beer advertising – Beaumont Drinks

November 11, 2013

“More Bad News for Beer” is Actually Good News for Beer

My colleague and friend, Jack Robertiello, recently wrote a story for Nightclub & Bar Magazine entitled “More Bad News for Beer.” I was intrigued and surfed over to the website to read it, and then walked away smiling. Here’s why.

The “bad news” that Jack reports is almost exclusively about the big name, mass-produced convenience beers that we all know and probably don’t love all that much. You know the ones I’m referring to, those that distinguish themselves from the competition by how cold they are, how long they’ve been around or how “innovative” their bottle may be. (Amusingly, the side panel ad that appeared when I loaded the online version of the story promoted the “new bottle” for Miller Lite.) And yes, for such brands the news truly is bad.

At the heart of Jack’s story is a recently published consumer survey reporting declines in the overall popularity of beer and the numbers are indeed, on the surface, at least, bleak. Two percent fewer adults of legal drinking age were identifying beer as their “go to” beverage compared to the same time period in 2012; 21 to 27 year olds were deserting beer in significant volumes, with 33 percent saying it was their favourite alcoholic beverage as compared to 39 percent a year earlier; and three percent fewer men were siding with beer than did in 2012.

Thing is, though, those sad numbers are almost exclusively about big beer. How do I know? Well, check this out: “The major reason given by 21-27 year olds when asked why they are consuming less beer – 39 percent said they are ‘getting tired of the taste of beer.’” Sounds more like comment about a Bud Light or Coors Light than it does a Dogfish 60 Minute IPA or New Belgium Ranger, doesn’t it? And about craft beer, this is about the most negative thing Jack has to report: “…and crafts, while increasing dramatically, offer a wild and ever changing array of selections that can make the average consumer’s head spin.”

Too much selection and variety in craft beer may be an issue down the road, but judging from the bar owners and operators, and consumers, I’ve been speaking with over the last year — not all of them by any means beer aficionados or craft specialists — it isn’t now.

In fact, where bars and restaurants are concerned, variety in craft beer appears to be a big selling point, since people generally go out for experiences they can’t otherwise get at home, ie: new varieties of draught beer. But don’t believe me, believe the Adult Beverage Insights Group of the research firm Technomic, who report that when only bar and restaurant sales are accounted for, craft beer’s overall market share skyrockets from about 6.5 percent to an impressive 15 percent of total beer sales.

So yes, this really is a good news story.

March 1, 2012

More New Zealand Notes

As I flip through my notebook post-New Zealand, a few things stand out, such as:

Best Beer Name: Pernicious Weed by Garage Project

Best Beer Story: Red Zone Enigma by Twisted Hop — The Twisted Hop brewery was located within what is now the infamous “Red Zone” in Christchurch, which meant that a conditioning batch of their Enigma barley wine was necessarily left to mature from February, when the earthquake struck, to August, when the owners were finally allowed in to extract it and bottle it up! I didn’t have a chance to try it, but it is by all accounts very good indeed. (And I heard good news from Twisted Hop, too! Seems they’ll be reopening in not just one, but as many as three locations in Christchurch.)

Most Ridiculous Idea (That Actually Worked): The madmen behind Yeastie Boys thought it would be a wise idea to brew a beer with 100% peated malt, thus producing Rex Attitude, which strikes me as what Ardbeg might make if it were a brewery rather than a distillery. If that wasn’t foolishness enough, they then decided to up the alcohol content to 10% in an even bigger, peatier beer, Rex, which oddly enough seems more balanced and approachable than the 7% original.

Best Use of Non-Hop Local Ingredients: The Captain Cooker Manuka Beer from the Mussel Inn is flavoured with tips plucked from the manuka tree. The result is one of the most intriguing spice characters I have ever encountered in a beer.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Arrow Brewing’s Hop in a Bottle, which, yes, actually contains a whole hop cone. One which flakes apart when the bottle is even slightly agitated, leaving significant flotsam floating in your glass.

Best Marketing Slogan: Moa Brewing’s “Dark and acceptable to all palates. The Will Smith of beers.”

February 13, 2012

10 Words NOT to Use When Writing or Talking About Beer, Pt. II

6. “Lovingly”: As a youthful scribe, I once wrote that a beer’s foam “clings lovingly to the side of the glass.” I still cringe when I think of it. (And as an aside, this applies equally to label and press release copy. I’ve seen bottling lines of all shapes and sizes in action and I am quite certain that no bottle of ale or lager ever released has truly been “lovingly” bottled.)

7. “Suds”: Is it soap? No, it’s beer. There is therefore nothing sudsy about it.

8. “Hoppy” (without further qualification): Forget that a generous proportion of the beer drinking public still doesn’t understand what “hoppy” means, to use it without adding a sense of what is meant delivers no information to the recipient. I had a “hoppy” beer on the weekend that was spicy and nutty bitterness wrapped in a comforting blanket of caramelly and mildly fruity malt, and another that was a citrusy, piney assault. Both were “hoppy,” but they could scarcely have been more different.

9. “Pretty Good for a…” (with further qualification): Good beer is good beer, period. If it’s only “pretty good for a big brewery beer/brewpub beer/beer from X country,” then maybe it’s not really all that good. (And yes, I know that technically this entry means that I have listed 13 words not to use, rather than 10. Call it creative licence.)

10. “Quad”: Where to begin? That it’s a diminutive referring to a beer that is presumed to be big, malty and alcoholic? That it derives from an ale first brewed in the 1990’s and is now used retroactively to describe beers developed decades before? Or that it’s simply a lazy shorthand with no real meaning? Okay, I’ll take all three!

February 10, 2012

10 Words NOT to Use When Writing or Talking About Beer, Pt. I

1. “Authentic”: Means next to nothing. Is it a real beer, of “undisputed origin” according to the dictionary? Fine, it’s authentic, and so is every other beer not claiming to be something else.

2. “Genuine”: See above. (Ironically, the one place where this word is most widely used, by Miller for its brand commonly known now as MGD, its use is bogus, since there is little doubt that bottled beer cannot be “genuine” draft.)

3. “Traditional”: There is a brewery in Toronto where barley and hops are grown, wort is air cooled and all fermentation takes place in wooden barrels. THAT is traditional. The ale made on a gleaming stainless steel, computerized brew kit? Not so much.

4. “Cold”: Yeah, like that’s an achievement.

5. “Drinkable”: You know what’s really drinkable? Water! I drink it all the time, but that doesn’t mean I want my beer to taste the same way.

Pt. II will arrive early next week.

January 19, 2012

Sh*t Beer Marketers Do (But Shouldn’t)

1. “Smooth drinkability”

2. “Pairs with foods of all sorts”

3. “Fresh, crisp flavor”

4. “Uniquely refreshing”

5. “Cold”

December 8, 2011

Thinking Hard About Miller Lite

Why, you might wonder, would I be thinking hard about Miller Lite? It is not, after all, a beer I sample with any sort of regularity – the last one I tasted probably belonged to the last century – and neither is it a brand I see as having any sort of defining presence in the marketplace. (The introduction in 2010 of the “vortex” bottle provided but a single upward blip in what has been the beer’s more-or-less steady decline over the past few years.)

But Lite popped up on my radar recently thanks to none other than Stan Hieronymus, he of Appellation Beer, who put not one, but two links to this ad into his blog. It took me a while to get to actually watching it, but once I did, an eyebrow was raised. Go watch it for yourself and see if you can guess what made my eyebrow twitchy.

No, it wasn’t that Lite has won the World Beer Cup gold for American-Style Light (Low Calorie) Lager four times. (The category is tailor made for such beers, so that comes as no surprise.) It wasn’t the caricature of beer judges as bizarrely facially haired gents and sour-puss ladies. (That part is kind of true, at least for the men, although few in the judge’s room would be so nattily attired.) And it certainly wasn’t the notion that Lite is hopped three times. (Hell, hop it a dozen times if you want, just don’t try to tell me it has any significant hop character.)

What got my attention was this line: “…and never watered down.” Taken at face value, this means that unlike the majority of convenience beers on the market today – and again, thanks Tim Webb for that great way to describe mass-market lagers – Miller Lite is not high-gravity brewed, or in other words, brewed to a higher alcohol content band then watered to the desired strength at the packaging line.

More than the cost of the hops, more than the price of malt and whatever adjuncts they may or may not use, and more even, I suspect, than the price of the vortex bottle, not high gravity brewing Lite would add extraordinarily to the cost of the beer’s production. And that is what i found this revelation to be, well, rather extraordinary.

May 28, 2011

Kronenbourg Goes Mad(ness)

A while back, Heineken launched an ad campaign in the UK for Kronenbourg 1664 which featured Motorhead performing a slowed-down version of their classic, “Ace of Spades.” Although I’m not a huge fan of the beer — any more, since they loweed the alcohol content and märzen-esque malty appeal of the beer I recall from trips on France’s TGV in the late 1990’s — even I, a furious critic of superficial beer advertising, had to admit it was pretty clever.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blNOcugDeXE&feature=player_embedded]

(And apt, too. As I explained only recently during a presentation in Buenos Aires, the French are notoriously slow drinkers where beer is concerned.)

The reason I mention this now, other than as an excuse to post the above clip, is because Heineken just announced what their next slowed-down ad will be, namely “Baggy Trousers” by Madness. If you’re not familiar with the song, which was more a hit in the UK than it was in North America, check it out here. You can also see pre-production clips at Kronenbourg’s YouTube page.

May 20, 2011

The Problem with “Drinkability”

You’ve probably heard it from some brewery, be it large or small. “Our beer,” they’ll say, “is very drinkable,” as if that were a unique feature. Like the ability of a liquid to slide across the tongue and down into one’s gullet into the belly is something to crow about.

Well, you know what has the highest degree of “drinkability”? Water! Is that something we want to hold up as the gold standard for beer? Methinks not.

Craft brewers, it’s time to leave “drinkable” to the big boys, the breweries that really do aspire to have water-like qualities in their beer. If your beers are all about flavour and body and character, why compare them to water? Let’s talk enjoyability instead! Or, if you want something that implies the consumption of a significant amount coupled with the enjoyment factor, quaffability. Along those same lines, “sessionability” is another option. Or just get out your thesauruses; I’m sure there are many more terms waiting therein.

But enough about “drinkability,” okay? And the same goes for “easy drinking.”

April 13, 2011

Congratulations Notch Session Ales!

Great reading about inspired brewers being awarded for their inspiration. Well done, Notch!

SALEM, Mass., April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Ipswich brewer Notch Session Ale took home top honors, including a $5,000 cash prize, in the 2011 North of Boston Business Plan Competition at the Grand Finale on April 11th. The $3,000 second prize went to Tides Medical of Marblehead, MA, which sells orthopedic implants direct to hospitals; $2,000 went to third place winner Groupize, based in Gloucester, MA, which provides state-of-the-art group travel planning. The competition is sponsored by the Enterprise Center at Salem State University.

Notch Session Ale, Ipswich, MA, is capitalizing on the popularity of craft beers by introducing the kind of lower-alcohol beer that British pubs call “session” ale because people can enjoy a longer socializing session without becoming inebriated. “Winning this competition validates our belief that serious beer drinkers are ready for ale that delivers flavor without high alcohol content,” said company president, Chris Lohring. “We’re thrilled, especially as the competition was of such high quality; any of the finalists could easily have won.”

July 2, 2010

Trust Me, the Analysts Are Wrong

A recent report that crossed my desk informs me that despite ill fortunes of late, industry analysts are confident that the decline of the Budweiser brand in the United States can be staunched. They believe that Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABIB) has “the will and the means to stabilise and, gradually, reinvigorate the Budweiser label in the US” and cite “the broader franchise (which) is up due to Bud Light Lime.” They also note that “Bud Select 55 is off to a good start.”

They’re wrong. And here’s why.

The core brand Budweiser is in decline, and has been so for some time now, and for the first time in its history, Bud Light has fallen into the same boat. Some of the analysts quoted in the report see this as no problem, thinking that a renewed emphasis on advertising and promotion can reverse the fortunes of one or both brands. But campaign after campaign has done nothing to alter the course of Budweiser thus far, so it remains a mystery why the analysts think that not only will this suddenly cease being the case, but that the same strategy will also work for Bud Light.

My view is a little different because, where mainstream beer is concerned, advertising and promotion hasn’t really been cutting it lately. Sure, we’ve seen the great effectiveness of the “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign for Dos Equis, but that’s: a) a premium import; b) a relatively small market brand; and c) a campaign that has gone viral to a remarkable degree, even infiltrating the mass media, or in other words, a once in a blue moon hit. To expect a similar campaign to influence the fortunes of the Budweiser family to a proportional degree is outrageously optimistic.

Next up, we have the analysts who like the way Bud Light Lime and Bud Select 55 are influencing the overall volumes of the Budweiser family. This, too, is optimism to the extreme. The lime segment of the market is a passing fad which, like so many beer fads before it, will surely fade away and be forgotten. The ultra-light category is going nowhere, in my estimation. So long term, I don’t see either buoying the Budweiser brand.

Sure, after Bud Light Lime is trotted out to pasture, the minds at ABIB may very well come up with a new fad beer to replace it, but consider this: when was the last time that happened? Has anyone had a Bud Ice lately? I didn’t think so.

The beer market in the United States is changing, my analyst friends, and Budweiser, Bud Light and all the brand’s off-shoots are losing ground to more interesting, more flavorful beers. (Hell, even Bud Light Lime falls into that category!) They might still rule the roost, and will likely continue to do so for some time to come, but the iron fist is weakening and I see no change coming down the pipe that will alter that any time soon.

April 17, 2010

Women, errr, Wenches & Beer, a Continuing Study

Over at her own site, my new protégé/assistant/social media tutor, the inescapable Beer Wench, has declared war on a new U.K. brew – let’s not call it beer, okay? – being developed specifically for women by MolsonCoors and something called the Bittersweet Partnership. She don’t like it one bit, do the Wench.

To her great credit, Ashley, as the Wench is known in certain circles, has rattled a few cages with her post and prompted much discussion, including multiple responses from someone named Kristy McCready of the Bittersweet Partnership and one early reply from yours truly.

Reading through it all, I find most of the comments, although certainly well-intentioned, do tend towards the invective, and while I am certainly sympathetic to the sentiments expressed by many of the posters, including the Wench, I also feel that a certain balance is lacking. And so, rather than continue one with the ever-growing list of comments at her site, I thought I’d cross-link here and add a little moderation to the debate, to wit:

I am no great fan of Coors Light or Molson Canadian, the two brands Ashley uses to illustrate her post, but neither should they be dismissed out-of-hand. They appeal to a big piece of the market, one which – contrary to what Ashley maintains – really does not care about what they put in their mouths. Or so dislikes the taste of conventional beer that they look for a brand with as little flavour as possible. (This has been shown true in beer market research, with most beer drinkers admitting to enjoying the social lubricant side of beer more than the actual taste.) Whether people dislike the taste of beer because of how companies like MolsonCoors have evolved it or companies like MolsonCoors have taken the taste of their brands in a given direction because that is what the consumer wants, well, that’s a chicken-and-egg argument we’ll never resolve.
The new beer proposed by Bittersweet and MolsonCoors is a marketing endeavour seeking to address a demographic they currently see as being underserved, or not served at all. That’s what companies their size do. If their market data showed that the demographic they’re wanting to exploit desired an Imperial stout or IPA, you can bet that’s what they’d be brewing.
That said, this experiment will most likely fail, as do most of the new brands the big brewers come out with. Occasionally one will stick around for a while and make a ton of cash for the company – hello, Bud Light Lime – but for the most part, new product launches spike and decline with astonishing speed. Speaking of which, anyone had a dry or ice beer lately?
This is deviating from the topic a bit, but having just recently spent a day in the British brewing town of Burton-on-Trent, I can say that MolsonCoors deserve credit on two counts – the development and spring opening of the National Brewery Centre on the grounds of their brewery and the relaunch and promotion of the White Shield Brewery. The former is a move no doubt contrived at least in part to reverse the horrible press the company received when it closed the old Bass Brewing Museum/Coors Visitors Centre a couple of years back, but the latter comes because MolsonCoors sees a growing market for bottle-conditioned and cask-conditioned ale, just as they and Bittersweet see an opportunity in the young female market.
And so, to close, this new beer launch is no more an attack on women than the reams and reels of beer advertising directed at males, portraying them as jocks and morons, is an attack on men. Which is to say, as insulting as it may be to those of us with senses of social responsibility, fairness and taste, both exist because they works.

Oh, and one final note, what’s the difference between drinking PBR, as I’ve seen so many craft beer industry types do, and drinking Canadian or Carling or Coors Light? Answer: nothing at all!