What an amazing day. We started out with a great opening ceremony which featured Eric Wallace from Left Hand and Ken Allen from Anderson Valley both receiving major awards. After that Greg Koch from Stone gave the keynote address. It was interactive, it was funny...and I will never be able to look at Adam Avery and Vinnie Cirluzo the same way. Greg talked about Being Remarkable and focused on ethics and collaboration along with some other critical ideas. For our opening toast beer we shared a bottle of Isabelle Proximus which makes an incredible breakfast beer. After a full year in the bottle, its getting pretty good.
Next up was the Exposition Hall...plenty of good beer, a lot of it from Allagash including some amazing brett beers. Also had the Black Folie which is a blend of New Belgium La Folie and Redstone Black Raspberry Mead. Afterwards we sat in on some really informative educational sessions (yes, we have to work here...which reminds me, we had a great supplier meeting yesterday and we may have some really exciting news to announce in a couple of months).
Finally, it was time to relax. We had several events scheduled, including a clam bake at Boston Beer Company, a Shmaltz night at Roadhouse and Global Imports at Brasserie Jo. The Global event was awesome. They had brewers from Bavik and de Halve Maan there and we enjoyed Wittekerke, Gulden Draak, Piraat and Bruges Zot in the proper glassware.
Somewhere along the line, I got an email from Natalie Cirluzo who was blogging from the event. I read her recent post and then immediately saw her...it was kind of weird. Any way, Russian River remains a top brewery, and at the top of our wish list. Nothing to report on that front, but I did my semi-annual grovelling, once again with nothing definite. I continue to try...mostly for the beer drinking people of Arizona, which includes me, so it is a little selfish.
I'm sitting here drinking an Anchor Steam while I type this. Anchor Steam was my first craft beer and this conference always makes me nostalgic. I'll tell you more about Anchor Steam some other time. This is always a great event and we have an opportunity to develop close relationships with our suppliers, as well as other folks in the industry. At the end of the week, those relationships are what matter...that and selling more beer.
Thanks for continuing to follow...more to come tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Craft Brewers Conference - Day 1
We survived our first night in Boston pretty well. We had a couple of Harpoon IPAs with some lobster bisque, followed by a trip to the Barking Crab. This was for a social with our fellow wholesalers from across the country. Drank a little Magic Hat #9, Harpoon UFO, Ipswich Ale, and a few other things. They served great crab cakes and shrimp. Overall we had a fun time. On the way back we stuck our heads in to the Atlantic Beer Garden to get out of the rain. Found the Rauchfetzen from Harpoon's 100 Barrel series on draft. A nice beer whose name means "a whisp of smoke" which is exactly what it was. A very light smoke flavor that allowed the hops and malt to come out and play as well. A lucky find for us. Also had a beer with Adam Avery and briefly saw Tomme Arthur.
The first couple of wholesaler meetings are out of the way and I will spending some time this afternoon meeting with some potential suppliers. No names right now, but they are breweries that we get a lot of requests for, so cross your fingers.
Tonight is the opening reception at Harpoon Brewery, so I'll write more later and will try to update regularly in case any of you care.
The first couple of wholesaler meetings are out of the way and I will spending some time this afternoon meeting with some potential suppliers. No names right now, but they are breweries that we get a lot of requests for, so cross your fingers.
Tonight is the opening reception at Harpoon Brewery, so I'll write more later and will try to update regularly in case any of you care.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Craft Brewers Conference
Another Scottsdale Culinary Fest is in the books. Always a fun crowd, not necessarily a ton of beer geeks, but a lot of people who are discovering the different flavors they can find in great beer. Most of them are very excited about being exposed to a Saison Dupont or La Chouffe. So that's always a winning weekend.
Anyway, Little Guy is off to the Craft Wholesalers Conference followed by the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston this week. My plane leaves at 9:00 and I'll be in town shortly before 5:00. After that its a week of trying to balance all the great opportunities to learn more about the business with all the opportunities to attend fantastic events and drink great beer. Somehow, I think we'll manage and come home better for it...at least profesionally, physically it could take a little more recovery time.
We'll update you throughout the week here on the blog. Given all the opportunities mentioned above, I trust you will forgive any late night typos or grammatical errors. Tonight its the Barking Crab for some quality time with our fellow wholesalers and then maybe a trip to Cambridge Brewing Company. Things start in earnest tomorrow so this may be the last coherent paragraph you read from me for a while.
Anyway, Little Guy is off to the Craft Wholesalers Conference followed by the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston this week. My plane leaves at 9:00 and I'll be in town shortly before 5:00. After that its a week of trying to balance all the great opportunities to learn more about the business with all the opportunities to attend fantastic events and drink great beer. Somehow, I think we'll manage and come home better for it...at least profesionally, physically it could take a little more recovery time.
We'll update you throughout the week here on the blog. Given all the opportunities mentioned above, I trust you will forgive any late night typos or grammatical errors. Tonight its the Barking Crab for some quality time with our fellow wholesalers and then maybe a trip to Cambridge Brewing Company. Things start in earnest tomorrow so this may be the last coherent paragraph you read from me for a while.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Just a night at Papago
What a great time yesterday afternoon was. Of course, Thursday was Hopapalooza and that was a lot of fun, but Friday afternoon was very enjoyable. Met several folks at Papago to sample a bunch of different beers and turn them on to what exists out in the world that isn't from a big brewery.
We sat at the table under the TV and just kept opening bottles, nothing particularly fancy, just 12 bottles or so of what a typical craft beer drinker might consider everyday beers. Not that Avery White Rascal, Breckenridge Agave Wheat, Ska Pinstripe, Anderson Valley Boont Amber and the rest are everyday beers, but they fall in to what I call "Tuesday Night Beers". You know what I mean, the beer that you always know is going to taste great, and you know so well that you can come home, pull it out of the fridge, and just relax while you watch TV or do the bills or make dinner, or whatever it is you do when you get home on a Tuesday. Beers that you don't have to think about.
Now Tuesday Night Beers are different from the weekend beers, the ones that you have been thinking about all week, and just want to sit on the porch and watch the sunset while you admire how well put together it is, and find all the nuances in the beer. Or a beer that you are waiting to pair with your favorite food, maybe a nice IPA with a favorite Thai dish, or whatever turns you on. Of course, Tuesday Night Beers can easily be weekend beers if you desire; and everybody's Tuesday Night Beers differ. For some it might be Coors Light or Corona or Heineken. For others its something a little craftier.
Any way, that's my concept of Tuesday Night Beers, maybe some other time I can expound on that (lucky you). But the point of my post was to tell you how nice just sitting around sampling beers with other people can be, especially if you are getting them excited about craft beers. The other great part was that we slowly worked our way up the flavor ladder and ended up with some Port Wipeout, which were were fortunate to have Matt Wells from Port and The Lost Abbey at another table. Matt and his friend Ryan came over and gave us some great background on Wipeout, as well as some discussion on the brewery in general. After a Tripel Karmeliet, Matt brought over the remainder of his bottle of Angel's Share (2008 Brandy Barrel Aged) and we talked about this big beer and all had a small sample...it was outstanding. We wrapped up with some Avery Brabant, and a bottle of Mikeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, which gave Ryan an opportunity to tell us all about the Kopi Luwak coffee that is used in making this fine beer. If you are not familiar with Kopi Luwak, I suggest you try the beer and then find out how the coffee is made.
By the way, I have noticed that every time I mention Port or Lost Abbey in a post, it shows up on the Lost Abbey website under Blogosphere. I find this fascinating, so I intend to find a way to squeeze that brewery in to every post as I know that they have more people visiting their web site than read this blog. I may get to be famous yet.
We sat at the table under the TV and just kept opening bottles, nothing particularly fancy, just 12 bottles or so of what a typical craft beer drinker might consider everyday beers. Not that Avery White Rascal, Breckenridge Agave Wheat, Ska Pinstripe, Anderson Valley Boont Amber and the rest are everyday beers, but they fall in to what I call "Tuesday Night Beers". You know what I mean, the beer that you always know is going to taste great, and you know so well that you can come home, pull it out of the fridge, and just relax while you watch TV or do the bills or make dinner, or whatever it is you do when you get home on a Tuesday. Beers that you don't have to think about.
Now Tuesday Night Beers are different from the weekend beers, the ones that you have been thinking about all week, and just want to sit on the porch and watch the sunset while you admire how well put together it is, and find all the nuances in the beer. Or a beer that you are waiting to pair with your favorite food, maybe a nice IPA with a favorite Thai dish, or whatever turns you on. Of course, Tuesday Night Beers can easily be weekend beers if you desire; and everybody's Tuesday Night Beers differ. For some it might be Coors Light or Corona or Heineken. For others its something a little craftier.
Any way, that's my concept of Tuesday Night Beers, maybe some other time I can expound on that (lucky you). But the point of my post was to tell you how nice just sitting around sampling beers with other people can be, especially if you are getting them excited about craft beers. The other great part was that we slowly worked our way up the flavor ladder and ended up with some Port Wipeout, which were were fortunate to have Matt Wells from Port and The Lost Abbey at another table. Matt and his friend Ryan came over and gave us some great background on Wipeout, as well as some discussion on the brewery in general. After a Tripel Karmeliet, Matt brought over the remainder of his bottle of Angel's Share (2008 Brandy Barrel Aged) and we talked about this big beer and all had a small sample...it was outstanding. We wrapped up with some Avery Brabant, and a bottle of Mikeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, which gave Ryan an opportunity to tell us all about the Kopi Luwak coffee that is used in making this fine beer. If you are not familiar with Kopi Luwak, I suggest you try the beer and then find out how the coffee is made.
By the way, I have noticed that every time I mention Port or Lost Abbey in a post, it shows up on the Lost Abbey website under Blogosphere. I find this fascinating, so I intend to find a way to squeeze that brewery in to every post as I know that they have more people visiting their web site than read this blog. I may get to be famous yet.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Events this week
A couple of good ones...Wednesday, April 7th, Chris Miller, Managing Director at Harviestoun's will be doing a very special tasting at Sun Devil Liquors in Mesa. Featured will be Old Engine Oil on draft, as well as Ola Dubh 12, 16 and 30 from the bottle. $10 gets you a sample of all 4 beers and face time with Chris. If you're not familiar with Ola Dubh it is Old Engine Oil matured in Highland Park scotch whiskey casks. Each cask imparts a slightly different flavor. This is a unique opportunity if ever there was one.
On Thursday, April 9th, Hopapalooza comes to Papago Brewing. You won't believe it until you see it, but Papago will be offering many hoppy beers on draft. That should be all you need to know, but if you want more details expect to see Moylan's Hopsickle, Houblon Chouffe, Racer 5, Hop Ottin, Trooper IPA, Thunder Canyon IPA and many others. Also, giveaways while they last.
On Thursday, April 9th, Hopapalooza comes to Papago Brewing. You won't believe it until you see it, but Papago will be offering many hoppy beers on draft. That should be all you need to know, but if you want more details expect to see Moylan's Hopsickle, Houblon Chouffe, Racer 5, Hop Ottin, Trooper IPA, Thunder Canyon IPA and many others. Also, giveaways while they last.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Lost Abbey
We had a surprise guest to our meeting today. Tomme Arthur showed up and discussed his beers. We talked about everything including the pending release of Angel's Share, the first time ever in AZ. I asked him about the carbonation issue and he wanted us to know that this is not a strongly carbonated beer, but is absolutely ready for release. The alcohol this year is higher and somewhat inibhited the growth of the yeast. Any way it is good to go and we will see it in Arizona next week. Enjoy.
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