Big beer companies bringing back old beer recipes to compete with craft breweries
Apparently MillerCoors is planning to release a pre-prohibition lager called Batch 19. This bad boy supposedly comes equipped with better taste and ingredients that the other MillerCoors products.
I saw this posting on BeerNews.org recently, which referenced a Wall Street Journal article, and it made me reflect on the current state of the craft beer industry. After all, many attempts have been made by the macros to continue to appeal to the masses. The very idea of upping the quality slightly in order to compete with craft breweries seems absurd to me. I tried one Budweiser American Ale a few years back, and I didn’t find it to offer anything more than pale ales available locally did. Why would I want to buy something mass-produced in St. Louis or elsewhere, when I’ve got a product that is local, imparts a tiny carbon footprint compared to MillerCoors and InBevBudweiser?
I’d buy a local blue cheese over an imported British blue cheese any day. I’d buy local, grass-fed beef over something imported from Vermont. Why? Because local is a much better view. Knowing where the products are made and how the animals are raised is as important to me as knowing the servers at the local tap rooms by name. Service is generally better, it makes you feel good to be addressed by name, and to know that the folks who made your beer are concerned about the same things you are.
If MillerCoors wants to release Batch 19 in hopes of winning over craft beer drinkers, the money men might want to consider that more and more people are drinking local to support their communities and because knowing where your food comes from and how it’s made is increasingly valuable in this day and age of rapid transport.
The point here is not that they will compete with or possibly shut down the craft breweries, but that they might be completely out of touch with their customers. Oh, I know there will be plenty of beer drinkers out there who go for this new product, and it might even be a decent beer, but I don’t see this idea as sustainable.
What do you think?
Prost,
GG
I had a similar experience with Budweiser American Ale. It was like a watered-down microbrew. Weak sauce, in other words. It is a bit cheaper than comparable microbrews, but price isn’t an overriding criteria when I’m at the beer store. I’d rather taste something delicious.
There are times when a person doesn’t want a meal in a glass, and since there’s only one American “craft” brewer that can brew a Pilsener without creating a bitter ale, the macro brewers can find an audience for their lighter beer. On the other hand, what does the statement “Because local is a much better view” even mean. Local is a view? Hmmm. I guess I learned something new today.
Mike,
I’ve had dozens of craft-style Pilseners that are great. No bitterness whatsoever. In fact, some American craft brewers are making Bohemian-style Pilsners that taste better than ones I’ve had while traveling through Czech. They use the same hops and grains, but the local ones are fresher.
As far the statement that “Local is a much better view,” well, there is a movement underway to bring more awareness of foods, beers and wines to the local level. It’s something that’s fairly big here in Missoula. When it applies to craft beer, it’s the notion that something you buy fresh out of the tap is often better than something that has sat on a store shelf for months.
Tim