First things first, if you're reading this and you haven't seen Craft Brewers Conference Comes to Boston Day 1 or Day 2 yet, check those out first so you know the background! Then feel free to read on.
Day Three of the Craft Brewers Conference was the calm before the storm. With the tours of Day One and the evening celebration, amazing PreSavor event and evening event at Samuel Adams of Day Two it seemed that everybody may have needed a break. Not to say it wasn't fun, it was just toned down. I took this opportunity to check out a seminar and speak with a representative from O-I, one of the largest glass bottle providers to the craft brewing industry.
One thing I do have to note, though, before getting into the seminars and vendors, is that every room in the conference hall smells very strongly of hops. It's an amazing smell and, after a few minutes of investigating I was able to find out why the smell is so strong (top left). Tables like these are set up all over the exhibit hall floor. There are at least ten hop vendors all encouraging people to break up their hops and release the volatile compounds while they check out the wares. That's quite the potpourri!
One quick note: Unfortunately I missed a portion of today due to illness and couldn't drink any beer. Ouch! As a result, this is a shorter piece than the recaps from Day 1 and Day 2. Day 4 should be back to normal, though. Cheers! -Jeff from DrinkCraftBeer.com
Interview with Joanna Hunter, Beer Marketing Manager for Glass Provider O-I Global
As many of you know, we here at DrinkCraftBeer.com don't get too into the details of the vendors that supply the craft brewing industry. We may talk about hop farmers and malt farmers, but only really when it's relevant to another story. So it's not surprising that I went into this interview with a bit of trepidation. When I recieved a call from an Account Executive asking if I'd like to interview Joanna, I believe my first words were, "You know we're not a brewery, right?" We have been confused with one before, so I like to get that out of the way. All skepticism aside, though, this turned out to be quite an interesting interview!
The first thing that Joanna brought up was that the beer industry accounted for 70% of their business, not just craft but all beer. Because they're so dependent on the beer industry, they're looking for different products to set them apart in what many believe to be a commodity industry. They're also looking for ways to give brewers a chance to show some flair without incurring the usually-prohibitive costs of having custom bottles (think Samuel Adams, how they have the raised signature).
Their main innovation? Black glass (left). Compared to amber (the technical color of what people normally call brown glass) it lets much less light through. Other than looking good, especially with silk screened labels, it keeps out UV light which. As most of you hopefully know, UV light is what causes a beer to go skunky when it reacts with compounds in the hops (if you didn't know, and thought that temperature changes or anything else caused a beer to go skunky, now you know... it's UV light only that causes skunked beer). If you keep out the light, the beer will have a more stable shelf life.
The next new thing Joanna and I discussed was the reinvention of the "Stubby." This is the bottle that Red Stripe comes in. Only, O-I's newest version is much lighter than a conventional bottle. Plus, the design lends itself to tighter packing on trucks. What all this means is that you can ship more beer on the same truck, which is great for reducing the costs of transporting craft beer! The product literature also discusses the "nostalgic shape [that] resonates with current trends," but, unless your a PBR Tall-Boy drinking hipster I don't think this appeal will we a big deal. I prefer the fact that it's a lighter bottle that uses less glass.
The third point in our conversation had to do with the 750 ml format bottle. She said they're re-releasing these and that their version is now rated to hold the pressure necessary for beer. Well this seems to be one trend they're behind on. The 750 ml bottle has been big in craft beer for a while now. It's an expensive format to bottle in, though, as very few vendors make them so perhaps this will help reduce the cost of all those $15-$25 beers in 750's. One can hope, right?
Seminar: Beer According to Women: How Women Brew, Present, Pair and Sell Beer
With women making up roughly 50% of the population, but constituting only 25% of beer consumption, this was quite the hot ticket. Notables in attendance were Greg Koch, Founder of Stone Brewing Co., and Vinnie Cilurzo, Founder and Brewmaster for Russian River Brewing Co., among others. The panel consisted of (right: names listed from left to right):
1) Sebbie Buhler, moderator of the panel, has worked at Rogue Ales since 1991 in marketing and sales. Currently she works mostly on pairing Rogue Ales with food and the marketing around that.
2) Candice Alstrom, wife of BeerAdvocate.com Founder Todd Alstrom, she has worked for years in the service industry selling/pairing beer, cheese and gourmet chocolate at Formaggio Kitchen.
3) Teri Fahrendorf, the second ever woman brewmaster in the United States. She was also The Road Brewer and during that time founded the Pink Boots Society, a non-profit organization meant to encourage women to become professionals in the beer industry.
4) Jodi Stoudt, the marketing/PR coordinator for Stoudt's Brewing Co. After brewing for 15 years in Boston, she married into the Stoudt family and went to work there.
Before the conference the three panelists were given the questions and allowed to think and write out their answers. To be honest, this may not have been the best idea. While it gave them the ability to fact check and really think out their answers, a lot of the time they just read from the sheet in front of them. As the live Question & Answer session proved, these are fun and lively women... Reading prepared statements just isn't the strong suit of any of these people and the majority of the event came off a little stiff and boring. Despite this problem, though, the information itself was very interesting!
The concerns were around why beer is thought of as a "man's drink" and why women are thought to only like fruit beer or wine. The consensus is that beer marketing has been so focused on men for so long, that this was bound to happen. Historically, women were brewers and they thought that women should eventually make up an equitable percent of the beer market. Their solution, and one that I happen to agree with wholeheartedly, was education. Work with not just women, but all hesitant drinkers who say "I don't like beer." Find out what they like and try to match them with a beer that suits their palette. Also, we should play up the role of food and beer pairings. A good pairing can really bring out the best in the food and beer, increasing the appeal of both. In the end, it seemed to come down to education. Give women, and men who are hesitant about beer, knowledge. Teach them about craft beer, the flavors, the vocabulary and help train their palettes. Let them understand they don't have to like every style. This was the key to increasing the acceptance of craft beer among all people, not just women.