billion dollar advertising campaign on behalf of the big brewers,” he said. “It’s truly the consumer becoming self-educated.

Read the rest of the article.