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Can't find in the U.S.

LJC

By LJC
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LJC

LJC

Posted
Posted

I have found that many beers that I enjoy while traveling outside of the states are not available here. A friend of mine imports many different product from all around the world and we have been talking about starting a beer importing business.

We have been focusing on beers of latin america and asia but are interested other continents as well; africa and australia.

Please let me know what beers you wish you could find here and where they are from.

Thanks!

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cdh

cdh

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Posted (edited)

You are, I think, setting your sites too broadly. It is not a national US problem that can be solved. It is a state-by-state problem. Thanks to the 21st amendment, every state gets to enact its own cockamamie regulations about how, where, when, in what, with what labelings, and how boozy. There are beers that are legal in some states and not in others...

Best for you to pick a particular state you want to serve, rather than trying to serve everybody.... then when you set your sites on a beer, you only have to negotiate with the foreign brewery to get it put into one's state's version of a proper bottle, with that state's favorite label, and (maybe) with reduced alcohol to make the beer legal to sell in the target state.

You'd better spend your time and money campaigning for a new constitutional amendment that puts all of this BS into the historical dustbin where it belongs. Sadly there are still enough bible thumping temperance freaks out there that would love to make it more difficult rather than easier to get good and interesting beers... and they're on the same side as the oligopoly of mega-brewers who have spent all the legal fees on figuring out the present system, and have come to rely on the status quo as a barrier to entry so that their products get better distribution and less competition.

Tough business space.

Edited by cdh (log)

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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LJC

LJC

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Thank you very much for your advice, CDH; I will take any help I can get. I am aware of the "cockamamie regulations" and the challenges they pose. We plan on starting in NY and possibly Fl. My friend already imports many different products (some alcoholic beverages) and is well versed in the legal BS that we face. He also has good relationships with distributors in many states. So although it will not be easy or cheap we are not going into this (if we do) blind.

Back to the original question. What beers have you had outside of the U.S. and loved but can't find here?

One that we are working on right now (and having a hell of a time) is Polar from Venezuela.

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cdh

cdh

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Well, if we're talking real wish lists:

Fresh Saku from Estonia would be nice, particularly the Saku Tume, though the Originaal is also yummy when fresh.

Casks of Gales(Southern England) HSB, to be sold to bars with hand pumps, who would then sell lots of pints of it to me. I'd also not mind seeing casks of Marston's Pedigree available over here too... but then I'm a weirdo who likes fruity English flat beers.

If you've got the pull, I'd like to see Rodenbach back in the US, but there are issues with the brewery being unwilling to bottle in anything marketable in the US.

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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LJC

LJC

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"Fresh Saku from Estonia would be nice, particularly the Saku Tume, though the Originaal is also yummy when fresh." I am unfamiliar with this; please describe.

You are the third person to suggest Rodenbach. Based on preliminary research you are right about the lack of cooperation.

I am also finding issues with registered names i.e. there is a Peruvian beer that has a name similar to a us product and unless I come up with a new name/package/marketing campaign the beer will stay in Peru.

Any other wish lists?

I thought and hoped I would get a slew of African brand suggestions.

Thanks!

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cdh

cdh

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"Fresh Saku from Estonia would be nice, particularly the Saku Tume, though the Originaal is also yummy when fresh." I am unfamiliar with this; please describe.

Saku is a brewery located in Tallinn... they brew a number of germanically influenced beers... the Originaal is a pilsner-type lager with a very distinctive malt character... quite tasty. The Tume (TOO-may) is a dark lager... also malty, but roastier and less vegetal than the Originaal. All over the place in Tallinn, or at least it was when I spent a few months there back 10 years ago.

Sorry for the failure to demand off-the-wall African beers... but I've never lived in Africa, never travelled to Africa, nor have I heard any appealing descriptions of African beers... mostly Evelyn Waugh-type snipes about millet beer which sound much less than appetizing. If I'm going to pay my beer's ticket to travel in the belly of a ship for a long period of time, I'm less likely to choose something that might be mediocre at best when it gets here.

Is there good African beer? Where do they get their hops? Where do they get their barley? Neither seems suited to the climate there... What countries produce beers that are worth notice? Northern African wines are surprisingly good... but having been colonized by the Frinch had something to do with that. Did the Belgian colonization of the Congo leave an unrecognized legacy of funky brewing?

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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LJC

LJC

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"Yona Yona Ale from Japan, a beer that is far better than the standard Japanese crap (Kirin, Sapporo etc) sold in the US."

Thanks I will get on it.

"Dortmunder "

????? where is it from?

"boag's (australia)"

never herd of it; please tell me more.

"saku is a brewery located in Tallinn... "

Thanks again!

I am hoping that there is a some holdover of beer brewing skill in africa post european colonization. I don't know any brand names but I have eaten in many african rest. and had a few different beers. None of them have been incredible but I have high hopes.

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Eric_Malson

Eric_Malson

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Dortmunder is from Dortmund, Germany. I'm surprised it's not available....I used to drink it in college (this was in Indiana).

If you could arrange to import the greatest Hefe-weizen of them all, I would be your undying fan. It's called "Unertl" and it's from Bavaria somewhere (Germany).

My restaurant blog: Mahlzeit!

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beerguyjim

beerguyjim

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I am hoping that there is a some holdover of beer brewing skill in africa post european colonization. I don't know any brand names but I have eaten in many african rest. and had a few different beers. None of them have been incredible but I have high hopes.

The Ngoma Brewery in Togo makes some nice, European-style lager beers. Used to be sold in the US; haven't seen it in a long time.

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beerguyjim

beerguyjim

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Dortmunder is from Dortmund, Germany. I'm surprised it's not available....I used to drink it in college (this was in Indiana).

The Dortmund beers sold in the US are usually pilsner beers, rather than the Dortmunder Export style for which the city is known.

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Sinbad

Sinbad

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"Yona Yona Ale from Japan, a beer that is far better than the standard Japanese crap (Kirin, Sapporo etc) sold in the US."

Thanks I will get on it.

It's actually priced almost at the same level as the regular beers in Japan (Suntory, Kirin etc) which is one reason why I mentioned it(besides it being a good beer).

You should look at Ginga Kogen as well, a very nice Japanese microbrew with a reasonable price,

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LJC

LJC

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After six months and very limited success I am giving up the beer importing business. My friend who is already very successful in a similar business will continue the quest. For me this went from being an "on the side/with my free time" thing to a full time pain in the ass. CDH was totally right in his post. There is a way to import desired alcoholic beverages in to many states however after all the work making the product conform and then getting it here there is just not enough profit for it to make sense. I was working on several brands from several countries and after six month I was able to get one product into Fl. I would have had to sell around 40,000 cases of it to breakeven.

Needless to say I am giving up but thank you all for the advice and the recs.

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cdh

cdh

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Never seen it, but haven't looked either. What is so good about it, anyway? Will poke around on the web for informaiton about it for you. Even if it isn't available in NYC, you have three other states within an hour's drive that might have it if you should happen to get a rum-runnin' urge in you.

Edited by cdh (log)

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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jgould

jgould

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Never seen it, but haven't looked either. What is so good about it, anyway? Will poke around on the web for informaiton about it for you. Even if it isn't available in NYC, you have three other states within an hour's drive that might have it if you should happen to get a rum-runnin' urge in you.

thx. it has a wonderful aroma & taste that lingers. not as heavy as other dark beers. this, of course, is from memory.

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