Sometimes when I have a stout, I often think to myself that it's no Freeminer Deep Shaft Stout, a beer I was recently reminded of by its listing in the December BeerAdvocate - and particularly reminded of when I noticed that the magazine had used my very own photo from that 2004 post to illustrate the page. Quite surprising, a moment like that. Not a good photo but a grand beer.
Anyway, this beer from Stone is called a limited Spring 2007 release and weighs in at 10.8%. A big yin but what does it add to the body of my stouty knowledge? Mint and dry Dutch licorice with a thread of booze heat entwined with the roasted malts, dark chocolate and dark dried fruit. Lovely balance even with the heft. Cream yeast. Maybe it's the telltale Stone insistence on the label's discourse on the brew as some dripping from a dark Satanic ritual that puts me off a little. These beers in mid-winter always seem to herald hearty cheer in some way. A beer that should make you reconsider ever paying twice as much for an imported Baltic dark brew. Huge BAer support as is deserved and no doubt expected.
Unlike the publication of that photo. Never expected that.
Comments
Evan Rail - January 18, 2008 7:18 AM
Of course they got permission to use the photo and paid you for its use. Right?
Alan - January 18, 2008 9:16 AM
I think they have now seen the matter as needing to be considered in a corporate level way. But we are only discussing credit as the photo sorta sucks.
Evan Rail - January 18, 2008 10:28 AM
So they did not get permission? They just swiped your photo and used it without asking you? And they didn't credit you either?
The quality of the photo is a nonissue. It wouldn't matter if, hypothetically, the articles in BeerAdvocate sorta sucked (not that they do -- I'm just saying hypothetically).
If I took a sort-sucky article and copied it into one of my columns without crediting the magazine, I'm sure that would be a *big* problem for them.
This must be just a goofy little mistake. They've already sent you a big wet apology, right?
Alan - January 18, 2008 10:57 AM
They are certainly looking into this. I am sure that the right thing will be done.
Stan Hieronymus - January 18, 2008 11:22 AM
Evan is right, the quality if not an issue.
If anything the ongoing low quality of your product shots - stop to smile - illustrates that taking photos of bottles and glasses of beer together is not all that easy.
I suspect that it would have taken only a simple e-mail, in advance, and you would have granted permission and been happy to get credit, correct?
It is doubly disappointing given that BA's roots are no different that yours.
Alan - January 18, 2008 12:19 PM
It is true - I still have my punk credibility and I seriously doubt they were buying Sex Pistols albums in 1977.
I appreciate the quality point and I do think I have improved muchly over the last four years - but it is a constant reminder of how very hard to do well. Interesting to point out that I do not think there has been bottled Freeminer DSS in the US since then as all reviews I have seen are draft and my emails with the brewer back then indicated that they were only working on their distribution through Rogue on other bottles in their lineup.
Paul Arthur - January 18, 2008 12:50 PM
Do note that many of the photos on BA are submitted by community members. While the rules for uploading say "DO NOT UPLOAD copyrighted images or images from other websites", it's relatively easy for an unscrupulous (or lazy, or ignorant) person to upload someone else's photo, and unless the photo is watermarked or the person approving it recognises it there's no way to tell it came from a website.
Alan - January 18, 2008 2:07 PM
Oh that could be true but in this case another photo of the Freeminer beer is shown with the reviews. And this is the magazine not the website. And wouldn't the response have been, if that were the case, that "Joe X told us it was his to give us!"
Evan Rail - January 18, 2008 6:06 PM
Well, if another photo is shown with the on-line reviews at BA, and if it is Alan's photo in the magazine, this last explanation from Paul makes no sense whatsoever.
I would be surprised if the guys at BA didn't send you a case of something really great as a way of apologizing. This is about a stout, so I'd think a box of something like Surly Darkness would be perfectly dulce et decorum.
The BA guys are not cheaters, and they're not cheapskates. They would have to understand that they infringed upon your intellectual property rights, however accidentally, and I'm sure they're going to make it up to you post-haste.
Alan - January 18, 2008 6:56 PM
Quite so - and I would be happy with both the credit and a simple means to regularize this. I see no reason why good BAers can't submit photos for use. Just need a handy web uploader thingie.
But if beer giving is really insisted upon, I would be quite happy with the Freeminer stout. It is one of the best beers I have ever had - such tightly multilayered goodness, like licking shale side on.
Stan Hieronymus - January 19, 2008 9:25 AM
Alan, I suspect that many, maybe even most, people who would write "like licking shale side on" would not be describing "one of the best beers I ever had."
Alan - January 19, 2008 9:30 AM
Then that is my gift to the world!
Alan - January 19, 2008 9:32 AM
BTW - that is a distinct recollection I had when drinking the beer that triggered an images of a specific hill side in Kings County, Nova Scotia which had a shale seam exposed right by a turn in the dirt road. The stone was dark thin and flaky like good pastry.