Tase Of Minnesota - No Good Beer!!!

[davesarman]

The annual Taste of Minnesota is coming up and after checking thier website, I noticed that there was plenty of locally made food and no national chains represented. But the beer selection was all A-B products! As far as I know, it's always been this way, but I was mad enough to send them this email:

Dear Taste Of Minnesota,
Once again I see that the Taste of Minnesota has not a single Minnesota brewery represented. This is sad. There are several quality brewing companies in Minnesota that I’m sure would be proud to take part in a festival that is supposed to represent the best of Minnesota Food and Drink. Breweries that could and should be represented:

Summit Brewing, St. Paul
Schell’s Brewing, New Ulm (producers of local beer legend Grain Belt Premium)
Superior Brewing, Duluth
Gluek Brewing, Cold Spring

In addition to those fine breweries, there are a number of brewpubs in the metro area and across the state that have perfected the art of making quality, fresh, locally made beer. It’s also sad to see none of these fine businesses represented either.

Town Hall, Minneapolis
Rock Bottom, Minneapolis
Hops, Eden Prairie & Maple Grove
Green Mill, St. Paul
Great Waters, St. Paul
Barley Johns, New Brighton
Granite City, St. Cloud
O’Hara’s, St. Cloud
Bandana, Mankato
Fitgers, Duluth

There are a number of other “Taste Of” festivals across the country that feature locally made beers, most notably Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI. I know of several beer enthusiasts from across the entire country that plan on coming to this event specifically for the exceptional representation of locally brewed beer. The Great Taste of Minnesota is not even on their radar, and frankly, why should it be? The event in Madison sells a limited number of tickets and they sell out in a number of hours. Tickets are hard to come by and people are willing to pay more than face value to be able to attend this event. Can you imagine if the Taste Of Minnesota had this reputation? Sadly, it does not in the beer enthusiast community.

The beers you have represented are all A-B products. I’m sure that A-B has paid an attractive fee to be represented here, and being familiar with A-B’s marketing and business tactics, I’m sure it stipulates that no other breweries can be represented either. In my opinion that flies in the face of what this event should represent, a sampling of locally made products. (This is not Great Taste of St. Louis, is it?) Looking at your food vendors I don’t see any national chains such as McDonald’s or Applebee’s represented. Why should we settle for one national choice for our beer vendor?

Please consider changing your event in the future to include locally made beers. In addition, you might consider having a homebrewing contest as well. I know the local homebrew clubs would be willing and eager to participate. If you would like names of the clubs or contacts, I can provide you with those as well. Until you make changes to have some locally brewed beers available at the Taste Of MINNESOTA, I will not be attending this event and will discourage others from attending as well.

Cheers,

Dave Manley, responsible, quality, local beer enthusiast
Waconia, MN


I'll let you know if I hear a response...

[O2 Mash]

Good for you Dave! It's a shame that the almighty dollar sometimes forces bad decisions. You should send them a six pack of Summit Pale Ale...... That would surely change their mind!!

[chazwicke]

Way to go! I hope others from MN write also. Keep us posted.

[O2 Mash]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Way to go! I hope others from MN write also. Keep us posted.

Hey, an idea......... Why don't we all write? Let's inundate them with emails and support our local breweries.

Dave, who do we email to? I'll start.

[fretlessman71]

Didn't AB pull something like this in Germany just recently?

[studentofbeer]

that's a good idea to write them. the taste of chicago only had crap A-B and maybe Miller products, which was disappointing. they could have at least had goose island.

[steveh]

You know, this is fast becoming an ugly, monopolistic trend. I was at a street-festival in Student-of-Beer's neck of the woods a couple weekends ago and all that was available were A-B products or products they distribute (Redhook and some Japanese beer was available - Aschanti?).

Now, I've heard from 2 different people that all they could find at the annual Taste of Chicago (huge event) was A-B products! I guess there's a "Gourmet Tent" that was serving some wines and could have had some good beer, but my informers didn't get to it. In the past, ToC has had a pretty decent selection of beers - after all, Goose Island is in town (sorry Eric, I was writing as you were posting)!

If A-B is starting to spread its tentacles into these events, and chase anyone else away, we owe it to the rest of the good-beer-drinking community to shout out some sort of protest! Dave has made a good start.

S.

Dave, do you have a relative working at a major-market radio station in Chi?

[davesarman]

Aaarrrgghhh!!! Well I sent the email and it came back undelivered...

"Sorry, your message cannot be delivered because the recipient has exceeded their disk space limit for email."

Maybe that means everyone else has deluged them with email complaining about the beer? hmmm...doubtful.

Here's the website for event: Taste of Minnesota (http://www.tasteofmn.org)
Here's the email to contact them: 'tasteofmn@qwest.net'

The event runs from July 1-5. It's a free event and has been getting some negative press for the lackluster musical entertainment this year...Kansas, Foghat, Jefferson Starship, Hermin's Hermits, Grass Roots, Canned Heat.....hello, anybody that's been relevant in the last 30 years? Their act for the modern rock set is the Violent Femmes. I liked them back in high school and college, but have they done anything relevant since before 1990?

Dave, do you have a relative working at a major-market radio station in Chi?
Not that I know of...why? Is there somebody there with the same last name?

I'll keep trying to resend the message, maybe it will go through. Thanks for all the support, it's a testament to how great this board is!

[ZataGuy]

Dave,

I have been to the Irish Fest, Renaissance Festival, Taste Of Minnesota, several German festivals, all in Minnesota. Problem seems to be that they are often sponsored by some brewing company. Heritage Fest, New Ulm, MN, sponsored by Schell's. Pretty good, but little variety, if you want more.

The German festivals had mostly common German Biers, Dortmunder, Warschtiner (sp?), Paulaner, etc. The wines were horridly sweet, as usual for German wine. Even our local "Bayrischer Hof" is getting a bit more commercial in it's bier offerings. Very sad to see Labatts Blue on tap there.:(

Oh well,

By the way, have you ever tried McEwen's Scottish Ale? If so, what can you tell me about it?

Kevin L.

[Blkandrust]

Originally posted by O2 Mash
Hey, an idea......... Why don't we all write? Let's inundate them with emails and support our local breweries.

Dave, who do we email to? I'll start.




I'm down!!

[steveh]

Originally posted by davesarman Their act for the modern rock set is the Violent Femmes. I liked them back in high school and college, but have they done anything relevant since before 1990?

Relevant? Of so many acts out there, who has done anything really relevant? However, I believe the Femmes released a new album last year.

Not that I know of...why? Is there somebody there with the same last name?

Yeah, there's a Todd Manley (though I'm not positive of the spelling) at WGN Radio who produces all of the on-air promotional stuff, bumps, and other specialty broadcasting. He's won a few industry awards.

I hope you get some response from this protest!

S.

[chazwicke]

I think I last saw the VF about 1989 with the Pogues at Wolf Trap. MacGowan stole the show. And I like songs from the 60s bands that you mentioned. ( Because I am old.) I never was a fan of Starship, Kansas or Foghat though.

[ontap78]

Well, I just e-mailed the Taste of MN and gave them a redass. As a lifetime resident of New Ulm, home of the August Schell Brewery, I feel as though I've been kicked in the gonies.It's just another example of big festivals caving to big corporate wallets.But you know, they all do it. The buck is mightier than the conscience in a lot of cases. We can bitch and say we will no longer attend, but they probably see it as one psyco they'd rather not please anyway and besides, there are still plenty of blind sheep out there who would rather have someone tell them what is good to drink. I feel sad for them. So, come to Schell's Bock beer festival next winter. All Schell's product!

[ZataGuy]

Yes, there are many "blind sheep" out there. One has only to visit the ball parks and sports bars around the Twin Cities, or any other city or town. There are so many Miller Lite, Bud Lite, lite this and that, drinkers out there that there can be little doubt of the sheep mentality of beer drinkers, in general. Thank God there are those places where the draft beers are good. Even the canned beers are better in some places.

Someone else telling us what tastes good? You bet. All the time. Just look at the fashion industry, always telling us what is "in" and what is not. Who are they to tell us what we will or will not like, from year to year? Same with beers. Who are "They" to tell us what is a good flavoured beer and what is not?

Make up your own mind. Pick the one that you like. Don't even let the likes of Michael Jackson make your choice for you. Use his suggestions and then pick for yourself.

Kevin:cool:

[BluesHarp]

I was at a 4'th party at my wife's relatives this weekend. I was constantly being asked about what I qwas drinkng, but my explanations were met mostly with blank looks. They were joking that they could track me by the trail of "weird" beer bottles...

At another party later in the weekend; there was a couple who were drinking BudLight with bloody mary mix and olives poured in it!!!:eek:
They were also telling us about another drink...half beer and half 7-Up; they claimed this was all the rage in South Dakota where they were originally from...I just smiled and gazed at my pint of Great Divide Hercules Double IPA (which is one damn fine IIPA, by the way!)

[ZataGuy]

Originally posted by BluesHarp
At another party later in the weekend; there was a couple who were drinking BudLight with bloody mary mix and olives poured in it!!!:eek:
They were also telling us about another drink...half beer and half 7-Up; they claimed this was all the rage in South Dakota where they were originally from...I just smiled and gazed at my pint of Great Divide Hercules Double IPA (which is one damn fine IIPA, by the way!) [/B]

That reminds me of the movie "In Harms Way," with John Wayne and Cirk Douglas. In that movie they give Douglas a beer and an Air Corps flyer pours bourbon in the beer to "sweeten it up." If the beer is good, I can't see messing it up with that kind of thing. To each his own, I guess.

Kevin

[lubricated]

this thread reminds me of safeco field. All beer is expensive. All beer is the same price. They have bud and coors. They also have redhook. What is everyone getting? Bud.

Well who says baseball fans are known for their sophistication.

[davesarman]

Originally posted by ontap78
So, come to Schell's Bock beer festival next winter. All Schell's product!

IIRC, when I went to Bockfest 2 years ago, they were not serving their Dopplebock, just the regular bock. Is that typical? I really think they make a great dopplebock and think they should serve it at Bockfest. (Although, I couldn't drink it all day...I'd be a puddle!)

[davesarman]

Originally posted by ZataGuy
Make up your own mind. Pick the one that you like. Don't even let the likes of Michael Jackson make your choice for you. Use his suggestions and then pick for yourself.

Kevin:cool:

Nice post Kevin. And welcome to the board! Always good to have another Minnesotan around!

[davesarman]

Originally posted by BluesHarp
I At another party later in the weekend; there was a couple who were drinking BudLight with bloody mary mix and olives poured in it!!!:eek:
They were also telling us about another drink...half beer and half 7-Up; they claimed this was all the rage in South Dakota where they were originally from...I just smiled and gazed at my pint of Great Divide Hercules Double IPA (which is one damn fine IIPA, by the way!)

I'm originally from SD and was just there over the holiday weekend. Didn't see anyone drinking beer and 7-up. In fact that's one I've never heard of. But I have heard of the beer and bloody mary mix w/ olives...back in college we used to drink "red beer" which was usually 2/3 beer & 1/3 tomato juice...just the thing on Saturday mornings to get rid of the hangovers and get ready for the afternoon football games. (Tip: never put Tabasco sauce in your red beers. Tastes good at first, but you really pay for it later!) In fact if you go into my hometown bar, you'll probably see some of the old timers still drinking their "red beers". We also used to put olives in our beer once and a while too. I think we called them "poor man's martinis".

[davesarman]

Originally posted by lubricated
Well who says baseball fans are known for their sophistication.

HEY! I'm a baseball fan and consider myself quite sofistikated!

Just razzin' ya...Seeing as I just posted that I used to drink red beer with Tabasco sauce, maybe I'm not as sofistikated as I thought? :rolleyes:

[danno]

Dave, love the letter... I'm considering lifting part of it for a letter to the newspapers (with your OK). I'm however going to add a line to the effect of "You've made a beer selection that is the equivalent of only letting McDonald's provide food. Sure, they sell a lot, and they have several different offerings, but is that what the Taste of Minnesota is about?"

[davesarman]

Go ahead, Danno. I submitted a slightly revised version of the email to the Strib myself, but haven't seen anything happen with it. If it helps get the message out there, by all means go ahead and use the letter!

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by davesarman
I'm originally from SD and was just there over the holiday weekend. Didn't see anyone drinking beer and 7-up. In fact that's one I've never heard of. But I have heard of the beer and bloody mary mix w/ olives...back in college we used to drink "red beer" which was usually 2/3 beer & 1/3 tomato juice

Yeah.."red beer", that is what they were calling it. I don't know, I'm not sure I could drink that...seems to me the acid from the tomato juice wouldn't be much help with a hangover. Gatorade, aspirin, and B-Complex for me (both the night before and the morning after)!