I am a lazy beer blogger. An intensely lazy one. I have not yet sent out the four prize packages that I am duty bound to mail to winners in Ontario, Norway, Costa Rica and the Czech Republic. Sure there were Christmas parties needing attending and holiday travel and also a cold that won't go away but that still makes for a pretty sad effort. Packing one tonight. Really. And I haven't done a "best of 2010" post at all. Maybe I should do a "best of the best of 2010 beer blogging posts post" - that would be great. Why no such luck? Why do I remain distracted? Too much in the news:
- • It's not my country but do Australians really need a free beer especially as the national team lost? Has the brand now associated itself with losers? Couldn't a competitor blame the loss on the brewery's hubris? All I know is if someone tries this in Canada, it better involve a bacon sandwich.
- • It's still not my country but I think the introduction of a 400 ml serving in the UK is a bit weird. What is wrong with choosing between a half or full pint? It neatly corresponds to wanting a little or a decent amount. On the other hand, why does a government need to pass a law? As long as you order "X" number of ounces and get that many as part of the contract between you and the bartender, why do you need a law?
- • It's also not my country but I find the reaction to the US Brewer's Association's decision to change its definition of small to be, well, weird as well. First, who needs their definition of what is a good beer defined by a trade association? What other group of consumers would allow itself to be led by the nose in that way? Second, while I appreciate Andy's point that this reflects good news about something we all love, is it really good to make vaguer (by 300%) a characteristic to ensure the thing we love continues to be the object of our affection? Lastly, isn't Dave right? Isn't this just placating one brewer and trying a bit too earnestly to link the success of one to the success of all. I'd prefer to see "small" broken out into small, smaller and smallest but then the BA stats would have to start being stats and not just PR.
The only thing better than best of 2010 blogging is 2011 predictions blogging. Stan wins. His is the best. I wanted to suggest that beer in aerosol spray cans will be the future. Then I didn't. But if it happens I said it first.
Comments
Knut - January 5, 2011 4:20 AM
A law saying that you should have a line on the glasses could be ok, then they should be free to use whichever fractions of metric or imperial measures they'd want to. To hail this as a victory is beyond me.
Simon Johnson - January 5, 2011 5:40 AM
Well: someone's got to drink VB and they have a marketing campaign to run, regardless of result.
Smaller serving size? A plan to reduce consumption dressed up as offering wider consumer choice.
Why pass a law? To ensure the consumer gets what they ask for, that a pint is a pint is a pint. Or a half. Or a third. Or two-thirds. Which may or may not include the head. Blame Magna Carta.
Why change the 'small' definition? Marketing again. The stats look better with Boston inside the tent.
Aerosol beer? It's the future. I bet Brewdog are all over the idea already.
olllllo - January 5, 2011 11:33 AM
Aerosol?
Where is your sense of tradition and quality?
Don't make me start CaMSA (Campaign for Manually Spritzed Ale)
Alan - January 5, 2011 11:51 AM
Manual Spritzing is utterly separate and inferior to our aerosol dispensing traditions. CAMSA is an utter abomination to the members of CAMBA, the Campaign for Beer by Aerosol.
Jeff Alworth - January 5, 2011 5:30 PM
With regard to the point about defining US 'craft beer.' It's useful to have some metric to study the rise and fall of craft beer in the US, and so arbitrary numbers about barrelage are silly. But it's also silly to boot craft brewers who, while continuing to make exactly the same beer, band together in a consortium, as did Widmer-Red Hook-Goose Island (and ?) when they formed Craft Brewers Alliance. One day my Widmer is a craft beer, and the next it's not. Like holy water, but in reverse, de-sanctified.