Buyers and sellers

For the last few days I've been struck down by the dreaded lurgy. Because of this, any alcohol consumption has been limited to honey-ginger-lemon-whiskey drinks or swigging away on bottles of medicine. On a Gonzo-ish sidenote, I now know why Lil' Wayne loves syrup so much - far too addictive.

Anywho, that does present a problem when my blog is about an alcoholic beverage. That is, until this article appeared on the NZ Herald website.

It all seems very inconspicuous really - Julian Davidson, the chief executive of Independent Liquor, says the company is doing well and has experienced growth since they started kegging more beers. But let us all be honest - he had to say that, didn't he? C'mon, it's not like he's going to write off the company he works for.

But it is the last couple paragraphs that make the most interesting reading:

Davidson said Independent was on the lookout for independent craft beer brands that it could acquire.

" ... there's probably half a dozen really interesting craft beer players out there that we'd be interested in having a conversation with."

I find this statement really odd. Independent already own the Boundary Road Brewery, which the head company pitches as having "innovative style", "providing more value, choice and flexibility" and "most importantly...has brought some real innovation and dynamism into the beer market".

Real innovation and dynamism? The BRB range has about as much innovation as a primary school science fair. So far they have released a pale ale, a faux-radler, an alcoholic ginger beer, a pilsener, a lager, a chocolate porter, another pale ale, an amber ale, another lager, and another pale ale. Hardly ground-breaking stuff.

In fact, the most innovative part of the whole range is that they managed to make their chocolate porter taste like a RTD. That shouldn't surprise too much though, as Independent Liquor are the same company which makes sugary, boozy RTDs like Woodstock, Cody's and Pulse - the equivilant of a Jagerbomb in a can. I managed to get a Chocolate Moose for free, and I'm glad I didn't buy it. It tasted of sickly-sweet chocolate and sugar. It's like sugar and Milo - I'm all for heaps of Milo and a bit of sugar to sweeten things up a bit more, but it shouldn't taste like there's more sugar than Milo. It defeats the purpose really.

So while Mr Davidson managed to dodge calling Boundary Road a "non-craft brewery", it is still interesting that the company wants to buy out some of the smaller guys. After the initial "say whaaaaaaaaat?!?!", it's almost a bit fun to think of who would be approached and who might actually sell up to the Asahi-owned company.

So, firstly, who would Independent approach? Basic business logic says they will either be on the hunt for a deal or a big growing company. If they're looking for a bit of a deal, they can't really go past West Coast Brewery. Recently put into liquidation, owner Paddy Sweeney has said he wants to buy it back - if he can. I don't know much about the situation, but I'm not holding out hope of that.
And it seems like a good buy - Dave Kurth makes bloody nice beer, and they were starting to make some good inroads into the lucrative Wellington market if the number of tap badges around the bars was anything to go by.

Recent buzz + a good brewer + a liquidator whose sole responsibility is to pay back the debts  = a pretty prime piece of business real estate.

Apart from West Coast, I can't think of any other breweries in the same position - not yet anyway - so the next best punt is a fast-growing company. According to business growth index Deloitte Fast 50, Tuatara grew by a massive 216.24 per cent from 2010 to 2011. That's like me growing a shade less than a foot a month for a year. If growth continues along the same track for a couple years, the company should be in a good place. Again, a very good business if you're looking at it from the outside and possibly someone Independent would be "interested in having a conversation with".

There are plenty of breweries who I reckon - and hope - wouldn't give Independent even the slightest impression they were interested in selling. And I hope all the Kiwi craft breweries think along the same lines, and collectively raise a collective middle finger to the three big guys in the New Zealand brewing landscape.

Why? Well, because they are all just far too cool to sell out to an overseas-owned company. They are actually being innovative and dynamic. And, most importantly, they are actually make good beer.

Postscript: It's stupidly good timing that I managed to write about this the day Lion - which is owned by Asian-based Kirin - announced it wants to buy out the rest of Little Creatures. Lion have had a big stake for a while and Little Creatures seem to still be pumping out great products (their Bright Ale was amazeballs on tap at The Malthouse), so I - along with plenty of other beer drinkers - hope things continue along this merry road.

The problem with being super

Those older than I will be able to remember a time when you couldn't buy liquor at the same shop which sold your vegetables, meat and nappies. You either had to head to a bottle store to take something home, or spend your imbibement time at a pub.

Part of me is glad you can put meat, veges and beer in your shopping trolley; there's something just so easy about ticking off the entire list, all under the same roof.

But at the same time, shopping for beer in a supermarket is a risky business. Sure, if you're lucky enough to have New World Thordon nearby you have no reason to worry. In fact, most Wellington supermarkets are well stocked and the stock is well rotated. However, I am not so lucky here in The Swamp.

For example - I once headed into New World Pioneer here in The Swamp. Apart from the usual bland crap, they had an island of great-looking brews, including Fuller's ESB, Kriek Boon, Epic Pale Ale.... and Emerson's Organic Pilsner.

There's just one problem - Emerson's un-organiced their pilsner in November 2010. That's more than a year since this beer was last brewed with organic hops.

Now, time for some beer nerdery....

Most beers fall into two camps - "drink fresh" or "drink aged". Pilsners, IPAs and lagers are usually best when had as close to the day they were brewed as possible. Other beers - imperial stouts, porters and Scotch ales t name but a few - can sometimes need a bit of time to open up and release all their best flavours.

So, for a pilsner to sit on the shelf for more than a year is not a good thing at all. No doubt if I had drank one, it would have lost its hoppy hit and been bland, boring and bad beyond any place the brewer imagined. It may also have had that chalky texture hoppy beers get when they lose that fresh bite. If the supermarket wasn't driven by profit and actually cared about its product, it would pull it. It hasn't and that annoys me to no end.

But New World Pioneer isn't the only criminal in this regard. There's a cafe right across from my work with a fridge full of "expired" beer, as well as multiple other supermarkets in the same boat. While it sucks for me to not get fresh product, I feel most for the brewers and the customers who do not know any better.

Think about it - you pour your time, money, energy and love into creating something. You send it out the door, flush with pride, only for some retailer to handle it badly and sell it when it shouldn't be. A customer wanting to try something new takes it home and thinks it's crap and vows never to try anything with your name on it ever again.

Does that make you feel stink? Angry? Frustrated? I wonder how Richard Emerson would feel if he knew how his product was treated by some up here.
 So while supermarkets are handy and can sometimes be pretty cool, I'm a big fan of bypassing them when doing beer shopping. Because sometimes, they're not so super after all.

Maybe the wrong time of year, but still delicious

And for the record - Emerson's Pilsner is absolutely delicious, bursting with that new world pilsner characteristic: fruit salad in a glass. A lot of people talk about a beer they would marry. Well, if I could have a summer wife and a winter wife (no offence hun), E-Pils would without a doubt be my relax-on-a-beach-in-a-swimsuit wife.

I have fond memories of spending two weeks off work doing nothing more than eating sandwiches, reading books, bathing in what had to be a record string of good Wellington days and drinking plenty of this beer. It really is one of those beers I just can't get enough of and can always depend upon to hit the spot. So, head somewhere where you can get a fresh batch of it and give it a hoon - it really shouldn't let you down.

I should also note that Pioneer NW has pulled all their Emerson's, but only recently. It was still there far longer than it should have been.