Spotted Cow, Spotted Record

According to this article in the Wisconsin State Journal, a New York City bar owner has been cited for selling New Glarus' Spotted Cow - a cream ale - at his bar in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Apparently 50 cases of the beer were confiscated from the bar.

Not only does New Glarus not sell their beer outside of Wisconsin, but the bar owner was also in violation of state laws prohibiting the direct purchase and sale of beer without the intermediary of a distributor.

Kinda makes you wonder how - and why - this enterprising bar owner ended up with all of the New Glarus beer - he obviously made the trip over to Wisconsin and picked up 50+ cases of Spotted Cow at retail to resell in his bar. Or someone did on his behalf.

I guess it's a compliment to New Glarus that their beer is being actively sought outside of their own state, but obviously this isn't the way to go about it. As far as I know, New Glarus has no plans of expanding their distribution much to the chagrin of beer geeks far and wide. Still you've got to respect their commitment to quality and keeping a local product intact in the face of obvious demand in the market.

The moral of this story ...? Bigger isn't always better, I suppose. And neither is getting busted for shirking the law.

Microcarbon-nation

Our friends to the North seem to be pretty hip to the commercial trends, it seems. We already know that "nano" technology is all the rage in electronic equipment and medicine, but who knew the same concept could be applied to beer? Molson Coors, that's who!

In a press release from Montreal, Quebec, we learn that the company is investing a healthy stock in a new process they dub "microcarbonation" that is set to take the Canadian market by a storm of tiny bubbles. The product is called Molson M. According to the release, microcarbonation involves a process by which "the beer is injected with CO2 through smaller, finer bubbles with a high level of precision and consistency."

Hmmm.

Interesting statement, that. I've always assumed that the process of force carbonating beer involves injecting CO2 in its gaseous form into uncarbonated beer. There are no bubbles until that pressurized CO2 is released. The resulting release of CO2 gas results in the formation of carbonation "bubbles" we all know and love. In other words, I didn't know you could actually inject carbonation bubbles much less that CO2 came in bubble form! Here I thought the bubbles were merely the by-product of a release of CO2 pressure.

I learn something new all the time.

Granted, the process could be describing the size of the opening of the instrument used to inject CO2 gas, but once again it would seem that the "size" of the CO2 injector would make absolutely no difference in the size of the resulting CO2 bubbles once a container is opened or a draught drawn ... either the beer is carbonated to the proper volumes of CO2 or it's not. Right?

All of this leads me to wonder whether this new process is really substantially new or innovative, or whether it's closer to the mark to say that it is a brand spankin' new marketing concept carefully devised to breath life into a mainstream brand of "premium" lager? Judging by a couple of statements in the release, I suspect the latter.

"To stay on top of our game, we have to be innovative in how we build brands ..." says Ian Freedman, Molson Coors' Senior Vice-President & GM for Quebec. "...we are introducing a liquid that will reinvigorate a beer market that has long been looking for excitement and something new."

Certainly this is indeed a new marketing concept, but I would contend that a CO2 bubble is a CO2 bubble is a CO2 bubble. I'm not convinced that controlling the size of the "bubble" going in makes any difference in the size of the bubble coming out. Maybe this microcarbonation process was used to initially carbonate the beer - that I can buy - but once the beer is in the hands of the consumer I can't help but think that the Molson M bubble will be burst.

Perhaps the more carbonation-savvy readers can disavow me of this notion if I'm wrong, from a technical perspective, but save for the tighter, thicker carbonation you get through the use of nitrogen-infusion, a CO2 bubble by any other name ...

Dualism Optimism

Over the last couple of years, I've taken to submitting a few of my homebrewed beer to various AHA / BJCP-sanctioned competitions. I haven't done this with the intent to win anything, per se, but I thought it would be a good venue for getting an objective opinion about my beers and maybe some helpful tips for improvement.

I suffer - as I imagine many homebrewers do - from a little bit of tunnel vision when it comes to my own beer. I suppose I'm too close to it, having brewed it myself, but it's more difficult for me to evaluate my own beer accurately than another person's.

Anyway, I've received some very valuable feedback on everything I've entered thus far. I highly recommend homebrewers who are just getting in to the rhythm of brewing their own beer to seek out as many objective opinions as possible. It will only improve your brewing skills over time. Particularly, "official" homebrew comeptitions provide a reliable source for valuable feedback that is really hard to come by otherwise.

Occasionally, too, it's nice to have your efforts rewarded/reinforced when you happen to place with one of your brews! I recently sent my 'Dualism' - a particularly strong (9.8% ABV) Baltic Porter - to the 2nd Annual Strong Beer Competition in Georgia. Much to my genuine surprise, it took 1st place in its category (specialty beer). Then, to my complete amazement, it took an over all 3rd place in the Best of Show round. You can see the comeplete competition results here.

Because this particular beer was oaked in Chambourcin-infused American oak, and it is a really high alcohol beer, I didn't enter it in its own classification. I debated this one, because Dualism is a style-buster of sorts, but it appears I made a good choice in retrospect. Bottom line, even though the beer itself performed far better than I'd have imagined it would, I still received very good advice from the judges that means more to me that a couple of ribbons.

Don't get me wrong, though ... the ribbons are nice too!