It’s been a tumultous week in the Rochester beer scene, and I’m kinda exhausted on the topic. Don’t worry, the condition is temporary, probably curable by 5pm, at which point I will bravely head down to the Tap and Mallet and find beers to tell you about. Like the Sinebrychoff Porter, from Finland, a dry, viscous, roasty porter with an espresso-like quality. It’s a rarity I’ve never seen on draft in the USA before.

-Mark

Brewery acquisitions are nothing new. It’s almost an American business tradition. Huge national conglomerates buy small, struggling regionals and eliminate them to get market dominance, resulting in the overwhelming predominance of a few national brands and their line extensions. Kinda the American way, isn’t it? How’d you enjoy that last lunch at Applebee’s?

At any rate, financier KPS’ entry into the US beer market, via their new company North American Breweries, seems to be strategically different. Oh, they still want to be a huge player, but their model doesn’t seem to call for the destruction of regional identity for the sake of an overwhelming unified brand presence. “We intend to continue to grow North American Breweries aggressively, both organically and through acquisition of new brands and exceptional breweries,” says KPS partner Rachel Vargas. The new owners of High Falls and Labatt USA apparently recognize the value independent brands have toward their regions, and want a portfolio of individual breweries that remain where they’ve always been, and trading on the power of their established brands.

That’s good for High Falls. I, for one, half expected to see the new owners pull up with a flatbed, cart everything of value out of the building, then burn it down for the insurance claim. Instead, the new company will use High Falls as its base, and has explicitly stated its commitment to run the company as a sister to Labatt.

NAB seems unsure how to utilize the 2 million barrel capacity surplus at High Falls, and has suggested that future acquired brands could be produced at the brewery. At first glance, it seems natural that they’d want to produce Labatt there, but that idea is being met with strong pressure from distributors who feel it is vital from a branding point of view that Labatt continue to be a Canadian beer. North American Breweries has also stated that they’re considering a Canadian brewing facility.

However this goes, Vargas has stated they’re here to stay.  “”With this environment, we told our investors to expect to hold on for a long time. We build companies, we don’t tear them apart.”

That’s a refreshing change.

-Mark

You know, beer tasting events aren’t solely confined to urbane metropoli (metropolises?) like Rochester. You can even find a few in New York City. Case in point: the Tuesday Unlimited Beer and Food tasting  at Maxie’s Bar and Grill, 233 Park Ave. South, which I intrepidly discovered via the fine journalistic technique of them sending me a press release.

According to the press release they sent me,  the series begins tonight and features the Samuel Adams Imperial series of beers. $15 gets you admission, and all the beer and food you can cram into your face. Besides, if you’re not in New Orleans, what the hell else are you going to do with your Mardi Gras?

Hmm. Unlimited food? Unlimited beer? Unlimited super-strong craft beer? For fifteen bucks? I know that everyone in Manhattan is loaded, but a price like that is still a welcome thing in the new economic reality.

I wonder what jetBlue would charge me for a walk-up fare…

-Mark

The grand prize for the 2008 Upstate New York Homebrewers Association was to have the winning beer brewed by the Rohrbach Brewing Company, and that has finally occurred. Winner John Sullivan and Bruce brewed Sullivan’s Symphony Pils, so named because he’s a violinist with the Rochester Philharmonic and those dudes tend to have a one-track mind.

I’ll head up there in an hour or so and report on the new beer. You might want to head there after work and try it, unless you’re one of my thousands readers from out of the area. Hundreds? Would you believe…tens?

-Mark

Well, it’s happening again, this time in Oregon.

Lawmakers are trying to position themselves as tough on substance abuse by proposing a punitive tax on that favorite substance of substance abusers: craft-brewed beer.

House Bill 2461 would impose a $49.61 tax on every barrel of beer produced in the state. Guess what the bill’s sponsors want to do with the revenue raised? Plow it into infrastructure programs? Nope. Actually begin building an alternative-fuel infrastructure so people can fuel cars based on non-petroleum fuels? Nope. Reduce the state deficit? Nope. The money would ‘ fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.’

So who’s brewing beer in Oregon? Not Anheuser-Busch, Coors or Miller, who account for the overwhelming majority of beer consumed in the Beaver State. It’s the little guys who followed the good ol’ American dream and opened up their own craft breweries.

Obviously, that’s a great way to put the onus of dealing with addiction’s societal toll directly on those who produce it. I mean, what alcoholic worth his or her salt wouldn’t, when waking up with the shakes and soaked in their own urine, grab a fine IPA or smoked porter as beverage of choice ? Because after all, what people addicted to alcohol really care about is the quality of their buzz-delivery system. Vodka is too harsh, and the convenient portability of a hip-flask is negated by the cumbersome jug of mixer.

Oregon, of course, is also a prominent producer of wine. Fortunately, people with alcohol dependency don’t drink wine. It is instead consumed by urbane white-collar professionals, who along with their law degrees and Volvos acquire an immunity to alcoholism. One wonders how much wine is consumed at fundraising events sponsored by lawmakers  Ben Cannon, Michael Dembrow, Jackie Dingfelder, Diane Rosenbaum, and William Morrisette, sponsors of the bill.

The beer industry has experienced a revival unlike any in modern history, especially in Oregon, with nearly 100 indie breweries and brewpubs providing jobs to thousands AND operating without the economies of scale enjoyed by major national manufacturers. Why not fuck that up? After all that’s why business exists, right? To serve as hosts for the tax-tapeworms of the State?

Of course, the generic assorted senators and representatives whose names appear on this bill don’t really give a crap if it passes; what’s important is the Look Of The Thing. Guess who’s gonna represent themselves as ‘tough on addiction’ during the next election cycle? The whole thing is a complete load of beaver crap.

To pull this in our economic times is cynical and amoral. But that never stopped a senator who sends his shoes in to have them cleaned after stepping on too many other people’s fingers, hard work, and beer suds on their climb up his own personal ladder of sanctimonious greed.

-Mark

If you go by the thread in Beer Advocate’s Mid-Atlantic group, High Falls’ seasonal Genesee Bock is flying off the shelves. And the reason has nothing to do with the beer. It’s all about the can.

That’s not to say that Genny Bock is a bad beer. It’s fine for what it is–a premium-level stronger lager formulated for casual beer consumers’ palates–but it’s not the beer you’d expect to woo folks who subsist on Tröegs Nugget Nectar, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA and the like.

It’s in the can.

The garish green can with the goat on it bring back a nostalgia for a time when things seemed simpler, even beer.  It reminds beer geeks of a time when small breweries, although already embroiled in the lager war feeding frenzy, still dotted the landscape, and every region had one or two distinctive beers to call its own.

Even though most of those regionals only exist now as memorobilia hanging on tavern walls, it’s plain to see a release that hearkens back to those times puts a smile on everyone’s face.

I’m going to get my 12-pack of Genesee Bock today.

-Mark

It’s that time again. Beer School convenes at Rochester’s Monty’s Krown around 7:30. We’ll be focusing on very strong beer, a topic which pretty much guarantees a lively and memorable tasting.

Jason Fox from Honeoye Falls’ own Custom Brewcrafters will introduce his Wee Heavy, and T.J. Sheehan Distributing’s Matthew Hartman will speak about their various beers encluding examles from Rogue, Dogfish Head, and Sierra Nevada. There will also be “gourmet beef stew” from Monty’s Krown’s own Chef Rob.

$5 gets you a stamp, a styrofoam plate, and a sample glass. Come share those parts of the evening you’ll actually remember with us.

Well, it’s finally happening.

After over two decades of speculation, the formerly family and employee-owned High Falls Brewery is being bought by an outside firm. In this case it’s KPS, a private equity company. I have no idea what this means for the brewery, its employees or its beers, but I’m veeeery curious.

HFB doesn’t strike me as a place someone would buy with the intention of dismantling for a profit, so I’m cautiously optimistic that the place will keep running, but I question the future of many of its brands. KPS is closing a deal to produce Labatt, so the place over the gorge could turn into a Labatt factory. That would blow. Ideally, the firm will move in, lean out the organization, keep the contract brewing business and maybe position High Falls more along the Saranac model that worked so well at Utica’s F.X. Matt brewery.

personally, I think this will be a sad end for the Genesee brand. High Falls will never have the resources to brew the exact same American standard canned lager, and light canned lager, and throw it into battle against the big players. The beer is not notable enough to occupy its own niche.  The brand costs too much to regain its old value.

I imagine all the Dundee beers except possibly Honey Brown will get the axe as well.  Years of halfhearted effort to support these beers have made them bit players even in their hometown, thoroughly trounced in their price category by Saranac from down the thruway.

If anything stays, Cream Ale gets my vote as survivor. It’s trashy reputation and Americana heritage can make the screamer a chice beer for the hipster set, and for some reason people in the South still think this is gourmet stuff. Chuck it in cans with 1970s-era graphics, sell it to cool bars and stores in arty neighborhoods, and pretend like you don’t give a crap if people buy it or not, and there’s a chance to catch some of that Pabst Blue Ribbon magic. If it’s worth it in the cost-benefit analysis anyway.

This is conjecture and fantasy. My gut tells me we’re witnessing another casualty of the Lager wars and High Falls, nee Genesee, will go the way of Topper, Standard and the rest. Tonight, I’m going out for some of the last Genny I may ever taste.

-Mark

My compatriot, Bruce, has been conducting a tawdry romance –and engaging in lurid public displays of affection– with Brooklyn Savoir Fare.

Truly, it’s an awesome beer, and it emulates a style not too common in the USA: bier de garde.

What, you thought the French could only make cheese, wine, and footprints facing away from the German border?  Au Contraire, mes amis. While it’s true that France does not celebrate beer the way its neighboring countries do, the farmhouse brews of the northern regions display a zymurgical artistry all their own.

Like most great foods, biere de garde has its roots in peasant life. Brewed during the colder months on farms around the Calais region, the brew was stored and consumed during the spring and summer, when, prior to refrieration, it was too warm to brew. The beer proved perfect for nourishing farmers and field hands (mains de terrain?) alike.

Somehow during the American beer awakening, this style got overlooked. While people were freaking out importing Belgian tripels and saisons, produced only a howitzer shot away, Biere de garde was given barely a passing glance. These days, most US craft breweries have taken at least a passing stab at the Belgian and German stuff, but biere de garde is a style attempted by relatively few.

So kudos (god I hate that word) to Brooklyn for coming out with Savoir Faire. Big, spicy, a little sweet, and a bit rustic and funky, the stuff tastes like it’s fresh from a Fronch farmhouse. A real snapshot of a great old European beer.

And Bruce, stop  licking the damn glass.

-Mark

The other day, I was reminded of how tiny the beer-loving community is in relation to the mass market. Wandering into one of the best beer stores in my area, and confronted with an entire supermarket isle of awesome brew, I happily began the typical beer geek’s purchasing ritual. This consists of staring at the overall product selection for a brief eternity, then scrutinizing individual styles and brands, all while glassy eyed and slack-jawed with pleasure, with the aim of going home with exactly the right beer for that moment.

In my case that moment was my Super Bowl party. I spent probably half an hour making my selection (finally going with Victory Brewing sampler packs) to ensure that the quality of the beer would make up for Faith Hill and Jennifer Hudson (who only got the gig because her family was gunned down) turning the National Anthem and National Anthem II (God Bless America) into musical abortions, and to stomach the introduction of that US Airways flight crew who pulled off a perfect water landing as “Pilots who represent American values.” I guess being at the mercy of gravity is an American value. I guess not wanting a bunch of passengers, and oneself, to die is an American value. Way to tack jingoism onto competence. If I were those pilots, I’d be embarassed as shit.

There I go again. Sorry.

Anyway, the point was, while I was ever-so-carefully selecting my beverage of choice,  About 50 people strode up to the beer cooler and, with barely a glance, swept up 12-packs and cases of Labatt Blue.

I think I like being part of a specialty customer niche.

-Mark