All About Beer magazine and its advertising

[warmstorage]

since i was just on the topic of beer and advertising, i'll rant a little about why i can't take http://www.allaboutbeer.com/aabmhome.html All About Beer Magazine seriously.

put aside the fact that the beers they review are reviewed in painfully limited detail, and that they trump up otherwise weak beers because they seem unwilling to publish serious cirtiques of crappy beer (i.e., this month's issue had flattering comments about Redhook's SunRye, which is a pretty terrible beer. it's thin and tasteless, barely better than fizzy yellow crap (oh! gosh! maybe AB's ownership interest HAS done some bad things to Redhook? OF COURSE IT HAS!), and yet they publish people saying things like "uhhh, well, it'd be nice if I'd just mowed my lawn and was burning to death in the Mojave Desert..." (well, maybe not the last part, but you get the point.) for the record, i had it on tap at the Redhook brewery in New Hampshire, so it's hard to imagine how i could have had it under better circumstances, and it was awful. even if this crap is better than, say, AB's other garbage, it's embarassing that they don't publish true critiques of it. could it be, perhaps, due to CONCERNS ABOUT ADVERTISING DOLLARS?

this is the real point here, and the main reason, which is enough by itself, that i can't take All About Beer magazine seriously: the FULL COLOR, FULL PAGE ads they sell to Michelob to advertise its ABYSMAL "Amber Bock." (you know, the ridiculous ad campaign [again, where the hell do you find focus groups who like this nonsense?] which goes like this: "THE EYES LOVE IT. THE MOUTH AGREES." (i'm a little ashamed to admit that i've even put this nastiness in my mouth, much less swallowed, but sometimes when you're a guest at someone's house, and it's hot, and in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and there's no other liquid for 500 miles, you have to be gracious when they offer beer.) of course, any time a brewer claims that a beer is "hearty and full-bodied, yet finishes cleanly" it's a sure tip off that it's not hearty or full-bodied, and actually finishes either not at all, or with aluminum and dirt features.

this is like the American Heart Association newsletter selling advertising to Philip Morris. i mean, sure, you've got to make some money through advertising, and i'm sure they are rolling it in from Michelob with those inside front cover ads, but it's just despicable to open up a magazine that purports to take beer seriously, and have to look at that ad straight away.

anyone from AAB care to comment? is it just corporate greed? or do you really think this is good beer?

love,
warmstorage

[fretlessman71]

I like the SunRye, BTW... I thought it WOULD make a great lawnmower beer, to be honest. Think of it this way: Most beer is crappy chemical fizz (as Richard likes to say) that mostly endeavors to quench a thirst; most beer prized by beer snobs is anything but quenching. The SunRye seems to be able to do both for me. It is VERY light fare, by comparison to the rest of the Redhook line, but appreciably tasty to me. And I'm a "big beer" type of guy.... usually my favorite beers are ones where, if my cat knocked over my pint glass, I'd still have 2 or 3 seconds to grab it before anything spilled out of it. And I STILL liked Redhook's SunRye. Although, there's a part of me that wants to say, "Geez... for such a light bodied beer, you want me to pay HOW much???" Same thing for Pilsner Urquell in that regard, though. Not Redhook's fault that I'm a cheapskate....

Go easy on Redhook. Yes, they're part of AB, and I'm going to miss the squat little bottles they used to come in, but until the flavor of the old Ballard Bitter changes, I'll continue to give them high marks.

[steveh]

While AAB has undergone staff changes and editor swaps, and while this article by the inimitable Fred Eckhardt is 6 years old, Fred is still a revered columnist at AAB (and a darn friendly and intelligent guy who I had the privilege of meeting and talking beer with at length during a past Real Ale Fest in Chicago): http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/fred4.html

Be sure to follow the links to Bud's response, and Fred's further response. Quite interesting reading and much lambasting of our favorite whipping post, A-B.

Fred is still writing for AAB, and A-B is still advertising in their pages. I think what some may see as sucking up for advertising, others recognize as true iconoclastic reporting - with obvious editorials published with a proper bi-line.

Yes, I chuckle and make a face whenever I see an ad for Amber Bock, even in a beer enthusiast magazine. But I stand and applaud when I see an article such as Fred's pointing out the truth of the emperor's new clothes.

S.

Here's another I like to quote: http://www.allaboutbeer.com/columns/fred6.html

[warmstorage]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
... Redhook's SunRye. Although, there's a part of me that wants to say, "Geez... for such a light bodied beer, you want me to pay HOW much???" Same thing for Pilsner Urquell in that regard, though. Not Redhook's fault that I'm a cheapskate....
two interesting notes: one, i agree wholeheartedly on the cost thing, and that's part of my dispute with it: the SunRye might be an adequate beer for $4 a sixer, but at micro costs, it's unacceptable: i am absolutely willing to spend $6-$8 a six pack for true craft beer, because i am well aware of the higher cost of the grain bill and hop bill, but i can't see that these are at all present in SunRye, which is ALMOST as thin and light, and ALMOST as lacking of hop character as any standard "american light lager". what's more, part of the higher cost of craft, micro-brewed beer is that they lack the economy of scale to mass-produce beer at the low cost of major brewers. the fact that i had SunRye at Redhook's big, shiny, new east coast brewing facility, and that they benefit from AB's massive, tendril-like distribution network, functionally eliminates this argument.

second note: it's interesting that you chose Pilsner Urquell to illustrate the point of light beer (i.e., beer with a limited grain and hop bill, not necessarily just light in color) costing too much. at least Pilsner Urquell has the import issue to justify some of the cost. but what's interesting to me is this: isn't the Pilsner Urquell brand owned by SAB/Miller? i could be mistaken on this, but it might be that it bears more resemblance to Redhook/AB than the first blush might've indicated.

as for being a cheapskate, i'm with you: most of my friends consider me among the cheapest people they know. however, i'm willing to pay for quality, i'm just not of the mind that Redhook is it, especially the SunRye (which, incidentally, neither i nor my friend detected any hint of rye in whatsoever. granted, the bartender at the brewery's bar served it ice cold, and we only let it warm up for about 15 minutes, but if it's part of the name...)

overall, my hardness on Redhook is about this: they have made better beer (ESB, IPA, double-black stout, porter), and so clearly are capable of it, but for some reason i rarely have the opportunity to buy any of it except for the ESB, despite the massively increased distribution network. (which i'm happy to be corrected on, if Redhook does not, in fact, have access to the AB distribution network. i'm just under the impression that this was part of the majority ownership arrangement.)

this isn't just my BBB (Big Beer Bias): i fear that post-AB ownership, while they aren't making the standard fizzy yellow stuff, they are going down the route of being a small-medium sized macro, with a corresponding decrease in quality of ingredients, and so overall taste and value.

respectfully,
warmstorage

[steveh]

Originally posted by warmstorage second note: it's interesting that you chose Pilsner Urquell to illustrate the point of light beer (i.e., beer with a limited grain and hop bill, not necessarily just light in color) costing too much. at least Pilsner Urquell has the import issue to justify some of the cost. but what's interesting to me is this: isn't the Pilsner Urquell brand owned by SAB/Miller? i could be mistaken on this, but it might be that it bears more resemblance to Redhook/AB than the first blush might've indicated.


As noted somewhere else on the forum, I'm paying $11.00 a 12 pack for Urquell at my local store. I don't know if the owner is getting some deal or another, but he's had it at that price for a while.

AFA the conglomo of South African Brewing "owning" PU, until the label says that it's being brewed in Milwaukee or the quality goes to hell, I'll keep drinking it. I think that SAB connection is showing in more marketing and advertising - I actually saw 2 very tasteful PU commercials on TV the other night. Maybe SAB's connection is also helping to keep prices down? At least in my neighborhood.

S.

[steveh]

Just a little quick web surfing onto Redhook's and A-B Companies' web sites to see what's out in the open on the relationship. Nowhere on Redhook's site is A-B mentioned, and there isn't even a link to A-B.

On the A-B site (corporate, not Budwesier label site) there's a page for the beer products: http://www.anheuser-busch.com/overview/abi.html - and Redhook is way down at the bottom, under the title of Alliance Partner Products and along with - hang on to your pints - Widmer.

"As part of an equity investment in the Redhook Ale Brewery in Seattle, Anheuser-Busch wholesalers have distributed Redhook's superior microbrewery products since 1994 in select U.S. markets. Brands include Redhook Extra Special Bitter (ESB) Ale, Ballard Bitter Ale, Blackhook Porter and Wheathook Ale, among others."

While I'm not completely sticking up for BH (I think that the ESB has gone down in quality myself), I'm trying to play devil's advocate for them - I'd like to think that A-B hasn't gotten their fingers in the BH brewing process as the RH owners promised they wouldn't. But, as they say, "Dance with the devil..."

S.

[warmstorage]

Originally posted by steveh
AFA the conglomo of South African Brewing "owning" PU, until the label says that it's being brewed in Milwaukee or the quality goes to hell, I'll keep drinking it. well, the label will probably never admit it even if it were being brewed in milwaukee, since as you note in yoru enxt post, and others have noted, truth in advertising isn't exactly high on A-B's list. and does it have to go to hell in quality, or just downhill? IMO, if it's $5.50 or more, it ought to be high quality, and even more so if it's $6 or $8. "...Anheuser-Busch wholesalers have distributed Redhook's superior microbrewery products since 1994 in select U.S. markets." admittedly my sense of price is somewhat skewed here in san diego, where everything seems expensive, but: inexplicably, the much discussed Redhook SunRye is $6.99 a six pack (at Beverages & More) and i've seen it as high as $7.99 (either Ralph's or Von's, i forget which.) and while san diego has its faults, it's not exactly a distribution backwater: but maybe AB only has room for the millions of truckloads of swill that regularly crawl along the I-5 and I-8 corridors?

-warmstorage

[chazwicke]

I am not surprised to hear Widmer's on that list. They were among the first to serve their Hefe with a lemon. A sure bad sign. I never sampled their brews at the brewery only in bottles and I did not think much of it. It may be a style thing though because I never liked the northern German versions of Hefeweizens anyway. It is this version that I think they are attempting to mimic. I much prefer the Bavarian style with its banana / clove esters. Widmers sure got the big push here in my area several years ago. Possibly at the beginning of their affiliation with A-B which I never knew of until now. That certainly does explain some things to me.