Lew_Bryson

I have maintained for a while that B-F's claims about letting people know that Woodford Reserve is not made at Labrot & Graham is bogus. We have visited the distillery twice--the first time shortly after they opened and again just last year. The place is gorgeous and well worth a visit. However, on both occasions they were very quick to change the subject when I asked about "how can you make an eight year old whiskey in a distilliery that just opened?" and "who makes the whiskey being sold as WR?". One of the docents was downright peeved that I actually noticed a problem in the date of production/sales. They hedged the question by saying it was "bottled" on site--which it is as they bring the barrels fr/ the distillery near Louisville to L&G and bottle it there. When I asked at the gift shop, "when is the WR that is made on premise going to be available?" the lady was quite upset that I mentioned the fact and several of those who were in the gift shop were amazed. "You mean this is not the stuff made here?" was the standard question after I said what I did much to the chagrin of the sales people who quickly glossed over the subject. So, their high & mighty assertions that they let every one know that the product w/ the WR label is NOT manufactured at L&G is, in a word, hogwash and good for some one for making note of the fact. ← Yadda yadda. B-F has not been secretive about this. If the guides were not up to speed, that's a fault of training. The issue here is what makes a whiskey. It is the barrel, and the aging, that gives a whiskey up to 80% of its flavor and character. That's not my opinion, that is the opinion of a roomful of bourbon master distillers I had the honor to interview; there was over 250 years of experience in the room. WR is aged at WR, has been since they re-opened. Some was NOT aged there, but the point is, the barrels are selected for being in line with the WR flavor profile. That's how it's done everywhere that a distillery makes more than one whiskey. Even at Wild Turkey, where they only make Wild Turkey, barrels are selected as being candidates for Rare Breed, Russell's Reserve, and Kentucky Spirit. As for being made at WR, the stuff on the market now is a blend of pot still and column still, all aged at WR. It's an excellent whiskey, and I'm happy to drink it. The distillers at B-F are very forthcoming with me, always have been. Just to touch on something else, about marketing, and about expense. Bourbon and rye whiskeys are the biggest bargains on the spirits shelves. Maker's Mark is not the only wheated bourbon (Old Fitz is also wheated, as are most of the Van Winkle whiskeys), nor is it the only one that's well-marketed. Fact is, most bourbon sells for about half of what it should sell for, and rye is stupid cheap. You're getting great value for your money, even when you buy a bottle of Kentucky Spirit for over $50. Compare it to high-end Scotch whisky or cognac, and see what I mean.

I guess I just have to disagree with just about everyone. I like the beer at GB DC: I've known the brewer there for years, and liked his beers when he was brewing in Alexandria at the place that is now Founders', and when he was briefly at Ellicott City. Just had his Maibock, and liked it a lot. Like the beer at the Chophouse, too, and really like the beer out at the Rock Bottom in Bethesda; Sweetwater Tavern and Old Dominion rock as well. The G-B bottled beers are not made by the same company or same brewers as the G-B pubs, so the similarity gradually grows less every year. And you can definitely do well making off-the-cam beers. Hats off to your experience, Mayhaw, but when Stone, Victory, and Dogfish Head are three of the fastest-growing breweries in the country, and the best-selling beers at all three are anything but "comfort" beers, you have to consider that the paradigms, they are a-changing.

Hey, I'm one of 'em, baby, but you're not hearing us right: what we're REALLY whining about is that we will never get published in a mainstream publication...because they always put some idiot staffer on the beer stories, instead of getting someone who knows what they're talking about. Eric Asimov is a glowing exception, Don Russell at the Philly Daily News has grown into the job very well over the years, but most beer coverage outside the west coast is wine writers and food writers talking about something they just don't get. Could I do a better job? You bet. Is it worth the crappy pay newspaper freelancers get, even from major dailies? Not on your life. So I just keep writing for trade journals and beer rags, and keep pushing at magazine markets.

You don't have to go too "dumb" on your mass appeal beer -- Victory's Lager is a good example, as is XPA, IMO -- but yeah, it's a good idea, almost a necessity, to have one. And you know what? I drink Victory Lager a lot myself, and it's surely not because it's a stepping stone. "More approachable" doesn't have to mean "watery and non-threatening."

First, in response to your subject line, hell no. There's an explosion of high-end craft beer that's about to explode in western PA, and eastern PA is in real good shape. NEPA certainly could be better, but the failures that have happened there -- Black Rock, Hackett's, and Franconia -- were NOT because of limited appeal of artisanal beers. It just hasn't been done right yet. When it does, I've no doubt it will work. There are all kinds of business models for brewpubs that have worked, and many that have failed. I happen to think that northeast PA COULD support a brewpub; Black Rock and W.T. Hackett's both failed through management problems, not lack of enthusiasm for the beer. NEPA has supported Elmer Sudds, Cooper's, and Moose's Par 4 for years, and the Arena Cafe is doing well now; Barley Creek has been mentioned already, and the Bullfrog is not that far away and doing just great. It can definitely be done; what you need is an angle on the pub, not the brew. If your friend is willing to understand that the restaurant has to be as special as his beer, he's got a shot. For instance, an Old Forge pizza brewpub? Awesome, an idea that is just waiting to happen, and a brewpub that will suck people right off I-81. What kind of beers does he want to make? If it's all Belgian styles, which are really popular with brewers, don't invest. Sorry, but the possibilities for Belgian-style brewpubs are really limited. All cask ales? Not gonna work. All German styles? Could be tough, with The Lion getting up to speed: they cranked out a couple of very nice German-style beers recently. But German styles are always popular. Straight-ahead American/English ales? Rock on. Should you invest? Not unless your friend has an experienced restaurant person on board. That's necessary. Get plenty of capital together, enough to run for at least six months. Your friend is not going to make a salary for at least a year. It's NOT EASY. But it will work. Tell us more.

Well, let's see... Jones Brewing was started (bought and renamed, actually) by Shirley Jones's grandfather, "Stoney" Jones, a Welsh miner who supposedly won the brewery in a card game. They went under a couple years ago, beer's brewed under contract by Pittsburgh now. Steg is still being brewed by The Lion brewery in W-B, which is actually doing really well, just kind of under the radar. Thought F&S was Sunbury, though. I remember being jeered at by 14 year olds as I walked out of the "distributor" for buying "that cheap Yuengling" back in the 1980s. Piels...funny thing is, there never was a Piels brewery. Piels was the Sam Adams of its day, made under contract at a variety of breweries, much like McSorley's is these days (and Pabst). Genesee is now High Falls (management buy-out), and they're kind of tight-roping above some fairly serious debts, but my fingers are crossed. I would argue with you about that "prospered on good marketing" with Yuengling, though: that was good sales. They went into Philly and sold the hell out of that beer. They have one of the lowest ad spends around; almost everything Yuengling has done, they've done contrary to how everyone else has. Rolling Rock/Latrobe is owned by Interbrew/Inbev, the Belgian-based giant that is just about to become the biggest volume brewer in the world. Straub is doing fine (despite some family quarrels). August Schell in Minnesota, Burger and Point in Wisconsin, Dixie in New Orleans, all seem to be doing okay for now. Shiner belongs to Gambrinus, the Corona importer, but still acts like a regional...mostly. I love those old breweries.

Right, no more Sam Adams being brewed at Pittsburgh, not for a while. Genesee is still brewed, but the brewery was bought by management, now named High Falls. And as far as bottle vs. can on taste goes...ever tasted them blind? Have someone pour a bottle and a can of the same beer into two glasses in another room, bring them in to you, and you taste them. If you can identify the canned beer 7 times out of 9, we'll talk! Lew

Beg to differ: SAB is definitely beer guys. Miller WAS with a giant holding company. Now they're with a giant brewery. The difference in attitude at the top was apparent immediately. The guys from SAB are cleaning house at Miller, and things are changing quickly. That said, I think you're dead on the money with your analysis of choice of partners for Molson. Coors makes a good second choice.

While that may be true, you are forgetting the dreaded Molson XXX and Labatt Maximum Ice which are in the range of 7% alcohol! But I'm not, bubba, any more than you're forgetting Old English 800, Colt 45, Camo, Steel Reserve, and St. Ides, which are all right in that same skull-blasting range! Believe me, having tasted both country's big crap beers, NO ONE gets bragging rights on these babies!

Agreed, lots of good Canadian beers. I drank a lot of Ex in my younger days, and really enjoy Unibroue and St. Ambroise now, like Wellington Arkell and County when I can get them. But let's settle one thing right now: Canadian beer is not stronger than U.S. beer. That myth is an artifact of two different ways of measuring alcohol content. There are two slightly different ways of measuring the alcohol content of beverages, as a percentage of either the beverage total volume or its weight. For example, if you have 1 liter of 4 percent ABV beer, 4 percent of that liter (40 ml) is alcohol. However, because alcohol weighs only 79.6 percent as much as water, that same beer is only 3.18 percent ABW. This may seem like a dry exercise in mathematics, but it is at the heart of the common belief that Canadian beer is stronger than American beer. Canadian brewers traditionally use ABV figures, whereas American brewers have historically used the lower ABW figures. Mainstream Canadian and American lagers are approximately equal in strength; there are minor differences, but, for instance, Bud in Canada and the U.S. is 5.0% ABV. Both places. Alexander Keith's (which is owned by Labatt, BTW): 5.0%. Molson Canadian: 5.0%. Rickard's Red (owned by Molson): 5.2%. Miller Genuine Draft: 4.66%. Miller High Life: 5.0%. Yuengling Lager: 4.9%. Coors Original: 5.0%. There just ain't that much difference. Is Canadian mainstream beer better than American mainstream beer? Used to be, and clearly so. These days, Canadian mainstream beers are less than they were even twenty years ago. The table is tilted in favor of Canada mainly because of American drinkers...who tend to drink more light beer, God help us. Nothing really to fight over, though. There are crappy beers in Canada, there are crappy beers in the U.S., and so it is on great beers, too. Beer stores... the Beer Store is a Molson-Labatt duopoly. They run it, they set the rules. LCBO stores seem to have no clue on how to treat beer. In general, though, there are a lot more similarities between Canadian and American beers than there are differences. The differences mainly come in the same place that they do in American brewing: the widely varied output of the micros. God bless variety.

Full annual cap at Frederick is currently 60K bbls. 22,000 is not where they want to be, for sure, but they were down sharply last year, from something like 35,000 the year before, because they were in receivership and couldn't buy malt. They've got that problem under control now, and sales are coming right back up to where they were. They're finally putting some smart sales work behind the Little Kings Cream Ale line, and it's selling like crazy in the Midwest. Wild Goose is going back into old markets and picking right up where it left off. I still think the best stuff they make is the Blue Ridge line; had a great, fresh Blue Ridge ESB last night. The place, BTW, is unfortunately no longer a dream; maintenance got neglected when there was no money, and they're limping in places. But there's a very can-do attitude...I think they've got a good shot, if the money men can give them a little room to run.

Just wanted to follow up: I visited Frederick recently, and the news is cautiously good. Sales are up sharply, management seems clear-headed and focused, the quality of the beer is excellent, and Wild Goose IPA is selling as fast as they can make it. I'd be very happy to see Frederick make it in a big way (they're still made over 22,000 bbls. last year), if only because the industry doesn't really need another big failure.

You guys are aware that Pabst has no more breweries, right? That the company is running out of a storefront in San Antonio, and the beer is brewed at Miller plants for the most part (some of it at smaller breweries like The Lion in Wilkes-Barre)? NOT THAT IT MATTERS. If you're drinking beer like this, you're drinking the beer you're drinking for refreshment and buzz. No sweat, that's why people drink screwdrivers. And you're drinking the brand you're drinking because of psychological reasons. Because taste test after taste test with long-time drinkers of these various brands show EVERY STINKING TIME that they can't really tell one from the other. That said...I drink Straub, Yuengling Premium and Lager, and High Life on occasion. But the worst beer of this type is certainly not Pabst. It's Utica Club. Lew

Well...I'm generally more interested in the great beer than the food...but I do notice the food! You've already found Legacy, now you need to get down on Stoudt's. Black Angus down in Adamstown (south over the big hill on Rt. 222, turn left at the light on Rt. 472) has a good raw bar and lots of excellent Stoudt's beer right there at the source; good bread, too, made by the proprietor, Ed Stoudt (his wife Carol runs the brewery). While I'm in a German mood (Stoudt's makes some excellent lager beers), get on down Rt. 10; just past the Angelica dam is the Alpenhof, one of my favorite German restaurants, also with a decent beer selection. If you want some weird stuff that's gut-stuffingly good in trencherman fashion, the strange salad bar and high-mounded platters at the Douglassville Hotel (in Douglassville, natch, east of Reading on Rt. 422) aren't fancy, but they're satisfying, and the beer list is deep. Someone said Dietrich's...this is not an eating place, but a meat market, just off the Krumville exit of I-78 west of Allentown. It's become a regular stop for us on our annual beer-hunting expeditions, even when it's not even remotely on the way (we left Quakertown (PA) for Syracuse (NY) one year and wound up there). Whole smoked poultry, everything from cornish game hens to turkeys (some year we're going to get a duck and eat it in the parking lot...), smoked meats and sausages, bottles of local birch beer and Moxie, corncob pipes for after, and some of the weirdest food you'll see in PA: pickled chukkar kidneys, pickled pheasant hearts, smoked pig trachea... Bejayzus. Worth a stop just to take pictures, but get some of the hot stix and jerky to go. If you're that far, might as well go on out to Shartlesville and Haag's Hotel, one of the last great Pennsylvania hotel dinners. Not as good as the Shartlesville Hotel used to be, but still monumental. If you don't want to go quite that far, just follow Rt. 737 north from Krumville till you get to Kempton; the Kempton Hotel is right across from the feed mill, and they sometimes have real PA Dutch delicacies: chicken gravy and waffles, pig stomach stew, hickory nut pie. Not to forget the artwork on the ceiling. Hmmm...there's also good eating down in Lancaster that you can get to pretty quickly, but that's kind of cheating.

Who did you talk to at the brewery? The owner, president, whatever, Ted Marti, I talked to him about three years ago about this for an article, and he knew what I was talking about. Bust through to Ted and he'll know. Good luck, it's a cool thing.