Watch For Imposters! Macro in Micro Clothing.

Incomplete list of Faux Craft Beers on the market:

Shock Top (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Blue Moon (Molson Coors)
Harvest Moon (Molson Coors)
Ganville Island Brewing Company (Molson Coors)
Stone Mill Pale Ale (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Sun Dog Amber Wheat (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Beach Bum Blonde Ale (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Alexander Keith’s (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Landshark Lager (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Margaritaville Brewing Co (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Redbridge (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Wild Blue (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Wild Red (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
ZiegenBock (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Kokanee (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)
Hurricane Malt Liquor (Anheuser-Busch Inbev)

Oversaturation and YOU!

Oversaturation (n., adj.): The excessive flooding of a market with a commodity that consumers can purchase








People all over the nation have been tossing around the word "oversaturation" for a couple years now. Mind you, West Michigan does maintain a great market, we've seen our own slew of new breweries over the last two years: Vivant, Harmony, Mitten, Perrin, 57 Bistro and Grille, Sunset Boulevard, White Flame, Pike 51 and Rockford BCs have all opened their doors.

Oversaturation

This topic is referring to our current explosion of microbreweries in the US. We are getting to the point that there are so many that it may not be beneficial for the culture. This aspect effects the user (aka you), and also effects the producers and distributors (aka them).

Us and Them

As far as the producers go (especially those planning to open soon), oversaturation is a frustrating topic. Existing and soon-to-be-existing breweries are getting more frustrated with our ever-growing situtation, because it all comes down to, you guessed it - money. It comes down to customers and customer flow. Brewery owners are getting pinched because they are simply one brewery of twenty in a given area, and just can't pull in the business.

We have a bit of a unique situation locally here in Grand Rapids because we appear to have a bottomless beer culture. You open it, we'll drink it! Point and case goes to Grand Rapids BC, who just opened in early December (the second to last projected open for Grand Rapids). They were at capacity for fourteen days, and the public drank them down to around two taps for the entirety of that time.

Let's use Elk Brewing as a hyper-local example. They are slated as the last proposed microbrewery in the City of Grand Rapids. It's taken them a while to get the doors open (having taken over a year and a half and have yet to release an opening date), but reports indicate that they are brewing up a storm behind those closed doors.

Can you imagine the pressure? They are opening into a retail market that is full of breweries, world class beers, (now) loved and cherished local joints, how are they supposed to compete, especially with so many breweries with an already established local pull?

(Obviously, I'm playing the Devil's Advocate here, I know they will be open and be absolutely smashed busy, as is the Grand Rapids custom, but the point still stands.)

The other aspect of "THEM" problems include retail space. How is a new brewery possibly supposed to find shelf space amongst a plethora of international, national, regional, and local brands (especially when the beer layout of mostly every national and regional retailer is designated by AB/inbev)? How are distributors supposed to push their product when that product is only one of forty breweries represented by them, and they are one of eight distributors in the area?

You can see where this starts to get messy. But the answer is a unique one: it's us.

US

This problem takes on a much more personal note with the individual beer lover.

Oversaturation means an inevitable decline in quality.

If there were five great breweries in the city five years ago, and five years from now this city boasts over 50 breweries, how many of them do you think will be making good beer?

Every homebrewer that has picked up a paddle has said to their friend, "all I want is to open a microbrewery," and now it's easier than ever, and people are actually doing it.

The national markets are showing that Microbreweries are where a decent chunk of entertainment revenue is coming from, our national tastes are shifting, and everyone wants their own brewery. However, everyone who wants to open a brewery, doesn't mean that they should.

This is where WE come in.

It's our job as beer lovers and people who care about our industry to be honest and open with our brewers, to not be afraid of hurting feelings and openly share your actual opinion. If it's a brewer that really cares about their beer, they will respect you for sharing your opinion and (hopefully) take it to heart.

No one wants to see their beer degrade, nothing is better in the brewing industry than actually speaking your mind.

As we go forward into our oversaturated market, don't forget to share your opinion and stand up for good beer - it deserves to be stood up for!

Remember this in the years to come, as breweries come and go, open and close, undoubtedly we will see many more open than close. That's the other thing, in a very saturated market, especially one as critical as Grand Rapids, if you don't open a good brewery, you won't stay open. Make it or break it.

Just don't forget, it's US. Our voice. The buyers. We decide what we want to succeed in our city with what we pay for.

I could go on and on about this topic, but I think I'll save it for a future post.

Thanks for reading,
Cheers and cheers,
Ben

Second Round of the Grand Rapids Beer Tasting Class Concludes..

Hello everyone,
the second round of the GRBTC has come to a close. This 9-week installment of the tasting class featured two field trips, one to Brewery Vivant, and the other to Hopcat, and the class had an average attendance of 30 persons.

I am currently looking to expand the BTC to Lansing, Kalamazoo, and the Lakeshore.

Other big news coming down the line.. I very well may be a business owner soon..

BD

HUGE NEWS from ARCADIA BREWING COMPANY!

Arcadia Brewing Company has been approved by the Kalamazoo Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for the purchase and redevelopment of a riverfront property on the Kalamazoo River. 


    The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has announced its support for the project with the Michigan Community Revitalization Program grants for the mixed-use facility. The grants are valued at $1 million and will assist with the construction of the 4,500 square foot barbeque-themed brewpub. 


    The facility will also include a 24,000 square foot beer production facility.  The new facility is projected to open in the summer of 2013. Arcadia plans to operate their existing facility in Battle Creek Michigan as well as the new property in Kalamazoo.
___________________________


Arcadia moves to Kalamazoo! This is wonderfully exciting news. 


As I'm sure some of you have realized, Arcadia BC is kind of a sleeper in West MI. You ask people to name three breweries from West MI and I bet Arcadia won't be one.

Regardless of clout or talk, Arcadia is one of the biggest breweries on this side of the mitten. Their fermentation space is seriously huge, and their distribution has been steadily growing over the last few years.

Arcadia has been surrounded by rumors for the last year as to where this mystery pub was going to open, and here we have our answer - and way bigger than expected! The rumors had been that they were considering opening one or two small brewpubs around WMI (rumored was Grand Rapids and KZOO), keep them small as an output for Arcadia's brews, and also be free to brew pub-only releases.

The announcement has blown all the rumors right out of the water. Rather than going for a smaller, efficient brewpub model, they've blown that apart fifteen-fold. 


This is something that I want you to realize about this project: Arcadia is opening a second brewery that is big enough to be an entirely separate entity. 


This restaurant/pub/brewery is ten times the size of any of the smaller breweries, and even out-does the original Arcadia brewery.


This is a massive step for Arcadia, and one that looks to the future. A new brewhouse, new bottling/canning system, a new pub, new restaurant - but the biggest figure is the 24,000bbl brewing facility. 

Not only will this allow them to effectively double their production output, but the amount of fermentation space created in the new facility will allow a ridiculous amount of production - and, on top of the production from the main facility.

Arcadia is making a move on the West MI market, and they may not be opening until next year, but this? This is massive.

Cheers,

BD

The Dude Imbibes

(((Apologies about the spacing. Blogspot either wants to take my paragraphs and slam them together, or, with ONE SPACE, put them four spaces apart. le sigh.)))

Grand Rapids Casual Beer Tasting Class!

Hey all,

for those of you who were interested in more information on the CASUAL BEER CLASS I'm starting, here's the deal.

1. ITS CASUAL

this is not an in-your-face intense, super serious class. It is laid back, it is conversative and open. There are no dumb questions, this class is all about learning and understanding beer for the beauty that it is. Don't be afraid to drink! This is a class about BEER, and inebriation is a part of it. Of course, don't let yourself go if you have to drive home, but once the main talking section of the night is over, I intend on drinking ALOT of beer, and encourage you all to join me.

The other thing is guys, I'm not an expert. There are countless people that know a WHOLE LOT MORE about beer than I do. I do love beer and have spent years studying it, but there are ALWAYS those who know more than you, and that doesn't matter if you're attending a class or teaching it. Hopefully i'll be able to bring a few of my brewer friends around and get some inside info on certain topics. My desire to teach this class comes solely from a love of beer, and a desire to share that love with others and help them experience it, too.

2. ITS ABOUT THE BEER

this class is all about the love and appreciation of beer! It will help you comprehend, experience, and describe beers more accurately. More importantly, this casual class will help you understand how beer is made, what goes into it, and what makes beer taste the way it does.

Once you have an understanding of how beer is made and what goes into it, you'll find yourself experiencing beer much more fully, delving into the flavors of all of the components and knowing what you're tasting. You'll soon find yourself able to try a beer, be able to slap a style on it, figure out what's right with it and what's left to be desired.

3. FIRST DRAFT SCHEDULE

I'm planning on a majority of the meetings to be at 25 Kitchen and Bar on monday nights at 9p. The special is 2.25 on all their craft drafts and wells. If I am tentatively planning a week at another location, it will be noted in parenthesis.

WEEK 1 & 2 - Introduction: Brewing Basics, ingredients, and process

WEEK 2 - Basics, emphasis on Introduction to tasting. Lager - Pilsner, Bock, and (ale) Pale Ale

WEEK 3 - IPA and Double IPA; focus on hops

WEEK 4 - Wheat Ales; focus on adjunct fruit brewing and yeast

WEEK 5 - Amber, Brown, and Porter; focus on malt

WEEK 6 (Brewery Vivant) - Belgian Beers; focus on fermentation and yeast esthers

WEEK 6 - Stouts; focus on dark malt

WEEK 7  (Hopcat) - Strong Ales, Old Ales, and Barleywines; focus on extreme brewing

WEEK 8 - Off flavors and infection; focus on overall balance, impression, and malt bill

Well there you have it!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me feedback! This is a group effort, and I want to make sure that I hit all the topics people want!

Cheers,

Ben

Q &A: What Makes a "Good" Brewery?

Hey all,
I've been asked this question time and time again, be it at a pub, a tasting, or a store. People are constantly wondering what makes a brewery "good".

I'm sure you all know a friend who rants and raves about a specific brewery - "they're the best!" and "they don't make a bad beer!" When you, yourself know that that brewery does, in fact, have a few less than desirable brews offered.

In the terms of this discussion, we're gonna be discussing breweries in terms of a distributional entity, not taking into consideration their taproom offerings. The taproom is the most thorough place that you can evaluate the merits of a brewery, but we must recognize the possibility that not everyone will be able to visit the taproom of said brewery. So, for this explanation of defining a "good" brewery will be kept in terms of distribution and attainable bottles (generally referring to the Great Lakes region).

WHAT MAKES A BREWERY A GOOD BREWERY?


This question can be answered in a great many ways. But, I will attempt to bring it down to a personally applicable evaluative process, and will propose the core idea first: A "good" brewery is one that produces "good" beer across the board. In the simplest form, you can have any beer from this brewery, and you know it's at least going to be "good".

Now, everyone's definition of "good" is different, depending on exposure, tasting experience, a brewing background, or a firm understanding of your regional market's offerings. For a relative notion of understanding, so we can progress together, I will generally say that my idea of a "good beer" is one that would rank in the C+ to B range.

So now, think about a local brewery you like, that you have explored a majority of their brews. Think of the beers you like in particular, then the beers you like, and the ones you don't particularly care for, or return to regularly. How are they? These are the brews that will show you the mettle of the brewery in your eyes. If you think of a brew that you like least, and it's still a killer brew, then - in my opinion - you've found yourself a solid brewery.

Think of the brewery's beers laterally. With a glistening glass bottle of every one of their brews sitting in a line for you. How did you rate each one? Think about the average outcome of your ratings and that will tell you how the brewery does in your eyes.

So I figure we'll get into it. I'll just do a couple for me, and leave the rest to you!

So, I figure i'll do one local and one distant Michigan brewery.

FAR AWAY BREWERY: Short's Brewing Co.


Well here we go. Perfect. I'm down here in Grand Rapids, and Short's is all the way upstate in Bellaire. There's no way I can get there, so all I have to judge the brewery on is the bottles I can get down this way.

The brewery has a few outstanding offerings, including PANDEMONIUM PALE ALE (A-) and BELLAIRE BROWN (B+). Their seasonal fare offers a few standouts, including GOOD HUMANS (A), and Imperial Brown, and THE LIBERATOR IPA (A).

Overall, Short's falls somewhere in the high C range. They definately have some good brews, but, upon exploring, you find yourself wanting for more with the experimentals. Some turn out wonderfully (like SPRUCE PILSNER), but others leave your mouth overwhelmed with sweet adjunct additions (Strawberry Shortscake, Key Lime Pie, Funkin Punkin).

This particular brewery releases tons of bottles yearly, in a very wide variety. Unfortunately for me, many of them tend to fall into the "less-impressive" category, although their standards do, indeed, shine.

SHORTS BREWING CO: C+


CLOSE TO HOME: FOUNDERS BREWING CO


This is an interesting one, as many people have Founders regionally available. Being from Grand Rapids, Founders is our hometown brewery. So, hometown favoritism set aside, let's talk about the beer.

Let's look at their standard line: Pale Ale, Centennial IPA, Red's Rye, Porter, and Dirty Bastard. You can find these most anywhere in the region these days. But we shall start here. And guys, don't forget this is just my opinion, I'm just hoping to help you understand le process!

The Pale Ale (C) is a pleasant brew, but hardly impressive. Red's (B) is a solid contender and a great pint, Dirty Bastard (B) is a Scotch Ale on steroids, while IPA (A) and Porter (A) are world-class styles.

So, right off the bat we can see that Founders is doing very well. As we drift into their seasonal releases, we get some Double Trouble IPA (A), and some Cerise (B-), and then some of my favorite darker brews around, Breakfast Stout (A), Imperial Stout (A) and KBS (A).

Well, here we can see that Founders is doing really well for me. Across the board, they're averaging a low A.

So now, I could confidently say, if someone asked me what I thought of founders, that they're an "excellent" brewery.

FOUNDERS BREWING CO: A-






So, when your'e thinking about how good a brewery is, don't forget to think of it as an entire entity. Not just one beer you like, but how they do overall is what matters. Consistency!

For the love of beer,
Cheers,
BD

INTERVIEW: Scott Graham - Executive Director of the Michigan Brewer's Guild

BD: What are the Guild's thoughts on the 2012 Winter Beerfest?

SG: Really good! We're expecting it to be more popular than ever and we're trying to make some more room for some more people. There'll be more breweries and more people as well.

BD: Last year I read entry was expanded by about 1,000. You mentioned more people for this year, thoughts?

SG: We were a little short of 1000 last year, and we are planning on allowing more people entry this year. the basic idea is that we want to fit in more people promoting michigan beer and keep our breweries growing. even with ticket availability last year we sold out earlier than previous years. So, i think they'll go fast this year.

BD: How did MBG settle on 5/3 ballpark, and how are relations going with them?

SG: When we decided to move the festival in it's third year from Lansing to Grand Rapids, we looked at a few different places, and 53 is one of the ideas that happened to evolve and work out, and we have a great partnership with them, we get along and we love working with eachother. There are things that
we don't get to focus on, like parking, that they completely take care of. We love those guys, they're great.

BD: How many breweries attended last year, and how do you expect this year to turn out with brewery representation?

SG: Our festivals are open to all of our members, we don't set a goal or a target. we're not out trying to reach a number, but as the number of the breweries in the guild grows, so does representation at festival. Last year was about 60.

BD: Have you heard from any number of these brand new breweries that have opened up?

SG: Most of these new breweries are joining the guild, and we would like
every brewery to be a member. There's so many opening that sometimes i don't realize they're there until they're already open!

BD: What would you say to someone who has never been before?

SG: It's just such a great thing to do in Feb. A great thing to do in the winter. Get yourself outside and enjoy some Michigan beer. There's alot less going on in that time and people are looking for something to do. Our crowds have a great attitude, they're happy to be there and are really easy going.


See you in FEB for WINTER BEERFEST!