I'm With the Florida Craft Brewers!

Big happenings in the Sunshine State

What the heck is going on with the Florida craft beer industry?

Tons, actually. Florida, which not that long ago was a bit of a craft beer no-man’s-land, has undergone a renaissance over the past 10 years. Breweries are popping up all over the state and big markets like Tampa have become beer towns, with craft beer scenes that rival some of the best in the country.

But this new found resurgence is not without its challenges, most of which are coming from big beer and the state government.

There has been a struggle between Florida brewers and the state for a while now, mostly over growlers. The laws on the books in Florida make 64oz growlers illegal, which as we all know, is the standard size of a growler. There are ways around this, of course, but needless to say, brewers in Florida have been asking their government to amend the growler restrictions, and understandably so.

This argument over growlers has opened up a Pandora’s Box of sorts and now, as of March 22nd, a total of 11 beverage industry bills are up for consideration in the Florida Legislature, according to BrewersLaw.com. All but a handful of those bills are focused on dramatically reshaping the operation of Florida’s breweries. But three, in particular, are causing a stir.

Not an actual representation of debating Legislators

House Bill 387 has been unanimously approved by the Florida House Regulatory Affairs Committee, and authorizes beer tastings at licensed premises. It amazes me that they weren’t authorized before, but hey – good news story.

House Bill 1329, on the other hand, is under attack – and that is a very good thing. Dubbed the “Big Beer Bill,” HB 1329 limits the sale of beer from the brewer to the end consumer, requires brewers to include intent to supply beer to distributors in their business plan, prohibits tap rooms from selling beers brewed wholly or partially by another brewery, and defines a growler as 32 or 64 ounces. Not surprisingly, this bill has the support of a group of Anheuser-Busch distributors in Florida, and rumor has it that they may have been involved in the bill’s inception.

The good news is the House Business and Professional Regulation Subcommittee filed an unfavorable Staff Analysis on March 21st, stating that the “restrictions and limitations [contained in HB 1329] should reduce the potential revenue of [Florida craft breweries].” Also on March 21st, two “strike all” amendments were filed in the House to entirely re-write the text of HB 1329.

Florida needs growlers, just like growlers need Florida

Meanwhile, in the Senate, there is Senate Bill 7120, which was introduced on March 21st. It essentially matches the growler-focused portions of HB 1329, limiting a brewery’s off premises consumption to filling 32 and 64 ounce growlers with only the brewery’s own beer. The Florida Brewers Guild has written the below letter regarding the impact of SB 7120, which was forwarded on from Charlie Papazian, the President of the Brewers Association:

The Florida Brewers Guild needs your help to oppose legislation that is severely detrimental to Florida’s breweries. It is imperative that you contact the Senate President and your local State Senator as soon as possible to tell them to VOTE NO on Proposed Senate Bill 7120.

Although the Proposed Senate Bill 7120 will legalize 64 ounce growlers, it places burdensome and punitive restrictions on breweries and their tasting rooms that are not in place under current law and serve no other purpose than to strongly curtail the rapid growth of small business breweries in Florida.

The bills will make it illegal for breweries to sell a 128 ounce growler. It will make it illegal for breweries to fill growlers of their own beer if it was brewed at another location. It will make it illegal for specialty beer shops that are subject to inspection by the Health Department to sell growlers but protects liquor stores that are not required to be inspected by the Health Department. The bill also stipulates that if the new growler restrictions are not strictly adhered to, then you are committing a first degree misdemeanor and could have your brewery license revoked.

Additionally, the bill makes it illegal for breweries to sell beer in bottles and cans for off-premise consumption, including collaboration beers, and makes it illegal for a brewery to make cider or mead.

Tap rooms are magical places

Even more alarming, it kills any potential for creativity and future growth in the industry, as it contains an oppressive limitation which states, “anything not specifically authorized . . . is prohibited unless otherwise authorized under the Beverage Law.”

The bill does offer an advantage for beer distributors, granting them an exemption from the current law that requires any beer picked up by a distributor from a brewery be brought back to their licensed and bonded warehouse to ensure compliance with state and federal taxation.

Simply put, these anti-consumer, anti-business restrictions will hurt Florida breweries and put an end to the growth of craft beer along with many of the jobs created by the brewing industry in Florida.

It is imperative that you contact the Senate President and your local State Senator to tell them to VOTE NO on this bill. Tell them how harmful these restrictions will be to your local craft brewery. Please be courteous and respectful, but let them know that you care about Florida’s craft breweries and their positive economic impact and job growth they bring to your local community.

Thank you for supporting craft beer in Florida!

I'm tired of keeping calm!

If you want more information about these legislative debates, BrewersLaw.com has a good summary and links to more sources. I highly recommend them as a starting point for your research.

It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Perhaps the favorable decisions that were made in the House will also be made in the Senate. Or, perhaps the big beer and distributors lobbies will successfully destroy the brewing industry in the state of Florida forever. I’m rooting for the former, obviously, and I encourage all of you to spread the word about this nonsense and raise awareness about it. Even if you don’t live in Florida, as I do not, this effects craft beer lovers everywhere. If these types of shenanigans are successful in the sunshine state, they could try them in your neck of the woods too. And if you do live in Florida, please contact your representatives and senators to petition them to support delicious craft beer in your state.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Beer-Related Madness, in March

Standard Issue Tuna Melt - Delicious!

March Madness is once again upon us. The annual college basketball tournament (or tuna melt as I've heard it called… interesting…) is in full swing and the favorites are dropping like flies. Meanwhile, at a local newspaper or national news agency near you, a different sort of bracketology is going on – craft beer bracketology.

It’s exactly what it sounds like. These media folks are pitting craft beers against each other in a March Madness-style tournament of sorts. Most focus on local beers from around your neck of the woods and enlist local people to vote for their favorites. The folks who vote are sometimes a panel of supposed experts, but usually a collection of ordinary people who drink beer. I've seen the more high-speed news outlets have online voting.

On one hand, this is probably a genius marketing ploy by the brewing industry as it raises awareness of local craft beer and gets people who wouldn't otherwise care about craft beer to suddenly care. I guess. It’s interesting, and it appeals to people’s local pride, sense of competition, and love for college basketball and beer. Sounds like an “everybody wins” kind of situation, right? Right?

Actually, I’m not convinced.

If you really drink craft beer, and I mean really drink craft beer - are borderline obsessed like I am, don’t read these “craft beer brackets” stories. Don’t be fooled. They’re not meant for us. They’ll just make us angry.

Here’s why.

A great beer

First of all, whenever you enlist public voting for a supposed competition, that competition will inevitably become nothing more than a popularity contest. We see this play out in the MLB All Star Game Fan Vote, which votes Derek Jeter to be the starting short stop for the American League every year, even though he hasn't been the best short stop in the American League in 4 years. But he’s a living legend, future first-ballot hall of fame player and people know him.

This is already happening in the Washington Post’s Beer Madness for 2014, which fills out its bracket with beers from all over the DC, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware region. In the first round, Dogfish Head’s 60 minute IPA is up against Mad Fox Brewing Company’s Orange Whip IPA. For those of us who live here, and are dedicated beer people, this is a no-brainer – Orange Whip is vastly superior to 60 minute in every way. It shouldn't even be close. Except that Mad Fox is not as known as Dogfish and many people involved in this fan vote have never heard of them, let alone had the Orange Whip. As a result, Dogfish Head’s 60 minute slaughtered Orange Whip in the first round… a travesty.

An even better beer

And of course Dogfish has their legions of fan boys who would vote for anything Sam Calgione churned out – this is my second point. These brackets feature small breweries and big breweries (not big beer) alike, and when you factor in brand recognition, popularity and customer loyalty into the equation, the little guys don’t really stand a chance. Now don’t get me wrong – I happen to like Dogfish Head beers, but I am not a true believer who will blindly vote for them because I saw the shark on the bottle.

Another problem, and my third point, is that while there is an effort to include smaller breweries in the tournament, even though they don’t really stand a chance anyways, the larger breweries often have multiple beers in the brackets - because apparently, there aren't enough breweries around to have all single entry. Hogwash. Maybe not all regions of the country have enough breweries to fill out a 64 beer bracket, but in the case of the WaPo Beer Madness Bracket, which has cobbled together entries from at least five states, they could have easily found 64 unique breweries.

Actual beer competion

There is also an attempt to categorize the beers into four types (regions) so as to not compare apples to oranges. I think I understand the intent behind this, but if the final four is comprised of the winners from the four categories, eventually you will have to compare apples to oranges. Maybe it’s that they don’t want to have four IPAs in the final four, which likely would happen. This is exactly the reason why actual beer competitions only compare beers of like styles against each other, and have multiple gold medal winners. This being a marketing engine, what difference does it make?

So because of popularity, a lack of options and low-information in the minds of the voters, you’re going to be left with a final four consisting of a Dogfish Head, a Tröegs, a Heavy Seas and a Starr Hill – all of these breweries make great beer, and their brewers are great Americans, but what about the little breweries?

Get out and vote!

Now as I alluded to at the top, this doesn't mean the brackets don’t have their place… they’re probably a powerful marketing tool – they have to be. A few years ago, one media outlet had the idea to team up with local brewers and now… we have at least 10 different brackets in the DC Metro Area featuring our local beers. So obviously it makes money for those involved. As an advocate for delicious craft beer in spite of who makes it, what I am saying is if you’re like me, you may want to skip these brackets… you most likely won’t like what you read. Or, you can organize a coalition of like-minded craft beer hunters to go online and rock the vote, and make sure that justice is done. Just as long as you’re prepared to invest quite a bit of time and effort into your cause… the legions of Dogfish fan boys are not easily thwarted.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Beware the Ides of March

The Dude abides

First of all, I know that Monday is St. Patrick’s Day, but I will not be writing about any Irish snake whisperers today. I know many of you associate beer to St. Patty’s, and rightly so, but I plucked that low hanging fruit last year, so in order to at least appear as though I have some method to my madness, as opposed to this all being a collection of random strands in ole’ Duder’s head, I am going after an alternative target. If you simply must get your St. Patrick’s Day beer blog fix, here are some links to posts I wrote on Irish Beer and St. Patty’s and Irish Red Ales. Sláinte!

Also, since I currently find myself in administrivia mode, and by way of an apology, I’m sure many of you logged on to your computers and mobile devices last Saturday, hoping to sit down and read the latest inspiration, only to find there was none. Sometimes life gets too hectic, and even the most stalwart advocate for truth and beer can’t make a deadline. That being said, my personal hang-ups do not concern you, nor do they excuse my lack of a blog post, so for that, I apologize to you all. With any luck, I will make it up to you – maybe not today, but eventually. Then again, maybe not.

And away we go.

Et tu, Brute?

The Ides of March, or Idus Martii/Idus Martiae on the ancient Roman calendar, corresponds to March 15 and was the day that Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by his Senators and friends, according to Bill Shakespeare. In fact, in that Shakespeare play, Caesar was warned by a soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March,” as something terrible was going to happen.

Today, the date is fairly innocuous, however mid-March (we can call it the Ides of March) is when many people start thinking about spring (read spring beer styles). I know the folks up at the Boston Beer Company release their Sam Adams Spring Variety Pack in early January for some reason, and many people have unrealistic expectations about winter weather being finished by mid-February, but I think mid-March (the Ides) is an honest time to make the transition from winter to spring – in all aspects of life – not the least of which is beer.

So how do we do that? Or more accurately, what can we expect to see in our beer glasses now that spring has sprung?

There really isn’t a specific style of beer associated with the spring season. Not in the same way that autumn is linked to Oktoberfest märzens and pumpkin ales, or winter is linked to Christmas ales and winter warmers. Even summer has any style that is light, crisp and refreshing, like kholsch, saison, hefeweisen, witbier, etc. Spring kind of gets hosed. Or does it?

Not only is spring and the month of May part of the maibock tradition, it also involves goats. Crazy Euros.

A little known beer style to season connection with spring is the helles bock or maibock. Maibocks tend to be lighter in color than other bock beers and often have a significant hop character with a noticeable alcohol around the same as a traditional bock. Color can range from deep gold to light amber with a large, creamy, persistent white head, and moderate to moderately high carbonation, while alcohol content ranges from 6.3% to 7.4% by volume. The flavor is typically less malty than a traditional bock, and may be drier, hoppier, and more bitter, but still with a relatively low hop flavor, with a mild spicy or peppery quality from the hops, increased carbonation and alcohol content. Maibocks are customarily served in the spring and are oftentimes interrelated with spring festivals and celebrations in the month of May. Dead Guy Ale from Rogue Brewery in Oregon is a fine example of the style.

Sláinte!

Unfortunately, maibock is the only style that spring can claim for itself, so we are forced to get creative. Technically speaking (writing/reading), if we are to use the Ides of March as the cutoff for spring beers, and since St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, you could make the argument to include the Irish red ales and dry Irish stouts to our list of spring beers. Just as long as you don’t try to include any yellow fizzy industrial swill beer with green food coloring. No dice, Budweiser.

We can also attempt to invoke spring-like themes and seasonal transition motifs in our styles. For example, if winter beers are dark, and summer beers are light, than somewhere in between might make for a good spring beer – something in the red/amber color category perhaps. Meanwhile, spring usually equates to freshness, and freshness in beer is generally done with hops. Hops, needless to say, make us think of IPAs. Not to mention that IPAs are usually golden to amber colored, so they pass the arbitrary appearance test to be considered a spring beer.

But then again, IPAs should be enjoyed all year round, so we should already be enjoying them in the spring, thus making this line of opining moo – it’s a cow’s opinion. It doesn’t matter.

It's moo!

I suppose, in the end, the absence of a defined style for the season makes for abundant possibilities, which are the spice of life (is that right?). The more possibilities a brewer has, the more variety will appear in the final product, and the more opportunities for enjoyment by you – the consumer. Sounds like everyone wins to me.

Beware the Ides of March? More like rejoice in the Ides of March!!!

Spring has sprung… now let’s go drink some beer!

***UPDATE*** I just remembered that variety, not abundant possibilities, is the spice of life. Though that sounds like six of one.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!