Montana barley in Mexican beer
It can only improve things.
And I say this seriously. Montana barley is an incredible product, and one of the many reasons Montana beer is so good.
According to the Associated Press, Herb Karst, with the Sweetgrass Barley Association, signed a deal with Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma on behalf of the Montana barley growers.
Wow, that’s a mouthful. Say it slowly. Cer-ve-cer-ia – Cua-uh-te-moc – Moc-te-zu-ma. This brings me to the point of this post, which, incidentally, is not that Mexican beers will now contain Montana barley and surely will taste better. They surely will.
The point of this post is that beer companies, especially the mega-monster companies that produce everything under the sun, have ridiculously long and ambiguous names, which tends to water-down the product, so-to-speak.
Take the Brazilian and Belgian merger of InterbrewAmBev. “Please sir, could I have an InterewAmbev?” Luckily the brands all maintain at least their distinct names in this ever-conglomerating world.
Or what about the new Miller Coors. It sounds like the illegitimate son of a brewing icon rather than the super-slick marketing machine that is supposed to take on Anheuser-Busch.
Speaking of which, doesn’t Anheuser-Busch sound like a battery company?
Nothing in their names screams beer. Even the ambiguous Bev, which I assume means beverage, is meant to denote that these companies do not focus just on beer. Oh, no, they have malt beverages with every flavor under heaven.
I shouldn’t be ranting against the big companies, for fear I will sound unAmerican. I am a blogger after all, what’s more American than that?
But my point in all this is that in all the conglomeration going on, consumers lose sight of what it is they were interested in in the first place, a high-quality product with a recognizable name, ingredients that aren’t shipped deeply frozen or dried from points across the globe, and which is produced by an actual human being whose care and pride are evident in the product simply by their humanity . When the beer drinkers of the world have enough brands to appeal to every taste out there brewed by InterbrewAmBevAnheuserBuschCoorsMiller, or whatever ambiguous name they pick for that inevitable super company, they might realize that they no longer have a choice.
For now: Drink micro, drink local and get to know your brewer.
Prost,
GG
Well said.
I hope they don’t serve that great Montana barley brewed beer in a clear bottle!
Travis
Good post! It’s similar to the “typical” downtowns that have been shuttered and the big-box stores spring up all over the place. Eventually, everyplace looks like everyplace else – the local distinctions gradually fade, and then are gone. Same with beer I guess. The little guys are where its at.
OTOH, Mexican beer should get considerably better in the future!
As the nation’s leading brewer, Anheuser-Busch is a major purchaser of U.S. agricultural products, including Montana-grown malting barley. Anheuser-Busch beers use the choicest golden barley, selected from the finest fields in America. Our purchases of millions of bushels of Montana malting barley directly contribute to the state’s economy.
The Facts
Anheuser-Busch beers use high-quality malting barley provided by growers in MT, ID, WY, ND, SD and MN.
Through Company owned elevators and commercial elevators, Busch Agricultural contracts around 19 million bushels of malting barley from approximately 750 Montana growers. For 2008, crop market value of these contracts approaches $100 million dollars.
Busch Agricultural operates 4 facilities in Montana including barley elevators at Fairfield, Conrad, Sidney and a certified seed facility in Fairfield. Capital investment exceeds $28 million dollars. These locations have 28 employees with annual payroll of $1,725,000.
Additionally, we acquire approximately 8.5 million bushels of malt from International Malting Company in Great Falls.
What could be more local to Montana.
hmmm…
it’s too bad A.B., M.C., & all the rest of the big boys, don’t put the grain/malt to better use. their products are what they are…
i guess it’s advantageous for the mass producers, mass transporters, investors, and a public willing to settle for a generic, ho-hum, and inferior product. that great ale & lager beer can be produced by smaller, more product than bottom-line oriented craftsmen, at great expense; is a sad commentary on the state of “real” beer, today.
take a look at the hop situation. the people that grew them for the love of the sport (brewing); have been bought out, monopolized, and unfairly treated over the last 1/4 century. now that the mega-swill producers have control over most of the crop, it really, really rubs against all purists grain (sic). try buying more than 2 ounces of your favorite hop, these days. the craft brewing suppliers will limit you (and apologetically charge you exorbitantly) on your purchase, account of fairness for all small brewers; and only because the wrong people (again, the mega-producers) have control of it all.
pffft…i wash my hands of it. i can only hope (real) beer survives it, unlike the family farmer, dedicated brewer, and unfortunate consumer.
and NO, Samuel Adams is NOT the “best beer in America”. big budget ad campaign, is all (go figure?).
and Chuck;
i would hesitate to use the word “leader”, when you describe AB. i think i would use the word “largest”.
mighty big difference, as far as i’m concerned.
the bull