‘Imitation Micros’ Debatable Brews
While trying to come up with an opening topic for this column (smoked beer? organic beer?), I kept putting off writing a reply to a thought-provoking letter I received about last month’s column.
Todd Kurle, general manager of Frontier Distributing in Pullman, took issue with my closing comments about the summer seasonal Redhook Blonde Ale: “It’s not a bad beer, but I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’m drinking one of those imitation Michelob micros.”
Kurle considered that a cheap shot at both the Blonde, “a product designed to be a summer refresher and hopefully an attempt at moving your average popular-priced beer drinker into the micro/craft category,” and the expanded Michelob line, “good examples of entry-level craft beers.”
“How do we get the Bud, Miller, Coors drinkers to ‘trade up’ to the beers you feature in your columns?” he wrote. “Anheuser-Busch’s approach is to hopefully take their Budweiser drinker to the next level, Michelob, or as you call it, ‘imitation micros.’ From Michelob, the next step hopefully is to the micro/craft beer category. Then from there all the micro/craft brewers will be better off.”
During a recent visit to Bend, Ore., Deschutes Brewery owner Gary Fish told me essentially the same thing.
“The best thing that could happen to us is for somebody to drink a Michelob porter,” Fish said. “They’re not going to convert any Black Butte drinkers. In the long term, it’s going to help us more than hurt us.”
For the record, I’ve tried to remain open-minded about the “imitation micros.” In my review of the Michelob products in April, I deemed them “approachable, affordable beers for what Michelob’s marketing materials call ‘entry/fringe specialty drinkers,’ those still learning their way around the craft beer landscape.”
But I’m still not quite convinced that their arrival is a good thing for the smaller breweries that make truly distinctive beers, and for the people like me who enjoy them.
It all comes down to the question of choice in an increasingly competitive beer market, in which overall sales are shrinking and the microbrew segment is starting to flatten out.
Obviously, none of us hard-core “beer geeks” is going to choose a Michelob or a Blue Moon over something from Fish or Lang Creek. The question is, how long will we have a choice?
In the battle for those “entry/fringe specialty drinkers” that are the prime prospects for increased sales, will we see microbreweries moving toward blander beers like Redhook Blonde at the expense of more flavorful styles?
More importantly, will the specialty products from bigger brewers, with their mass appeal and marketing muscle, crowd the smaller - and usually more adventurous - micros out of the precious, limited space in supermarket coolers, tavern tap handles and distributors’ warehouses?
While Kurle admits that may happen in some markets, he insists: “If you’re out there making a good product, it will stay around.”
Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I’d be happy to hear them.
Mountain laurels
Congratulations to Falls Brewing (Casey’s Pub) in Post Falls, whose Procrastinator Doppelbock won the People’s Choice award at the recent Blues, Brews & Reggae Microbrew Festival at Silver Mountain.
Taking second was the Wet Willy wheat beer from another North Idaho brewery, Coeur d’Alene’s Hollister Mountain. And coming in third was - what else? - Redhook Blonde.
Peak preview
The next opportunity for some high-altitude beer tasting is Aug. 30-31, when Schweitzer Mountain Resort north of Sandpoint presents its Northwest Microbrew Fall Festival.
Twenty breweries are scheduled to attend, including Lang, Fish and Pike, to name a few of the less commonly seen participants. For $5, you get a souvenir 6-ounce mug and two tastes; additional samples are $1 each. There’s also food, music and an arts and crafts fair.
The event runs noon to 5 p.m. both days. For more information, call (800) 831-8810.
Hoppy hoppy, joy joy
Good news for us hopheads: the Ram Family Restaurant’s Big Horn Brewing Co. has retooled its Big Red, formerly a lightly hopped British-style bitter, into a “medium IPA (India pale ale).” Plenty of hop flavor fills your mouth up front, followed by a fairly subdued finish that keeps the beer approachable for less daring drinkers.
“We wondered if we were going to lose people because we put a hoppier beer on, but it’s kept right up,” says assistant brewer Lanny Fetzer. (My faith in humanity is restored.)
Fetzer, by the way, will move over to the Ram’s sister restaurant, C.I. Shenanigan’s, to man the brewery being installed there. Look for it to be up and running sometime in October.
Brews club
Spokane’s senior brewpub, the Fort Spokane Brewery, has instituted what’s called the Caputo Club, named after the building that houses the brewery.
For a one-time $30 fee, members get a personalized 22-ounce mug that’s kept at the bar and can have it filled up anytime for the price of a pint. Proceeds go to buy a big-screen television.
And in case you’ve noticed some work going on in the brewery’s window facing Spokane Falls Boulevard, they’re installing an “animated water display” depicting a miniature downtown, with the river fed by Fort Spokane taps. “It will be like a 3-D representation of our logo,” says the brewery’s Vicki Leuthold. Completion is expected by Labor Day weekend.
Do it yourself, bub
So you want to try brewing your own beer, but it seems like too much of a hassle?
Convenience is coming to town in the form of Custom Brewing of Spokane, another of the “U-brew” places that have been popping up around the country over the past few years.
For around $90, you can use the store’s equipment - and advice - to make a batch of beer that will fill 72 22-ounce bottles. A winemaking facility is also available.
Custom Brewing plans to open in early September at Riverwalk, a few doors south of the Bayou Brewing Co. For information call 482-0786.
On Tap is a monthly feature of IN Food. Write to On Tap, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446, fax 459-5098 or e-mail to rickb@spokesman.com
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