Some startling statements in this report on a presentation by Simon Thorpe, the president of Duvel USA/Ommegang from May 2 reported in this article published just yesterday:

“We are revenue and margin driven, which means high pricing and margins at the expense of volume... We think that the difference that our luxury beers bring to our wholesaler and our retail partners is important, not just in terms of profitability but also in terms of the changing wave of the way this new millennial generation is thinking about beer...

“BMW presents luxury at multiple price points,” he said. “It introduces luxury at various levels through a chain. Their marketing programs are all about loyalty and building someone up the ladder of luxury.” Ommegang and Duvel beer types follow a similar “luxury ladder” and are often found in high-end on-premise accounts. They cost more, but fit with a consumer base that has been trained to reevaluate what is ordinary and what can be regarded as luxury. “They [consumers] need to feel so good about a luxury brand to justify the price,” he said.

See? Haven't I been telling you for years? This is what a certain sector of good beer thinks you are: a source of high margin mark up that has been trained to pay more not because of intrinsic value but because of perceived luxury. Thorpe's point of view has not been infused with craft beer though his career so perhaps it is refreshing that he is so open and honest.

Yet, to be honest in return, it's reason enough for me to not buy his high end beers. Not as a boycott or anything. But because I don't need to. See, unlike a brand like BMW, good beer brands can't claim the sort of exclusivity that underlies this oligopolist's view rubbing his hands as he looks over a limited marketplace. Good beer is thankfully fungible to a degree that luxury cars have never been. And Ommegang is particularly prone to this fact of life. More and more North American brewers are moving into the Belgian clone and semi-clone sub-market and not taking the position that folk need to be "trained" to pay inordinately jacked up prices. In just Quebec alone, I can think of a number of breweries who aim at this niche and make more interesting beer for lower prices. Happy to get better value with my dollar by buying there.

Let's be clear about another thing. This is not someone making the arguments Tomme Arthur did back in 2007 where he claims he is an artist and earns his prices. Not that I believe that all that much but it is his argument and he can hug it all he wants. No, this is the mating of arguments from big beer about "premium branding" with the characteristics of craft beer. This looks much more like, to quote Tomme, "part of some conspiracy theorist group hell bent on raising the price point of beer." Notice, too, how there is no macro-brew left in this vision at all. Not even one artisan. It is another thing altogether. And one to avoid.

Some amazing photos came out of last night's efforts in nearby Prince Edward County with the risk to early tendrils which will, with luck and skill, become the vines that make the grapes that make the wine. The photos above are from a collection posted on Facebook by Norman Hardie, makers of excellent pinot noir loved by Joe Beef which means likely enjoyed, in turn, by Mr. Bourdain. And me, of course. Three degrees of vineous bacon... or beef... or something. Below is a shot posted on twitter by Harwood Estate in the western end of the county.

What is going on? Bales of hay are lit when the temperature sneaks down towards freezing in the spring when the buds have just opened or in the fall when the grapes are just about right. The smudgy smoke takes advantage of an inversion layer holding just enough warmth to push up against the dropping cold. I think. See, I learn about stuff like this from the internets. If twitter is to be believed, success all around on the ground with the cold beaten off.

Some interesting statements from the Jamaican Agriculture Minister at the end of last week:

...Roger Clarke on Thursday said a window of opportunity seems to be opening up for cassava farmers. While unwilling to disclose the issue of price, Clarke said Diageo, the parent company for Red Stripe, appears to be in a position to “take a substantial amount of cassava in their beer manufacturing”... In January, Clarke said in Parliament that Diageo had offered to pay $1 per pound for cassava. “They came to the fore indicating that they wanted cassava to replace the hops in their beer. I did not go to the farmers until I got from them what is the indicative price that they would pay. When they came, finally they said to me they would pay $1 per pound,” Clarke said.

Diageo's global competitor SABMiller has started a cassava brewing program in Ghana following up on another similar one they've been brewing in Mozambique for a year and a half. Likely more to convert the starchy tuberous root into fermentables rather than, as the Jamaican government suggests, as a bittering agent to replace hops. Likely just a misstatement.

In northeastern South America, over a bit to the west, there's a traditional fermented cassava beverage called Kasiri. There are variations elsewhere on the continent as well. But these appear to not be beers so much as simpler, single ingredient fermentations. Neither the BAers or RBers have a review of the beer from Mozambique as far as I can tell but they appear to be... how should one put it... emulations of beer, like Japanese third-category beer, designed to take advantage of lower cost ingredients and lower taxation. News stories offer social good through increased revenue for farmers as other reasons for the initiative.

But is it beer? How much can you remove from beer and still leave enough that it is, you know, beer? Any taste testers out there with reviewing notes to calm the furrowed brow? Google Analytics informs me that there have been a whole 5 visits from Mozambique over the last two years. All from the city of Maputo, too. If these internets stand for anything surely they stand for feedback from that guy.

It is quite the thing to realize how almost, well, a bit dull this 1995 ad for Guinness is when seen 18 years later. But, it was not shown at the time due to the theme of the gay couple:

In 1995, an ad created by Ogilvy and Mather for the ever popular Guinness beer never made its way to the airwaves. It was deemed too controversial. The commercial shows a happily domesticated gay couple—one a more of a neat freak, the other a messy business man on his way to work. We watch their morning routine unfold as Tammy Wynette sings, "Stand By Your Man," in the background.

Hard to imagine what the fuss was. But, then again, hard to imagine what the fuss still is in far too many places. Placing oneself in the context of the recent past, however, has that extra layer of needing to subtract the subsequent events and knowledge which contextualized and caused change. When did political correctness come in? Cultural context just before the internet took off are so poorly described, so hard to get a finger on. Why was tea and toast and a morning routine too hot for Guinness?

The '90s are the land before IPA, before gay and lesbian as norms - and before cheap raspberries in the grocery year round for that matter. My cousin in law... well second cousin in law once removed Mike Malone has just published a novel that also reaches back to the '90s, No Never No More. Lad lit to a certain degree it describes the life of a New York loutish guy in his late 20s, largely set in bars or on rugby fields. Not quite my era as I turned 30 in 1993 when - and certainly not my town - but she who grabbed the parcel when it came through the door gives it high marks. Mike is the writer in residence for Captain Lawrence among other things. The thing I have been writing with Max, aka The Alan and Max Book, has scenes in bars of my youth and now, like the Guinness ad, Mike has me wondering whether I am just recollecting through a filter 30 years on or describing them as they were. With the volume of beer those days were steeped in, it's hard to know. Times before all sports networks playing on the TV in the corner of the bar, when cassette mixed tapes sometimes were one mark of a good bartender.

It's a distracted time. The game between Toronto and Boston is interfering with the game between Toronto and Boston. The first thunderstorm of the spring is moving through giving parched seedlings out in the garden as heavier duties of life nibble at the back of the mind. Yet, it is a warm Friday evening. The kids are out. The smells of that season we Canadians call "not winter" float in through the one open window as the first large drops pat pat pat on the bags of compost waiting to be settled into their plots on the next dry day. As good a time as any to see what's going on out there on the internets.

→ In two weeks or so, I have a chance to hit the one orchard estate perry maker I know of in Ontario. Which makes me utterly jealous of Pete Brown. A folk music, cheese and perry/cider fest. Pleasures unimaginable.

→ Please just leave Bieber alone. In Canada, he is now a grown up... sorta.

→ Jeff makes some very good points on the impending reaction from big beer should what's been considered (for about five years now and still maybe a few more to go) as craft beer not eat itself or, who knows, actually gain a significant market share... as in something approaching 20%. Me, I am quite comfortable knowing that big brewers will quite happily flood the market if need be with cheap and excellent beers inseparable from those offered by the current profitable puritans of craft marketing. I do like his idea that the approach is to add more flavour to lagers but I think this is but one prong of attack. Watch your flank, big craft.

→ Boak and Bailey started early and didn't have to deal with the thug.

→ Stan then Craig reacted to a xenophobic article on how US craft brewers woujld teach Germany a thing or two by being boring and hoppy and achieving <1% marketshare. No consideration on the role of Mosel in the overall equation. Much hand wringing over ugly American interventions but, believe me, far better than dealing with the ugly side of Canadians.

There. The hockey is 1-0 in favour of my team at 8:23 pm while the baseball is the same score for... my team. JINKS! Better quit while I am ahead.

Brewed since 1990, this wheat beer is one of the best arguments against worrying at all about tenancy forms of brewing in principle. While one might unkindly point out the web 1.0 nature of the brewer's web presence, it does give you what you need to know and, more to the point, sets the tone. Fairly focused small batch niche brewing at a high standard for the best part of the craft beer revolution. Quite Toronto-centric in business terms, the stuff never gets out here much, here in the rude and rustic hinterlands 200 km to the east. I get there so rarely but did share part of an evening with the brewer, Michael Hancock back in 2009. I recall him complaining or at least explaining the trials of keeping on top of quality control whether in the then new can or as served from taps watched by the eyes of others.

What about the beer? Deft as much as anything. Even from the can, creamy wheat. Then there's banana, a bit of white pepper and a bit less clove than the other guys. Clouded gold under whipped egg white froth and foamy rim. Leans slightly towards coconut creamy aroma. Lightly soured and spiced in the finish. An insane $2.70 a can, probably the best value in Ontario beer. Would a younger brewer would ruin this with a tiny fleck of shrubbery root or the bark of a tree? It needs none of it. Not so much a vestige of brewing past as a reminder of the days of easy adulteration by adjunct or showboating by faddish hop.

Oddly, the BAers tell you how the RBers rate it #1 then rate it not as highly.

Even with a couple of law degrees, I was having a hard time understanding this article from Tanzania over a legal dispute between breweries that has advanced from a tribunal, the Fair Competition Commission, up to the Court of Appeal until I narrowed the text down to this:

...SBL... complained... that TBL was removing its signage and posters from retail outlets countrywide... [and]... TBL... alleg[ed] that [SBL was] using its bottles and crates to park its products to the point even embossing TBL's bottles with its marks.

Holy dirty tricks, Batman! Taking the other guy's marketing crap from stores while the other other guy puts its branding on your beer? See, SBL is Serengeti Breweries Limited while TBL is Tanzania Breweries Limited. The first is a branch of the Diagio subsidiary by name of East African Breweries Limited while the second is a branch of SAB Miller. Oddly, the two main firms were apparently in partnership in the east African beer market until 2009. Which is just one year before the ruling being being appealed as described in the article. There integration or disintegration was still being discussed in the 2012 SAB Miller annual report... check out the note at page 56.

Neatest of all, the Fair Competition Commission of Tanzania actually has an online presence. Sadly, perhaps for you as much as me, the actual rulings appear to not be available but in the first FCC newsletter, the case between SBL (Diagio) and TBL (SAB Miller) is described as "complaint 2 of 2009" which means the hi-jinks (let's be honest) between the two brewing firms pretty much got going as soon as their partnership came apart. The implications are not minor as the value of the order being appealed in the case seems to be 5% of one of the firms annual gross revenue. Big money.

All of which give me the giggles that the high level international jet-settery of stateless corporations may boil down to guys from one firm ripping the other guy's posters down as the other guy's staff are plunking their labels on the first guys beer bottles. And you thought "crafty" was clever.

It's Session time again. Or it was Friday and now it's Sunday 8:02 am. See, there's things to do. Gardening, smoking pork, napping, sitting. So, it was with deep regret that I realized I needed to post something for this the three quarter-ish of a century edition of these, Les Sessions. The question this month is a bit, err, specific:

Creating a commercial brewery consists of much more than making great beer, of course. It requires meticulous planning, careful study and a whole different set of skills from brewing beer. And even then, the best plan can still be torpedoed by unexpected obstacles. Making beer is the easy part, building a successful business is hard. In this Session, I’d like to invite comments and observations from bloggers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery. What were the prescient decisions that saved the day or the errors of omission or commission that caused an otherwise promising enterprise to careen tragically off the rails?

Hmmm... a tad particular, no? A wee bit off the point of the plan. Seeking business advice from beer bloggers? Let's see. What did Stan write? Oh, cheater pants. He inverted the question and pointed out how brewing the beer is not the easy part. Good thing that is true or I would have a real issue with Stan this month. A real issue.

So, ..."first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery." What can I say. You could do worse than read the blog How to Start a Brewery (in 1 million easy steps) from one of Canada's more successful craft brewers, Beau's. Go look at the beginning, 25 May 2006 when they were about 65 employees smaller. Here's the first batch being brewed. Here's when the yeast died at the customs office. Read on. You will likely find there were no prescient decisions. There was panic and scramble, beer and patience. And luck. Lots of luck. And good taste and humour. Brewers who lack the skills at those sorts of things, well, don't make it.

Oh, I cheated as much as Stan did. Damn. I'll have to have a word with myself.

Funny how the business press relates to the business of beer a little differently from the beery press:

Shares of the Boston Beer Company (SAM), maker of Samuel Adams and other craft beers, plunged nearly 11% Thursday. The hangover comes a day after Boston Beer reported earnings that badly missed analysts' expectations. Boston Beer earned 51 cents per share in the first three months of 2013, down almost 9% from a year earlier and well below the 62 cents a share expected by analysts. Despite the drop in earnings, revenue rose 20% in the quarter as demand for cider and hard iced tea offset weakness in demand for the company's flagship Sam Adams beer. Boston Beer blamed the drop in earnings on increased spending on advertising and marketing, as well as higher costs for certain raw materials.

See all those interesting facts? The biggest craft brewer in the US has decreasing craft beer sales. Never heard that one. Just heard the hooray for everything party line of perpetual inevitable advance and domination. Instead, cider and hard ice tea props it up. Does it still deserve the pretendy "small brewer" badge or, more importantly, the tax break?

More importantly even than that, if the top craft-like brewery in the US is losing craft beer sales... is that good or bad?