Storz Brewing Comeback - A Good Thing?

I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the re-emergence of the Storz brand of beer in Omaha. There has been article after article in the local papers, and social media has been abuzz with the excitement of the news of a lost brand returning to production. Yet, my enthusiasm wanes.

You see, back in the 90s the craft beer scene was growing rapidly and people were taking notice of this new, thriving market segment. What began as homebrewers taking their passion for the hobby to a new level became a money-making venture for many an entrepreneur who didn’t necessarily have a love for craft beer. As a result, a lot of bad beer was made under the guise of “microbreweries” and the bubble ended up popping.

The return of Storz to Omaha strikes me as a situation that could possibly be similar to the craft beer boom of the 90s. The beer scene in Nebraska is doing very well and new breweries are opening left and right. Suddenly a family with ties to a defunct nostalgic local beer brand decides to create a comeback.

Now, at first I thought that this was very smart of the Storz family. Bring back an old lager recipe, package it with retro styling, and capitalize on the resurgence in popularity of brands like PBR, Hamms, and the like. Yet, it’s been reported that they will be producing “a lager, a wheat beer, a pale ale, and an amber ale.” None of which are using the original Storz recipe (as far as I know). Hopefully, the beer will be good, but I wonder if it won’t be analogous to when Dodge brought the Charger back as a four-door sedan. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the new model, but it’s no Charger!

Another straw for the proverbial camel’s back – A twitter account under the name of Deborah Storz (@djstorz) has been making some noise with tweets like these: 

#Tom Markel is NOT #Gottlieb Storz's greatgrandson and does NOT speak on behalf of MY greatgrandfather and MY side of the #Storz family.

@Jean_Stothert, My brother, Steve Storz, and I are NOT involved in this in any way and were quite surprised by all the media hoopla today.

@TheBeerTrap. I'm one of the 3 great-grandchildren of Gottlieb Storz who bears the Storz surname and was completely blindsided by all this.

@WOWT6News Please stop saying "Storz family" (it's the Markel family). We have nothing to do with this. I am Gottlieb's greatgranddaughter

 Like the sands of the hourglass…

Omaha World Herald Reporter Discovers Craft Beer in Omaha

    

Cara Pesek’s article in the Omaha World Herald talks about three great craft beer businesses in Omaha.  For most, we’ve known about two of these places for years: Brass Monkey and Crescent Moon. However, the third just opened last week: Beercade…a link to my review.

Maybe it’s just me, but I get a kick out these types of articles.  It seems to me the writers are under the notion places like this have just opened recently.  However, since I’m a jaded, craft beer maven, I always take it with a grain of salt.

She labels these places as “fancy beer bars”, which is not something I like to see.  The fancy bars are where you see high prices for top shelf liquor, wine, and watery beer.  Also, the vast majority of craft beer drinkers are not fancy.  They are just the opposite.  They are honest, friendly, and very open-minded.  The bars, and the people inside, are not to be feared.  We will embrace you with open arms and say, “Welcome!  We’ve been waiting for you.”

Craft beer has been part of Omaha for many years, it’s just more people are starting to discover flavor and variety are nothing to be afraid of.  If we approached the rest of our lives the way bland, mass-produced lager drinkers do, we would all be the same.  From the cars we drive, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the music we like, to the places we call home.

You have now been indoctrinated to the craft beer fold, Cara…enjoy!
 

Potentially Harmful Changes to the City of Lincoln Municipal Code

image: lincolnnerealestate.net

 
There are proposed changes related to alcoholic liquor, which should include both commercial craft beer and homebrewed beer.

Please visit the Lincoln’s city website at  http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/council/index.htm.  Click and read both the “Liquor Service Training Ordinance” and “Fact Sheet” links.

There is a city council meeting on Mon, Apr 16 at 3:00 p.m.  Be prepared to share your voice during public commit.

Eric from Moran’s Liquor in Lincoln states, “As a ‘Task Force’ member I do not feel this has been an appropriate amount of time to address all issues concerning the proposed new ordinance. Please contact your City Council Member to urge them to allow more time for the ‘Task Force’ to do their job or share your concern with the ordinance in general…”

Eric also states, “My main concern is we don't yet know the impact because the city is not allowing us the  ‘task force’ enough time to help shape the ordinance. [Therefore] there are a lot of unanswered questions. What I did find out [Wednesday] is in the [city’s] eyes the ordinance as proposed does require all pours of an event to go through the permit process if on private property but not public. [Therefore] things like Oktobeerfest will require this but Ribfest will not. I am sure there will be more impact not yet known.”
 

InBev is at it again now flat out saying they are going to bully distributors.

Sorry for the terrible photoshop

I was flipping through facebook today and came across an article that pretty much infuriated me and I had to share.

INbev Bully Article

We all know that Inbev is the big guy and we also know they pretty much control the distributors they are in because of the sheer volume and money they make for those distributors.  This shouldn't and doesn't come as a surprise.  What comes as a surprise is that they are publicly stating they are going to pressure the distributors to sell more of their product and less of another and I will add my own...OR ELSE.  Here is the quote from article referencing North American Operations President Luiz Edmond.

An unapologetic Edmond says wholesalers must pick sides, and show "loyalty" to InBev.

Wow, just wow!  Do they have the right to do that?  Certainly.  Do I think this wasn't basically going on anyway?  Of course it was.  The biggest problem I have with it is that the little guy doesn't have other options typically.  They can try and get into another distributor but more then likely they will just be competing against another giant like Miller/Coors.  

I know this is how a free market economy works.  The debate would be, get as big as InBev and do the same thing.  Yeah I get it and believe me, I realize that even the big and small craft beer guys are clamoring to put as much pressure on a distributor to sell their products, but honestly, who is going to hold more weight, the one that makes them more money.  Once in a distributor arrangement, in many states, it is very hard to get out with out leaving that state all together for a period of time.  What is a brewery to do, stick it out or leave?  

I compared this to Wal-Mart on facebook, but honestly, not the same thing.  While Wal-Mart does push out the little guy and put pressure on it's suppliers in much of the same ways InBev indicates they are going to do now, retail distribution channels are vast and in high numbers because the state governments do not regulate them as much, if at all, compared to how alcohol distribution is managed.  If I am selling a widget that I want to get into Wal-Mart, but someone else is already selling a similar widget to Wal-Mart through one distributor I can work with another one to get it there so mine can get attention too.  The point being, I can easily jump distributions and more distributors can be available to me to use if I so choose.  One of the big keys is the fact there can be more then a few distributors in an area.

I am not bagging on distributors in this case at all.  You will sell what sells, I have had that conversation in person with a few of you.  During those same conversations though, attention is being paid to craft beer because the demand is there to warrant that attention.  My concern is that if InBev starts pushing it's "craft" beer your way and doing things to influence your decisions are you going to still follow the dollar?  You probably will, can't say I blame you, but if that is the case, let the craft beer people out of their contracts with you easily and quickly so that they can find someone that will sell their products, don't shut them out and not give them the option if you are not going to sell their product anyway or treat it with the respect it deserves.

What do all of you craft drinkers think of this news, if it is in fact news?  What would you like to see be done to combat this?  Let us hear it!

Nebraska increases production rates with new bill

I am sure many of you saw this last week and apologize for just posting it now but here is the AP press release.

LINCOLN, Neb. — The maximum number of barrels of beer that can be produced by a microbrewery or a brewpub would double under a bill signed into law Wednesday by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.
Currently, brewpubs and craft breweries have a production limit of 10,000 barrels of beer per year. The new law allows brewpubs to produce up to 20,000 barrels per year.
One barrel contains 31 gallons, or two kegs, of beer.
The state of Nebraska regulates beer manufacturing and monitors how much brewpubs can sell.
Currently there are 22 licensees with a potential barrel capacity of 220,000 barrels or 6.8 million gallons. The current tax rate is $0.31 per gallon. None of the current licensees produces at the 10,000 barrel limit.
The state received $122,207 in beer production taxes last year.

So what do you think?  I think it is great news but honestly, why do we have a production cap at all?  It appears it is a limit on brewpubs and craft breweries but not macro breweries?  I assume this is an archaic law that was established after prohibition to keep the big boys happy locally, like Falstaff.  I don't know that for sure and I am not going to research it but that seems logical.  So that is great that they doubled the production capacity but why didn't they just eliminate a limit at all?  Am I missing something?  It seems to me that this would seriously impact trying to get a craft brewery to maybe centralize their beer production here so shipping would have shorter distances to haul, but with a cap no one would even look.  I realize that that is probably a pipe dream from an economic development standpoint and from a craft beer standpoint as the concentration of drinkers is on the coast because that is where the concentration of people are but it is worth a consideration don't you think? 

Something to think about, we would like to hear your thoughts, this is obviously a positive but could they have done more?   Why didn't they?

Omaha Beer Week 2012 Review

A couple weeks have passed since the completion of the first Omaha Beer Week and by all accounts it was a tremendous success with only some minor glitches. In speaking with a few of the people that helped organize it and were involved in it, having only minor glitches was a surprise and I understand what they mean. Think about the scope of this thing and the fact that many of the participants and attendees have never been to and in some cases never heard of such a concept like a "beer week," to have only a few issues that need to be addressed is a great accomplishment. I am going to lay out what I heard and in some cases experienced, both the pros and the cons. First, the pros.

PROS

The week was filled with events, you could do many things and try many different beers in many locations every day. The week was not lacking in opportunities for things to do. The highlights for many were the beer dinners that many locations had. I also appreciated some of the rare beer events and having brewery representatives there to discuss the beer was an added bonus. I am not going to pinpoint one event over another because I didn't get to many and the rest of our blog crew couldn't get to them all.

Another big pro I saw was just the sheer look of enjoyment, as well as exhaustion, on beer geeks all over. Everyone I spoke with or tweeted with was just beaming with joy and excitement for the things they were doing and tasting. The passion for the event was tremendous. This went for the owners of the establishments as well.

Last big pro was the promotion, granted promotion can always improve, but when I am 4 hours away from Omaha and I am hearing about Omaha Beer Week on my local radio station and people are coming up to me asking me about Omaha Beer Week and if I heard about it, the promotion was working well and at very minimal cost. Omaha embraced it and will only continue to embrace it.

Now on to the Cons, let me preface this with the fact that just because there are more cons it doesn't mean this was not successful. The cons are minor tweaks that should be looked at and in talking with people most will agree with me on this I believe. Again, just minor issues easily fixed in most cases.

CONS

Probably the biggest complaints came about regarding the Bus tour and the delay of the buses. I don't think anyone expected such a large response to this event. You add in bad weather and it made it worse. The prevailing opinion is we need more buses, short stops and a nominal charge to use the buses to prevent drunk crawls by those that aren't there for the beer. I think these are all fantastic ideas. I was not there for the buses but monitered twitter, facebook, and just talked to people and these all seemed like easily fixable things. Even with these issues, people had a great time that night and still looked past the problems and had fun, very cool

An issue I noticed was some communication/website issues. Not all bars were represented on the site, some to their doing and some because of technical issues. This is a very easy fix, site is in place now and things will get done a lot easier next year.

One issue I have and I know other communities have is this is just Omaha Beer Week, not Nebraska Beer Week. There are a lot of issues with that, but with Lincoln really growing in craft beer and other communities around the state having breweries this may be something to consider in the future. Not really a con, just a wish list. :-) Something needs to be said that Omaha started this and they have every right to have it just theirs, this is just a suggestion to make it more inclusive because I am not sure the other communities, except Lincoln, could support a full week of stuff but would still want to participate.

I also heard a few comments that the time of year might not be the best. We got lucky for the most part on the weather but the first few weeks of February could be brutal cold and snowy, which could cause all kinds of problems. I love the anchor event of Extreme Beer Fest but there are plenty of other events throughout the year that would work as anchors too. Just something to consider.

Lastly, a very small thing but, where were the t-shirts? I know we had glasses but I had a few people at our booth ask us why no Omaha Beer Week shirts were made or sold. Fair question. I think some sweet shirts could be made with the breweries listed on the back like a rock t-shirt or something.

Overall, I think a standing ovation is in order for pulling off such a great event for the first time. The few cons/suggestions are minor at best and things that were being openly discussed at most events that I attended amongst members that helped organize it, so it isn't a real surprise.

What did you think? What were your pros and cons? Let's use this post as a sounding board for those that help organize the next one to make it even better. Be respectful and constructive please.

A distributors rant - how very big of him to show us the way

I just came across a blog post on beernews.org of a distributor's rant on how craft beer needs the 3-tier system and that their success is because of the 3-tier system and that they should bow to the ever mighty 3-tier system and blah, blah, blah.

For your reading pleasure

Let me start off by saying, there is a lot in his post that is true, and in fact in a perfect world most of it is true. The problem is, we don't live in a perfect world. Yes, without the 3-tier system and prohibition, craft beer probably doesn't exist. Yes, economies of scale for craft brewers would make it impossible to self-distribute and be successful.

The problem I have is that it isn't perfect, not even close. He says it in his post, distributors will spend time on winners and those that will be successful because they don't make enough money on them otherwise to be worth the time. So why can't another distributor open up in a region and start catering to these brands and others? Why can't a brewery easily move to another distributor if one doesn't show them the time of day? I know WHAAA... Get over it, it is business, do better. Distributors that are good and fair and treat beer well are few and far between. They are used to treating pasteurized beer poorly and seeing it survive just fine, why can't the little guys do that. I don't want to sell beer that goes bad or doesn't have a shelf life? I say WHAA to that, get a clue. Yes it costs money to refrigerate but maybe you need to understand the product you sell better.

In politics we have a perceived class warfare going on. We have had a class warfare going with distributors too. It needs to stop. This guy and now me probably aren't making it better but I will try, if distributors try too. I have got to know a few distributors around Omaha and Lincoln as of late and they seem to be trying and wanting to win and seem to be getting it because of a few reps that get it. The lines of communication need to be open between brewers and distributors in order for this to work. To pull this arrogant rant/stunt that, in a nutshell, says that the distributors are the reason for craft beers existence and you should kiss our feet every chance you get is BS and not constructive. Every craft brewer I talk to understands and appreciates the purpose of a distributor, they just don't like how things have evolved and how they have little control of their product after it leaves their facility. They understand they have to sell their products to get on taps and they don't have a problem with that. What they want is a fair shake, it is not fair because revenue makes it inherintly unfair and a non-starter essentially. How can you compete with a major global corporation that breaks the rules/laws to keep shelf space and get tap handles (they do, don't let them lie, even craft brewers break the rules)? Distributors should help to make that fair. Are we getting there, yes. We are not there yet and the only way we will get there is if there is a shift in how distributors understand the product they are dealing with. There is obviously responsibility on the brewers to make great beer and make enough to meet their demand, but none of them are going to pasteurize their beer so treat it with the respect it deserves and understand that warm beer will age and degrade very quickly, it just will, even the best made stuff.

I don't have a lot of time to expand on the authors points and just dropped a stream of consciousness so if I stand corrected I will admit it. This article just really was a poor way to address it. He had some great info and points but coming off like a arrogant know it all really screws up his points. This should be a team, not a star athlete trying to be the guy running the show. Do you know who the guy running the show is, do you know who the star athlete is? Me and all the other consumers of beer out there, they run the show. Work together to make it better for me(the consumer) and it will be better for all levels of the 3-tier system. When you understand that you will win.

Proposed Liquor License Restricitions in Omaha - take action now!!

Here is the article

It a nut shell a group wants to restrict liquor licenses so there isn't a high concentration of establishments and so they aren't located near churchs, treatment facilities, etc.  They also want to eliminate the sale of single bottles/cans as well. 

So I see two huge problems with this.  First, you will not see destination areas developed in Omaha like there have been in the past, like the Old Market.  You will also not see any more restaurants in those locations unless those locations are grandfathered in.  That is what stood out at me at first, but the second thing is the real doozy.

Could you imagine not being able to buy single bottles of Belgians or Boulevard Smoke Stack or even local bottles of Nebraska Brewing Company or Upstream beers?  Yeah, not allowing single bottle sales would cripple the craft beer scene in Omaha.  Omaha would lose out on a ton of options out there, especially in unique craft beer.  Obviously the intention is to eliminate the sale of 40oz and tall boys at convenience stores, but because of ignorance they missed a large portion of the market and cripple some local establishments. 

Omaha, do what you can to stop these neo-prohibitionist in their tracks.  This can not see the light of day!!

Old Chicago, Please Change Your Ways...

  
We have promoted Old Chicago before, and we will continue to do so, if they send us craft beer-related news.  However, their latest "beer tour", has us questioning their contribution to craft beer in general.  This picture is an example of that.

First, this is not a 'micro' by definition.  Second, $3.49 for a can of Miller beer?.  Old Chicago was one of the first places in the country to really champion different beers, and it was one of the first places we both remember going to get our craft beer fix.  They probably are responsible for helping kick-start a lot of the tap houses we see today.  What have you become, Old Chicago?

This isn't the first time in recent history mass-produced 'domestic' beers have been featured on their tours.  Also, it would seem to most people, the tap selection has stagnated in recent years.  Rather than rotating in new and exciting craft beers, they seem to keep the majority taps with the same beers month after month.  This may also be the cause of some of the quality issue reports we have received, which may be related to the lines not being cleaned as frequently as they should.

We don't like to call out establishments, and would very much like to only report the positive things.  We want Old Chicago to succeed, if they can put more support behind craft beer (especially, Nebraska craft beer).

Craft beer sales are growing, and sales of mass-produced 'domestic' beers (e.g., Miller) are tanking.  Which poses the question, why change your business plan at this point in the game?