Displaying Beer! posts.

Squib has a lot of definitions… freedictionary.com says it can mean

a. A small firecracker.

b. A broken firecracker that burns but does not explode.

By extension, a squib is also a dud round of ammunition, one that doesn’t even quite make it out of the barrel… (and it’s the next shot that’ll really screw things up, see the photo!)

And of course there’s the Potteresque meaning of

“A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn’t got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual.”

—Ron Weasley discussing Argus Filch [link]

Not to mention that they are “a sentient species from Skor II known for collecting, trading, and haggling,” but I know you already knew that.

What Google's Image Search Will Do For You!

‘Course it’s also an historical Bristish film with the unlikely synopsis of:

“In this musical comedy, a Cockney flower girl is in love with a policeman whom she wants to marry. Unfortunately, her father opposes the union because he is involved in a little crooked investing. Fortunately, the young woman wins a lottery and is able to find wealth and marital bliss”

But where I am heading with it is really this:

“A squib is a brief satirical or witty piece of writing or speech, like a lampoon, or a short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, used as a filler. It can be intended to ignite thinking and discourse by others on topics of theoretical importance – e.g., see MIT Press’s journal, Linguistic Inquiry [1], but is often less substantial than this and just humorous”

Which makes sense if you know that my non-beery background is in linguistics & cognitive science… I remember friends in the linguistic graduate program at the UofA submitting them to LI and I always liked the concept.

Filler, brief, humorous… meant to spark discussion.  On the web, what isn’t a squib, really?

So, I am declaring my intent to write a bunch of squibs for the blog.  What that means is, these spontaneously occurring posts will be like a Tweet, but usually longer.  Or like Tumblr, but more blog-like.  Or not.  Or just, you know… a lot like this:

Facebook:

I just referred to our future as “teh beerz ov CBW” on a friend’s status update.  How do you feel about “teh beerz ov CBW?” as a marketing slogan?  If it makes you think of a band called Sleepchamber, you’re probably me.

http://sleepchamber.info/

I’m not saying CBW’s beers will be brimming with industrial noise and sexmagick; Briess simply doesn’t make any kind of malt yet that really expresses that.  On the other hand, if any brewer can make a beer taste like John Zewizz makes music sound/look/feel, it’s RudyBob, so… Look for our series of genre-defying melchizedeks (hand bottled, corked & caged! Available only by subscription!) soon after opening.

Yeah, I have not posted in awhile. But here I am!  There are just a few things on my mind and well… I have a soapbox, er, blog.  So, getting down to it…

The first, really the big point is related to the title.  Before Community Beer Works, there was Beer-O-Vision, the blog that Dan and I wrote at for a couple of years.  I would not claim it was the world’s greatest beer blog, or even A Good Beer Blog, but I am proud of it nonetheless and I’d stand by every word we wrote.  The thing is, when we wrote all that stuff–and made those videos–we were just a couple of guys who liked beer and wanted to talk about it.  Once you get into the industry, things change a bit.  For one thing, you become somewhat more attuned to the to’s and fro’s of the industry… I mean, we get The New Brewer now, so we are privy to a  lot of  ”insider” (like anyone can’t get it; we know) information.  But more than that, you start to realize you need to be a bit more circumspect.  By which I mean, you can’t go around shitting where you eat.

Possibly Offensive.

So, it seems like a bit of a risk to jump into any of the controversies that roil the beer blogosphere.  Sure, we’ve made some noise here and there about various news items- AB-InBev’s acquistion of Goose Island for example, or Dan’s lovely peice of satire on the trademarking of area codes (picked up by another blog, incidently).  But we aren’t editorializing so much in those posts, we’re mainly poiting out some news and I suppose, gently mocking the Big Boys.  Low hanging fruit, as they say.  Still, thisparticular one has been on my mind a bit since it went down earlier last week, and I am going  to add my two cents.

linky (I’m just not sophisticated enough to embed the video, but if you don’t watch it, the rest of what I write might still make sense… eh, probably better watch it. Or read this, anyway.)

I’ll let the clip set the stage and save myself some typing.  I’ve had a number of Clown Shoes beers, and they are, to my tastes, fine.  Not mind-blowing, but pretty tasty.  The labels–or let’s be precise, two of them, anyway–are to my mind not very classy, but I wouldn’t sayoutright sexist or offensive.  Also, not light-hearted or funny, really.  But you know, that’s a matter of opinion.  I think, though, the question is more one of where to put the balance of your interest: in the beers themselves, or in the entirety of the beer, from price to label to the ethos of the company.  Because really, at the end of the day, you don’t just buy a beer.  You buy into a brand.  Here’s two examples, pro and con.

I've come from 1882, to make beer for you

Pro: I love Pretty Things.  I just like everything about them, from their artwork, to the company’s story, to the individuals Dann and Martha, and yes, the beers themselves.  Is every beer they make the best beer ever?  Meh, it’s unknowable and  irrelevant.  When I drink them, they are.  Because it is about more than just the liquid passing over my tongue and off-gassing into my nose.  Sure that matters, but it’s not everything, because ultimately the experience happens in my brain, not my mouth.  Once the liquid sets off certain patterns of electrical activity in my tongue and in my nose, all sorts of other things interact with that: memory, expectations, time of day, blood-sugar levels, the context in which I am drinking, &c.  We beer enthusiasts are foolish in some sense to rate beer, to attempt to quantify the subjective.  Four people drink the same beer, and four very distinct and ineffable conscious experiences ensue.  That’s the nature of human experience, and so if one person tells me the beer is crap, I’m in some sense best off leaving it at that; for all I know, that beer makes her remember a bad time, a sad time, a lonely time, or heck: it just makes her gag a bit.  How am I supposed to tell her she’s wrong?

Con: I don’t drink Blue Moon.  It’s not because it’s garbage; quite the contrary: it’s not a bad example of a Belgian Wit, on the ocassion I have had some.  Seems to hit the BJCP style guidelines at a 38+ anyway, if I’m going to get all judge-y on it.  But even if it were the ne plus ultra of the style, better than Hoegaarden, better than Ommegang’s… I’m still not going to enjoy the beer exactly, because I know to whom my hard-earned money is going when I buy that beer–MolsonCoors–and I am not interested in supporting a company that 1) hardly needs my money anyway, thanks, and 2) will turn around and put my dollars towards causes I do not support, politically.  I simply do not like that company, and so their beers will necessarily taste a bit nasty to me, just as much as Pretty Things beers taste like teh awesome.

So, back to Clown Shoes and tying this into CBW perhaps… I’m not going to boycott them, or rant about them from my bully pulpit, but I’m not probably going to buy more of their stuff than I have already, because I agree with Candice Alström down at Beer Advocate that they’re sort of tacky.  I mean whatever, I’ve bought one of each of their beers so far and I’ll probably check out new ones as they become available to me; I’m curious and like I said above, the beers seem to taste alright to me.  But I do think Craft Beer doesn’t really need to go there to sell beers to me anyway.  To you?  Don’t know.  Have at ‘em, really.  Personally, I recommend either the Clementine (speaking of Belgian wits) or Hoppy Feet (a bit on the roasty side for the style, but pleasant).  But CBW’s ethos perculdes this kind of marketing effort.  Sure, we’re silly and ocassionally obtuse (does anyone understand “In C” but us? Even us?).  But we’re not going to stray anywhere near the arena Clown Shoes is playing in; it’s just not our style.  We hope that doesn’t, em… offend you.

********************************************************************************

Having blown 1,000 words on that, I only wanted to make my other points but quickly.  So first–second?–I want to make a tip of the hat to our own Mr. Dan Conley, who not only celebrated his 6th wedding anniversary this weekend but also wrote a damn fine peice of satire last week that drew some attention in the beer blogosphere: nicely done, Dan.  Sadly, we don’t in fact own 716, so you can continue to dial your relatives back here from Charlotte all you want, but we do hope that when you come back for a beef on weck, you stop by the brewery and buy yourself some beer or at least a t-shirt.  Well, right now, definitely a t-shirt, since we don’t exactly make beer yet.

Not Dan; Elixy. Suck it, hubby!

Secondly, did you hear we got out TTB approval?  We’ll probably crow about it some more, because we’re really pretty over the moon about it, and we haven’t even all been in the same room yet to celebrate this milestone, but folks: There. Will. Be. Beer!  Sure, we have more milestones ahead of us–the “brewery” is yet more of a warehouse with condensation on the floor ofttimes. But nonetheless, getting through the Federal permitting process pretty much guarantees us to be in the “not if but when” stage now.  W00t!

Ok, that’s all for now; Dan will be back on Thirsty Thursday with more coolness; see you then!

Yes, we know, the state senate should really be focusing its energy on silly things like ensuring all people are treated like actual human beings with basic rights. But there’s another important issue they need to address as well: the rights of small brewers vs distributors.

S1315 is currently in the Rules Committee. It would allow small breweries to terminate contracts with distributors by paying them “fair compensation.” Currently, a contract can only be terminated with “good cause.” In this bill, a “small brewery” is defined as one producing less than 300,000 barrels per year: for reference, Flying Bison is estimated to produce 6,500 barrels this year.

Small breweries can choose to self distribute, and that’s what we plan to do, at least in the foreseeable future. Once you get big enough, though, it’s not feasible: Flying Bison reached a point where it was not worth the amount of effort to manage distribution themselves, and so they use a distributor.

This bill would allow a brewery to change distributors or manage it themselves again. Their current distributor would be compensated and they could then change their distribution method to whatever worked for them. It will allow breweries to expand in a method that works for them. This will lead to more jobs and more beer.

This is a good thing! You need to tell the members of the Senate Rules Committee that you think it is: find your state senator, then see if they’re on the rules committee. That last link autoplays video, by the way, so if you don’t feel like smooth jazz being played on your speakers then pause the first embed on the page. Then, tell them you think this bill needs to come to a vote.

Ideally, this needs to happen today or tomorrow. So don’t delay! Shoot them an email or make a quick phone call now. (If you happen to live in Brooklyn, Senator Golden in particular is on the fence)

Last night, CBW once again took to the streets. Well, the bars. Bar. Mister Goodbar, to be precise. After carefully selecting a flight of distinctly American beers for May’s Goodbeer Club, Rudy added in three CBW prototypes. For posterity, we present the list!

We're one MC and four guys sitting in the audience, and we be gettin' down with no delay

Victory Prima Pils
Smuttynose Star Island Single
Community Beer Works In C American Pale Ale
Ithaca Flower Power
Community Beer Works Release the Bats Porter
Goose Island Sofie
Community Beer Works Clever Name TBD Saison*
Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel
Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’
Stone Old Guardian
North Coast Old Rasputin

That’s a solid, solid list of beers. I had forgotten how much I liked Flower Power. And yet, when it came time for the free tasting, I overheard the fine folks pouring the beer remark repeatedly that everyone wanted CBW’s beer. That means a lot to us. Thank you.

If you had our beer last night, or have in the past, let us once again remind you that we have a “rate our beer” page. It’s completely anonymous, so don’t hold back. Help us help you drink good beer. Also, for what it’s worth, while drinking Release the Bats I created an entry for CBW on Untappd.

It’s true that we will be out at the Bidwell Farmer’s Market later this month — Saturday the 28th, to be precise — out in the (hopefully) nice weather, brewing up a batch of In C. There won’t be any beer there to sample, though, and for that we’re sorry. But hey, you can still see us! that should count for something, right?

We’ll have more photos (not taken on my iPhone in the dark) up on our Flickr account soon. We’ll let you know. Until then, please let us know, anonymously or otherwise, what you thought of the event and our beer. We loved talking to you, and you seemed to like our beer, so the future seems very bright indeed.

* Personally, I say we just keep this name

Hey, the top of the mural is sort of shaped like an inverted CBW shield

Yes, today is St Patrick’s Day, but rather than discussing anything green we’re instead talking about something… blue.

(sometimes I wonder if I am perhaps far too amusing for my own good)

Yes, as announced on Facebook last week, Monday, April 18 CBW is going to be at the Blue Monk from 6-7:30. We’ll be bringing prototypes of our two beers, an APA and a saison. Rudy says that the APA is ‘close to being nailed down,’ while the saison is ‘very much in beta.’ What does this mean for you? Well, you’ll be getting free samples (as we can’t charge for our beer), which might be how our beer will taste once we’re in production. Have comments or suggestions about them? We’d love to hear it. Just want to talk to brewer Rudy? He’ll be there, with bells on!*

Are you coming to the event? RSVP on Bookface!

And also, I mean, it’s the Blue Monk. There will be plenty of beer that’s not ours that you want to drink. During our time at the bar, a dollar out of every beer you buy will be sent our way. If you like beer, and want to support us, this is the way to do it. Since you’re reading our blog, I’d suspect both of those are true. If you like beer and don’t really care one way or another about us, hey: the beer’s the same price. If you like beer and don’t like us, well, I’m going to pout a little bit. Be warned.

It's Rudy! He's friendly! Come talk to him.

In addition to the beer and the handsome, bearded faces, we’re also going to have CBW t shirts on hand. Already have our Abaca Press shirt? Call me Steve Jobs, because we’re going to have an entirely new and different shirt to sell! (Unlike Mr Turtleneck, we’re not claiming these will be better, because the Abaca shirts still rock quite a lot. Our supply of those is dwindling, so if you’d like one, act quickly). We’ll have more specifics on what these shirts will look like, who is making them and how much they’ll cost before the event.

To conclude: do you enjoy the consumption of beer? Would you like to hang out with us and try some prototype beer? Then make sure your calendars are clear on April 18. (Don’t worry, How I Met Your Mother will be a repeat that night)

* bells not guaranteed