The
Beer Bloggers Conference (BBC) kicked-off in the
lobby of the
Boston Park Plaza where we checked-in, received our name tags, and
accumulated some sponsored schwag. It
was high-quality schwag, too—giant, pressure-holding, vacuum-insulated,
Hydro Flask growlers; next to these wonders of engineering, the everyday, brown glass
growler seems as outdated as a Model T.
Full disclosure: we swiped two extra growlers to give to our friends
back in Colorado. However, even on the
last day of conference there were several unclaimed Hydro Flasks so it’s not
like our growler hoarding caused anyone to go home empty-handed.
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| Hydro Flasks |
After check-in, attendees crammed into the lobby’s restaurant-cum-trade-show
where we all made our initial greetings and sampled an array of beers, ciders,
and cheeses. There was a lot of
ass-to-ass sideswiping at the Trade Show as beer geeks navigated from booth to
booth in the cramped quarters of the breakfast nook and, not helping the
situation, an enormous table—better suited for a Viking mead hall—took up
valuable space right in the middle of the room. The standout beer of the trade show, in my
mind, was
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s
Ovila Abbey Saison with mandarin oranges
and peppercorns. I personally thought
that beer showcased a smoky flavor but I’m alone in this assumption, I’m sure. I won’t renege on my supposition, though,
because everybody’s palate is different and, by God, mine picked up some smoke!
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| Bumper-to-bumper traffic at the trade show (5 pts if you can spot me in the crowd) |
The
Brewers Association (BA), based in Boulder,
Colorado, was also present at the Trade Show and I became a bit perturbed with
them when I saw they brought a butt-load of Colorado beers; Nicole and I are
Beer in Colorado, dammit, and we
wanted to be the only ones bringing Rocky Mountain suds! You stole my thunder, BA. Fortunately for my ego, the BA rep had
arrived late and was kept busy with logistics so I slipped behind the table and
assumed the role of Colorado beer ambassador, giving the spiel on each beer to
anybody that would listen.
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| Look at all the Colorado beer the BA brought! |
After the Trade Show, attendees were herded outside
and onto idling coaches and whisked away to arguably the best part of the
entire conference: the private tour of
Boston Beer Company (many mistake the
name of the brewery with the name of their flagship beer,
Samuel Adams, much
the same way people say “
Fat Tire Brewery” when they mean to say “
New Belgium Brewing”).
Before I re-cap the fun times at Boston Beer, I’ll
give a quick shout-out to
Zack of
Raising the Barstool, my new East Coast beer
friend. Zack attends college in Boston
meaning he lives close to the conference.
Ergo, he was able to stockpile a whole fridge full of cans, bottles, and
growlers that he shared with his fellow attendees. While everybody else was limited to what fit in
a cooler, Zack was overflowing with local brews. He made sure the few milliseconds of the
conference that are usually void of beer (e.g. travelling between host sites)
were filled. Suffice to say, whatever
bus Zack was riding was the bus you wanted to ride; while those poor suckers in
the other buses endured a dry trip to Boston Beer, the passengers on Zack’s bus
enjoyed
Fort Point Pale Ale by
Trillium Brewing Company and
Saison Renaud Ale 16°
by
Mystic Brewery.
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| Bus beer courtesy of Zack |
Opinions abound regarding Boston Beer. Some claim Boston Beer as the godfather of craft
beer and, objectively, yes, they were among the original wave of American craft
brewers. Others, however, defame them
for growing “too big for their britches,” going as far as to say they’ve outgrown
the “craft beer” designation. My take: size
has nothing to do with quality of beer, it’s all about what goes in the brew
kettle. It may leave a weird taste in
one’s mouth, seeing a craft brewery with national TV ads (that’s macrobrew territory)
but that’s just faulting Boston Beer for being successful, a pretty silly thing
to do for any so-called craft beer advocate. I’m not necessarily a huge fan of the
ubiquitous Samuel Adams Boston Lager but Boston Beer is responsible for many
experimental, complex, and specialty ales, too, so don’t judge a brewery by its
flagship (to make another New Belgium parallel, like Boston Lager, Fat Tire doesn't whip
über beer geeks into a frenzy--but the
Lips of Faith series does). In sum, I’m a supporter of Boston Beer
because they’ve paved the way for the craft beer revolution. When in Colorado, though, I scarcely ever
order anything from Boston Beer as I’m a “Drink Local” proponent—always drink
beer close to its place of origin.
While a beer juggernaut, the original Boston Beer
brewhouse is somewhat modest (compared to preconceived notions of the business,
anyway), set in a brick-laden factory straight out of the soot of a Charles
Dickens novel. It seems the model
building to
embody the spirit of the Industrial Revolution. We filed in and claimed one of the folding
chairs that were set-up on the brewing floor, each beckoning conference
attendees with a bartender’s key bottle opener and one of the newly-designed
cans of
Boston Lager laid out upon the seat.
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| Schwag! |
As per BBC tradition,
Julia Herz of the BA gave the
opening speech and, if you’re as embedded in the craft community as Nicole and
I, told a familiar story but a story you nonetheless like hearing because of
its upbeat nature: craft beer is growing, craft beer is more popular than ever,
craft beer is nowhere near the saturation point…etc.
Then it was time for our keynote speaker: The Man in
Denim, Mr. Sam Adams himself, the founder of Boston Beer and the most famous
face in craft beer,
Jim Koch! I harken
back to an earlier paragraph when I propose that, no matter your thoughts on
Boston Beer, it’s a rare and privileged honor to hear Mr. Koch speak live; the
same people that blast Sam Adams on Twitter would kiss the ring on the hand
that brewed it. He truly is the poster
child of great American beer.
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| Koch speaks to the crowd |
Koch spoke on the history of Boston Beer, telling the
story of how his brewery helped revive a neighborhood in a downward spiral.
Wynkoop Brewing Company is Colorado’s version
of that story i.e. the story of
beer rejuvenating a bad part of town. Whereas Wynkoop’s hurdle was overcoming the
local population of hookers, drug dealers, and muggers, Boston Beer had to
contend with a sociopath who’d eviscerate stray cats and leave the remains
impaled on a stick in his front yard. Not
a great place to raise a family, to say the least.
There was also mention of the brewery bust of the 1990’s,
when the fledgling-yet-flourishing craft industry suddenly crashed leaving a
few scattered survivors as the majority of breweries went out of business. Is it an omen? A harbinger of doom? A sign the market is near a point of
oversaturation? Koch says “no.” He attributes the crash to in-fighting;
brewery owners, more business people than beer people, took a page from the
macrobreweries’ playbook and, instead of supporting one another, attacked their
craft brewing brethren. It was an issue
of ego—they wanted to crush the so-called “competition,” become the sole craft
beer proprietor. They didn’t realize diversity
strengthens the whole industry; they played by the old school business model of
undermining everybody in a similar trade.
Macrobrewery execs simply sat back with
fingers tented à la Mr. Burns and waited as their enemies
self-destructed and swooped in to re-claim their valuable customers. This, among other reasons, is why beer geeks
today become distraught when they hear of one craft brewer pursuing litigation
against another—it brought down craft before, it can do it again. Lesson of the day: play nice or face
extinction.
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| Fermenter/tunnel leading from reception to brew floor |
Via Koch’s mention of in-fighting, I was reminded of
the
Strange v. Strange kerfuffle so, during the Q&A session, I asked Koch
his thoughts on copyright infringement and how to best settle such arguments. He’s very aware that, as a larger brewery, he
runs the risk of damaging his businesses public image should he ever sue a
small brewery; Sam Adams would suddenly go from patriot brewer to draconian
overlord. One must protect their
intellectual property, though. To find
happy middle ground, Boston Beer has been known to pay name-encroaching breweries
two-thirds of the cost of re-branding thus protecting the good name of Boston
Beer whilst not bankrupting the offending party.
I’ve never heard of that negotiation technique; it’s clever, non-confrontational,
and takes the sting out of a cease-and-desist letter. Unfortunately, it requires more benevolence
than I think many litigious folks possess.
After the speeches were done, the attendees split
into two groups. One group stayed behind
to enjoy more brews from Boston Beer, eat, and chit-chat. The other group followed Koch into the barrel
room where he poured eager beer geeks a very special treat:
Utopias. At
29% ABV and retailing for about $190 per brew-kettle-shaped bottle, Utopias is easily the most powerful and most
expensive beer I’ve ever drank (I’m sure everybody else in the room could say
the same thing)! Drinking a beer of that
status, poured by the hands of Jim Koch, is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. As for the taste, it’s super boozy—practically
a whiskey—and it sends a not-unpleasant shiver down the spine. It’s a complex beer and describing it would
be akin to explaining modesty to
Lady Gaga.
Once the first group exited the barrel room—euphoric grins plastered on
their faces—the waiting group was ushered in to sip the elixir for
themselves.
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| Koch gives the spiel on Utopias |
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| A barrel room full of very happy beer geeks |
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| Avert they gaze, peasant! That's nearly $200 worth of beer. |
Though some attendees had to be pried from the barrel
room’s door jamb, we eventually left Boston Beer and stopped off at
Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale for the
Heavy Seas Beer’s hosted Pyrates, Pints & Poets
Party. Any other time, I’d write a whole
post just on this one event but, because BBC is chock-full of awesomeness, I’ll
just say the Heavy Seas party was a raucous way to end the night and that I
really appreciated the selection of ales on cask.
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| Cask ales at Stoddard's |
Day One of BBC was memorable but Day Two was even
more fun! Stay tuned for more updates.
Prost!
