Interesting things happening in Beer Blog World this week with many of the most ambitious converging on Boulder, Colo. for a weekend conference. This is the first ever Beer Bloggers Conference, which looks to be a great time of sharing ideas, methodology, and no doubt, a lot of beer. Yours truly isn’t there (obviously), but Asheville is being represented by Anne-Fitten Glenn of the new(ish) local beer blog, Brewgasm. Most of you know her from her weekly column in Mountain XPress. She also writes the column Edgy Mama. (Anne-Fitten Glenn will be speaking on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. at BBC10. You can follow blogger tweets on Twitter using the #bbc10 hashtag.)

In a strange twist of timing on Wednesday, published beer writer Andy Crouch sent his thoughts into the blogosphere via the post “Beer Blogging: To What End?”. This somewhat critical, questioning, and really odd sort of post set Twitter a-flurry yesterday not only with the timing—just ahead of BBC10—but also with his opinions of beer bloggers in general. Some beer bloggers were outraged, some ambivalent, some defensive, with a mess of reactions in-between.

Yesterday, in a sleep-deprived state, I made an open Twitter comment on the subject:

“.@beerscribe‘s beer blogger post as #bbc10 starts IS controversial, however, he makes some very *practical* points. That’s my only comment.”

This was met with some that agreed and others that quickly rebutted. Frankly, my opinion was deliberately vague, non-confrontational, and meant to invite comment. Crouch’s post itself is not inherently offensive. My point was that he raises a good question about beer blogging, in particular with the posts topic: “Beer Blogging: To What End?”

Here’s the thing: While Crouch does have a small reputation of being somewhat of a curmudgeon, he is an exceptional beer writer. This is a writer who, along with the likes of just only a handful, comes from the Old Guard (for lack of a better term). He’s one of the pioneers of the trade who were writing about craft beer long before craft beer was cool and so front-and-center. He was writing about beer before there were blogs. While he’s been blogging for years, Crouch is primarily an author of books, so let’s keep that in mind. While some read his post as an attack on beer bloggers, I don’t really believe Crouch was intentionally attacking anyone. I do believe he was intentionally putting an important question to the forefront so that bloggers attending BBC10 would perhaps use part of their time to engage in discussion of what it means to be a beer blogger; determining your purpose as a beer blogger; and questioning the role you play within the industry itself. The post itself is a little rambling and there are specific statements that show that he doesn’t “get it” entirely. I mean, even I know what SEO is, and I really don’t hide my lack of knowledge when it comes to web stuff. (One funny thing I learned from Crouch’s post is that the Bruisin’ Ales Beer Blog came in at #73 out of 100 on the Wikio Beer Blogger rankings . I don’t even know what that means, frankly, but it sounds good, yes? And who doesn’t love lists?)

There are varied levels of beer blogging. Some are reviewers. Some are critics. Some are hobbyists. Some treat their blogs like diaries. It runs the entire spectrum. Crouch doesn’t seem to care one bit about those hobbyists and diary writers, documenting their beer experiences, travels, etc. He seems more focused on those trying to parlay these writings into a career, such as BeerNews.org and Drink With The Wench, both of whom he names specifically. Calling BeerNews.org uninteresting is silly, as it has become the go-to site for beer releases and news. This is value content, especially for people like me in the retail industry. His passive-agressive “not to pick on a particular person” while deliberately naming Ashley Routson, a.k.a. The Beer Wench, is also silly, because while clearly billing herself as a personae, she also provides value content, covering events, writing for Mutineer Magazine, working at breweries. She’s an active participant in the industry giving a firsthand look at some insider information. Ironically, her greatest project is her ongoing “Featured Beer Blogger Series” on Drink With The Wench, which highlights the other folks blogging about beer. (In full disclosure, I was featured on there.)

When it comes to beer blogging, there’s a fine line between being an original content blogger and regurgitating content. (Something I addressed specifically with the advent of 2010, that I would no longer be regurgitating content that could be found elsewhere online.) There’s a fine line between a review and an endorsement. There’s a fine line between a well-versed fan and an expert.

The important takeaway, no matter how you feel about Crouch’s post is this: What is your role as a blogger? How will you make a living off of this (if you want to)? Where are you headed? “To What End?“ The reality check here is the thing that sent many over the edge, but it is the harsh reality: There are simply not that many people who have successfully made the leap from beer blogger into a primary industry player. There are also very, very few that make money from blogging. (See Asheville’s Kelby Carr of Type A Mom Conference, who posted just yesterday about bloggers getting paid for endorsements.)

I sincerely hope that the beer bloggers out in Boulder this weekend aren’t sitting about Crouch-bashing. It would be easy to do. I do hope, however, that they are able to take a step back and discuss the main point in question, which at its heart, simply asks, “Where do we go from here? And how?”. It’s important, and judging by the great response of people attending the conference, a discussion opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. Wish I were there! Drink up, my friends.

We publicly want to thank a multitude of awesome people, especially Mike Guarracino, who is The Best Employee on Planet Earth. We often joke that it’s unfair he wins Employee of the Month all the time (because he’s our only employee), but seriously, in our time of need, this one amazing person has kept Bruisin’ Ales functioning with open doors. Without his flexibility, understanding and completely unselfish nature, we could have lost many days of business through emergencies, visits and other random happenings that occurred throughout the year. We hope that we are at least two-thirds the employers to him that he is as an employee to us. He gives 100% all the time. We realize how lucky we are. (Also, please note, he shaved his head this week, so now, both Mike and Jason have shaved heads and beards with dark hair. Jason is the tall one; Mike is the one with the bike and the dogs you all love so much.)

Others to thank: Terri Lechner and Jason Martin: Our oldest and dearest friends in Asheville—who helped paint the interior of the humble storefront in the colors of Belgium—also came in to help clean-up and keep the shelves full. Sophie Thompson: The daughter of friends, she helps us out in summertime with cleaning, glassware, folding t-shirts, sweeping and other random stuff. Sophie and her dad, Tom, came in for a few hours during the funeral week to help Mike stock. Rebecca Bedingfield: Bruisin’ regular, she ran errands for me while I was out of town, helped stock, made people laugh and helped a very heated crowd (from a sweltering A/C unit) survive the Duck Rabbit tasting the other week. Scott Witherspoon: Customer turned great friend, he’s weathered a couple Saturday hours, helping make recommendations to people. If I’m forgetting anyone, it’s not on purpose. My brain is fried. Just know how very thankful we are for everything that everyone has done to help us through.

…

The day after Jason’s mom’s funeral, I got a message from Joe at Blatz Liquor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Blatz Liquor folks are our comrades—a small, independent beer store in downtown, just two years our junior. I banter with them a lot on Twitter and while many people think that indie beer stores compete with each other, we really don’t. The truth is, we all recognize how difficult it is to be competitive in this business and regularly support each other. Solidarity, if you will. We are a tough bunch, doing what we love, following our passion for beer in a world where corporate megastores and groceries want to crush us. That’s the long and short of it. You probably know where I’m going with this: Blatz Liquor is closing today.

From August 14:

Today it is with great sadness that I must announce the closing of Blatz Liquor.

For 2 years we have worked as hard as possible to bring the biggest and best beer selection to downtown Milwaukee. We have gained an awesome group of regular customers and an even better group of friends. Sadly with some increases in monthly costs and a leveling in sales its just too much for the already slim profit margins to handle. It breaks my heart to have to do this, since day one at Chicago Ave. Liquor I had planned on opening a store downtown that catered to all the beer geeks and people that enjoy a glass of wine or a mixed cocktail like myself. I’ve sacrificed emotionally, physically, financially and loved every second of it.

Joe

So, today I mourn also the loss of my comrades. That last part just about sums it up. This business comes with many sacrifices. We’re lucky we live in a town where supporting local businesses is a top priority, however, that attitude or practice doesn’t trickle down to everyone. When Sam’s Club sells certain beers at our cost and the groceries sell beer at a no-profit margin and megastores like Total Wine or World Market kill us with bulk pricing, that essentially negates certain brands we, and other stores like us, could and would otherwise carry. I cringe when I hear someone say, “This is 25-50¢ less at whereever-it-is.” The truth is, independent beer stores like ourselves are not trying to rip anyone off. We are just trying to make a living doing what we love. Here’s a trade secret: Beer has the lowest profit margin of all things alcoholic. Here’s another fact: Unlike a lot of other indie stores, we sell only beer. And, there it is.

We opened this store because we love beer, beer people, and want to provide a great selection of hard-to-find rare goodies in addition to a hard-to-beat selection of imports and American craft beer from across the country. It’s not an easy business; it is a difficult business. But, like Joe, we love every second of it. So, when I send out a Tweet or post to Facebook the friendly advisory to “support your local, independent beer store today”—I mean ALL of the indie retailers, yours, across the country, not just Bruisin’ Ales.

Join me today by dropping in to your local indie beer store and buy a beer in honor of Blatz Liquor. Let’s hope that their closing is not a sign of things to come in these questionable economic times. I know we hope to be here for a very long time.

And if you’re in Milwaukee today, go visit them for the big, closing bash. We’ll be there in spirit.

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise” —Oscar Wilde

Sprecher Brewery from Wisconsin coming tomorrow
Yup, a classic from the original brewing city, Milwaukee, is hitting the shelves tomorrow. Welcome, Sprecher Brewing! We’re making our list and checking it twice today, including some of the Brewmasters Premium Reserve Series. Can I get a woot?

Tweet for beer at Bele Chere
The Mountain XPress is offering beer for tweets this weekend to help them cover Bele Chere. Basic rules are: Have five or more posts with the #belechere tag and/or upload pictures or videos and if they use either, show up at 3pm on Sunday at Asheville Brewing on Coxe and they will buy you a beer.

Foothills got label approval for more bottles
Beernews.org reports that Foothills Brewery got label approval for Hoppyum IPA, Torch Pilsner and Peoples Porter. While the post makes this seem imminent, beer spies tell us that bottles are at least a few months down the line. Look for them on our shelves later this year. *cross fingers*

The End of History
In the on-going-school-boys-on-the-playground-pissing-contest that is for “the world’s strongest beer,” Brewdog’s forthcoming The End of The World was leaked to the masses yesterday. The End of The World is the latest (possibly dumbest) incarnation by Scotland’s Brewdog. There are only 12 bottles being made at the cost of $800-$1,100 per bottle …with the actual bottle stuffed into road kill converted to a bottle vessel by a taxidermist. Wait, what? Yup, not joking. You can’t make this crap up. The best news, in my humble opinion, is that Brewdog states this is the last in their high ABV experiments, and thank god, already. We like the brewery, we love their marketing, but we’re 100% over the hype. Hopefully, they’ll return to brewing beer now instead of scouring the Scottish Highlands for dead squirrels.

Everyone’s an entrepreneur
A homeless man broke into a Northern California bar and reopened it, posing as the new owner. A+ for ingenuity, but ultimately, still a failing grade.

There’s hub-bub all over the Interwebs this week about the very real possibility of Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company) losing their small brewing status, thereby subjecting them to higher excise taxes along with the nation’s macrobreweries. The issue is real, and it is a problem, but thankfully there are bills in the Senate and House that will hopefully pass with aggressive campaigning. There is H.R. 4278 (which I am, personally, trying to get Rep. Heath Shuler to co-sponsor, so far with no response) and S. 3339 being backed by Sen. John Kerry (MA) and Sen. Mike Crapo (ID). While it’s more important for breweries and brewery representatives to write in support of these bills, it can’t hurt for we, the consumers, in BeerCity, USA to send off letters of solidarity with Asheville’s regional breweries that pump a lot of money back into our local economy.

The Brewers Association defines a small brewer as producing less than 2 millions barrels per year. Anything over that is a macrobrewery status. These laws haven’t been overhauled since 1976, way before the craft beer revolution even started. As Samuel Adams approaches the 2 million barrel mark (projected for 2012), it’s high time we ALL pay attention to this matter. Samuel Adams may be the first to hit this landmark and they certainly they won’t be the last. Other small brewers with high-growth potential will also likely have to deal with this issue sooner than later, especially with craft beer sales increasing and macro sales decreasing. Understand that craft beer still only makes up approximately 8% of total beer sales in the country, and while that number seems small, it is exactly the reason for a need to overhaul this bill.

My personal issue with this is semantics. Samuel Adams will always be a craft brewer to me. While it’s just my humble opinion (and one I know does not match up to even the Brewers Association’s terms), I use the terms micro- and macro- to refer to size, i.e. production/barrel output. I always refer to craft beer as an art, i.e. hand-crafted ales using no adjunct fillers, made by real people who have a passion for beer. Jim Koch and Samuel Adams helped to single-handedly revive craft beer back in 1984. (The photo above is Koch way back when with his first cases of Samuel Adams. Photo: Boston Beer Co.) To call them anything other than craft is an insult to industry.

You can help by writing Rep. Heath Shuler. Personally, I’m frustrated that his office has not even acknowledged my letter in over three weeks when I tagged it “response requested.” I will march down to his College Street office if need be. Perhaps if you, my fellow beer drinkers, would inundate him with the same, we can get some representation from North Carolina’s most vibrant beer city and encourage him to co-sponsor H.R. 4278. Will you help?

The Brewers Association has a great resource guide from which you can pull information (and remember to add personal touches). A copy of my letter is below:

Representative Shuler,

My name is Julie Atallah and I am the co-owner, with my husband, of a small downtown Asheville business called Bruisin’ Ales. We are a beer-only retail store, specializing in hand-crafted brews from around the country and specifically Asheville and Western North Carolina. Our store has been rated the number three beer retailer in the world by RateBeer Best 2010; named one of the “Top 10 Bottle Shops in the U.S.” by Imbibe Magazine; and voted “Best Beer Store” in the MountainXPress “Best of WNC” reader poll. More recently, Asheville breweries and the local beer scene was showcased in a travel feature by Imbibe Magazine.

I am writing you today to draw your attention to H.R. 4278, sponsored by Representatives Richard Neal and Kevin Brady, both members of the House Ways & Means Committee. H.R. 4278 was introduced in December, 2009. (Senators John Kerry and Mike Crapo introduced S. 3339 in May, 2010.) The legislation will reduce excise tax for the nation’s small breweries from $7 to $3.50 per barrel for the first 60,000 barrels of beer produced. It will also provide a tax reduction from the current rate of $18 per barrel to a reduced rate of $16 for the first 2 million barrels for small brewers that produce less than 6 million barrels. In summary, the bill gives a small excise tax break to the nation’s smallest brewers which employ people in communities throughout America.

The small brewer tax rate was established in 1976 and has never been updated. Since then, the annual production of America’s largest brewery increased from about 45 million to 107 million barrels. The ceiling defining small breweries is 2 million barrels. Along with the Brewers Association, we support raising this ceiling to 6 million barrels to more accurately reflect the intent of the original differentiation between large and small brewers in the U.S.

Consumer demand for the bold and innovative beers brewed by America’s small brewers has grown significantly in recent years. But beer produced by small, independent brewers still represents less than 5% of the beer sold nationwide. As small businesses, small brewers face many economic challenges. Because of differences in economies of scale, small brewers have higher costs for production, raw materials, packaging and market entry than larger, well-established, multi-national competitors. Furthermore, efforts to increase state taxes for all brewers continue to threaten jobs and their economic stability.

This legislation would help create jobs for America’s 1,500+ small breweries. Nationally, small and independent brewers employ nearly 100,000 full- and part-time employees and generate more than $3 billion in wages and benefits and pay more than $2.3 billion in business, personal and consumption taxes. These brewers are vital, small businesses in communities across the country, typically employing 10 to 50 employees. This is especially good for Asheville, an area where many jobs depend on tourism and seasonal travel. These jobs could be created locally and year-round.

A few reasons why this bill is important locally:

• Local craft beer is a vital part of Asheville culture.
• Asheville now has nine breweries in a population of approximately 78,000. We have more breweries per capita than any other city in the nation, both large and small. There are even more state and regional craft breweries that contribute to the local economy.
• Local breweries pump a lot of money into the local economy while supporting many community organizations, events and non-profits.
• In 2009, Asheville brewers created the Asheville Brewers Alliance to organize the voice of the industry here in Western North Carolina.
• Asheville was recently voted “BeerCity, USA” in a poll by Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association. The poll was held online nationwide and we beat beer meccas like Portland, Oregon. While just for fun, the poll clearly shows the passion our community has for its local breweries and their products. This is the second year in a row that Asheville has tied or won the poll. As a result, we have a new spring beer festival called Beer City Festival on Roger McGuire Green this Saturday, June 5.
• The number of beer travelers coming to Asheville is staggering. Craft beer provides entertainment and enjoyment to many. Tourists are coming to our city for reasons other than the outdoors and usual tourist sites.

I am providing you with a link to the Harvard Study on the Economic Impact of H.R. 4278. http://www.brewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1942/HR_4278_Economic_Study_-_Final.pdf

Can I count on you, Representative Shuler, to consider supporting and co-sponsoring H.R. 4278 from BeerCity, USA?

Thank you for your time and consideration of this bill. I am available to discuss this with you any time at your Asheville office with members of the Asheville Brewers Alliance. Of course, you are always welcome to make a stop at Bruisin’ Ales.

Yours, in locally-produced craft beer,

Julie Atallah
owner/marketing/beerlanthropist
Bruisin’ Ales
66 Broadway Street
Asheville, NC 28801

phone: 828/252-8999
fax: 828/252-8991
web: bruisin-ales.com
twitter: @bruisinales
facebook: facebook.com/bruisinales

Yesterday, it was announced the macro giant, Molson-Coors, is producing a bottle-only “clear beer” targeting women beer drinkers. As most of the stories are coming out of the UK, it’s unclear at this point whether this product will only be in the European market or if it will rear its ugly head on US shelves. It’s part of Molson-Coors’ Bittersweet Partnership, a business unit that monitors its “female-oriented beer activity.” (Whatever the hell that means.) Several sources cite that beer (in the UK) is seen as a “man’s drink” and that women are so totally obsessed with calories and having their beer spiked, that this is the type of product they are looking for. Good grief, are you for real, Molson-Coors? Do you have a clue? Have we learned nothing from the crap that was Zima? Have you heard of the Brewers Association? Can I come over there and run a target group for you? I lived in London. I like it there. Just pay my travel expenses.

First off, let me say this: This is utterly offensive. It’s stereotyping, it’s sexist, it’s wrong. I actually had a dream about this last night (in the strange scenario that I was having a heated conversation over said beer with Prince at Luella’s BBQ, but my weird dreams are a whole different story, and never mind that I’m heartbroken that didn’t actually happen). Here’s a quote from MetroUK:

‘Women have more taste receptors and are more receptive to bitter flavours, so there is an opportunity to launch a more challenging beer for women,’ said survey spokeswoman Kristy McCready. … ‘The research indicated it was a myth that women want light fruity beers, which made us sit up and rethink our approach.’

So, women want more than light fruity beers, so you’re going to make a low-calorie clear beer? Huh? With that quote, spokeswoman Kristy should be fired. Like, now. Today. Yesterday even.

The beer will only be served in bottles, not draught, because of the drug-tampering issue. I don’t see how this is helping any beer education as beer should be consumed out of a glass, regardless of the packaging. All this falls under a push in the UK with a new group called Dea Latis—which according to Marketing Magazine, is the Celtic goddess of beer and water—that will aim to “bring beer to women.” Dea Latis is even backed by CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale). I see the irony in this being called “beer-water” (Dea Latis); I have a hard time believing that this product falls in the category of “real ale.” Truth be told, I despise Dea Latis already for perpetuating the myth that women don’t like beer.

What I’d like to see is someone, like Pete Brown, tackle this nonsense in the UK just as he has over the neo-prohibitionists. I’d love to see CAMRA rip Molson-Coors a new one. Women drink beer. Women like beer. We don’t need some pansy-ass special marketing ploy to make us drink it. And we don’t need a crappy macro brewer to make another misguided crappy product targeted to women because you have crappy ideas, a crappy marketing department and a crappy approach to women beer drinkers everywhere.

The best part? The beer is yet unnamed. So, have at it, women beer drinkers. What would you name this misguided product?

**This post is the opinion of a female craft beer drinker.**

I started the day with a little shout to Twitter this morning regarding North Carolina not getting any Bell’s Batch 9000 in bottles. The reason being that North Carolina requires the ABV (alcohol by volume) to be printed on any beer over 6.0% abv. The brewery’s southeastern rep replied to inquiries stating:

“To wait for the beer to finish fermenting to get the finished abv then have the packaging produced then submit the label to the TTB for approval was really not an option.  It would have taken too much time to wait for the beer to finish fermenting, get the packing produced, and hope there would be no problems with TTB label approval.”

In other words, the brewery didn’t want to wait on the product for a final ABV measurement and had the labeling printed and readied while the beer was in the tanks. Further, it was suggested that NC needs changes to the labeling requirements. That, I agree with, but not in the sense that these folks are talking about. They’re saying ABV should not be a requirement, because it isn’t in some states. The truth is, Batch 9000 finished with a final gravity of 12.5% abv, according to BeerAdvocate. That’s a full 2.5% below the legal limit cap in North Carolina. Clearly, someone had a clue that the beer would make it under—just not the exact ABV, but the law says the beer’s printed alcohol by volume must be within .20% of what it is. (Batches will always vary slightly.)

You can’t fault Bell’s for wanting to streamline the bottling process. Tank time is a precious commodity in the craft beer world and as the old saying goes, time is money. However, as someone who promotes and sells a lot their product, it feels like a slap in the face to know that Bell’s purposely excluded this product from our market. While no one has said as much, the fact that labels were printed with no ABV on them, immediately excludes the product from NC. And before everyone gets riled-up, let me state for the record: 1) I’m not bashing Bell’s, the brewery (other than being a miffed retailer over the sales losses of a beer I could move, and quickly); 2) Bell’s is a well-run machine of consistency; and 3) I love most, if not all, of their beers.

What this whole thing is, is a greater problem with “truth in labeling.” You hear that term a lot these days over MSG, wine, even vitamins. I think there should be uniform labeling requirements for beer across the board. A consistent packaging method for both the producer and consumer. I have never understood the arguments for why beer should be different. I just went into our wine cabinet and pulled out at least nine different bottles of wine from California, Argentina, France and Italy. Every single one of those has an ABV printed on it. Not only does this tell me how strong the beverage is that I’m drinking—it lets me decide whether or not I should have it. Beer has the most varied ABV’s in its craft, from kinderbier (with none or barely detectable ABV) to BrewDog’s newest, Sink the Bismarck at 41.0% abv. To not have this information printed on the label seems irresponsible at best.

I opened up questions to other folks, who mostly agreed with me. And there are other reasons to include health-related information on the labels. Some people need it for diabetes, gluten-free diets, caloric counts, etc. Be advised, there are some breweries, such as Dogfish Head and Rogue that do print this information on their website as well as this handy guide. But none of these really help you in a situation where you’re not immediately hooked into the web. Here are some comments from other beer drinkers:

@mikegeorger: @bruisinales Should be something like this on either the bottle or packaging http://twitpic.com/153jlw

@mygothlaundry: @bruisinales They should have calories on there too as well as ABV. I wanna know when 2 beers should be my entire daily intake.

@beercentric: @bruisinales Excellent point. Myself, being diabetic and managing love of beer and need of insulin, that number is important!

@cutefont: @bruisinales I think the abv should be on the label. Drives me nuts when its not. I like to know it. Makes a difference to me

@hookedonwinter: @bruisinales I like when a brewery lists as much information as possible. OG, FG, hops, grains, everything!

@ruinationpress: @bruisinales @hookedonwinter should be easy to measure FG and THEN print labels…quality first, not sales .#commonsense

Really, there seems to be no excuse as to why truth in labeling is not a big issue for this industry. “Organic” labels have been redone, there are other FDA requirements for certain things. Is there really any reason we can’t get an ABV printed label on every beer? And maybe some of that other stuff above while we’re at it?

Bruisin’ Ales is OPEN as of now, but we are playing it by ear. Last time, Jason barely made it home, so no taking chances here. Follow us on Twitter @bruisinales or the Bruisin’ Facebook Page for updates on business hours, closings, openings, whatever. AND, if you’re going to stock-up on beer for the winter white stuff (and we know you are), please consider shopping at your local, independent beer store for your storm necessities priorities.

You kids be safe out there!  Looks like Asheville is a wee bit more prepared this time. I even heard trucks dumping sand (?) on our rural road this morning! School’s letting out right about now, and although the MountainXPress says downtown in “crazeee” with traffic, most of that should be over by the time the snow starts falling. Same rules apply: 1) If you can’t drive in snow, don’t drive in it, unless an emergency; 2) If you can drive in snow, be cautious, as those around you may not be as confident (so don’t be a jerk); and 3) Take your time, go slowly—getting their safely if more important than getting there quickly.

The City of Asheville is taking more precautions, including the early closing of school to get families home, and remember: The parking decks are FREE after 6pm tonight, so if you leave your car downtown, put it in a parking deck. This will allow plows and other road clearance services to happen much quicker. Have your supplies ready, too. Ice is coming with this storm, so those without buried power lines are most vulnerable. One little tip I never knew (since we have never lived on a well system before): Fill your bathtub with water in case you lose power (for those with electric water pumps). That way you can freshen up, flush toilets, have water to boil. But please don’t waste it afterward; if some remains, use it to water your indoor plants or handwash your car from all that road salt.

Cheers, y’all! BE SAFE!

2009 was a strange year. A strange year in general, that is, not just personally for me, our business, anything is particular. Just strange. Challenging, difficult, often times horrific? I’m still looking for the right words. 2009 was an incredible deluge of personal tragedies combined with a tanking economy all the while trying to keep our chins up and heads above water. There were hot-spots of good stuff, no doubt, but in 2009, those were more fleeting than regular. So, two weeks ago, I thought “Oh, crap. It’s time to write to about 2009.” What will it be? My favorite beers? A beer resolution? A beer non-resolution? The ubiquitous list? A round-up? A Top 10? Goals?

Nope, it’s not any of that. What I want to say is this: Thank you, 2009, for being over. This post is not meant to be bitchy, belligerent or ungrateful. I hope it will be honest (and perhaps provide a little free therapy to the girl sitting here in this chair).

For us and many of our friends, 2009 was a year of great personal loss—family, friends, homes, jobs. For us, it was Jason losing his father and mentor. And while Bruisin’ Ales kept chugging along, there’s no denying the fact that we didn’t grow as much as we would have in a good economy, I slacked on the blog, and I suffered a major early (self-inflicted) burnout in our busiest Fall season from the stress of worrying about keeping a small business going. After all, we had big plans for 2009 before it clearly showed signs of potential disaster. Most of them, thankfully, we were able to implement, such as the launch of our new website, our major events like the Dogfish Head Weekend and hosting Allagash’s Rob Tod, and some behind-the-scenes stuff. But still, the fact of the matter is, many things had to be put off until this year, including a re-vamped marketing plan and projects such as the e-comm store. So, here it is. A promise to myself, you and the greater universe.

Don’t stress. Re-address.
The e-comm store is what really laid it all out for me in Fall. In the year where “social media” burst through an old marketing paradigm—and will someone please think of a better term for “social media,” because I am sick of it entirely—I made the announcement we were dipping our toes into e-commerce. I committed a VERY HUGE no-no in marketing: I leaked our own plans. Everyone who knows me personally knows I’m horrible at keeping Christmas presents until Christmas, or even birthday presents for that matter, but I usually can keep my mouth shut when someone tells me to. But I get so excited about things that I could not contain my own information. Basically, I forgot to tell myself to shut the F up. Shortly after announcing e-comm with the relaunch of the new site, it took on a life of its own. Soon, on Facebook and Twitter, this big addition was happening right away. There were mentions we were opening a warehouse in Raleigh, NC; a store in Birmingham, AL; you name it. It spun out of control, even for me (and I’m pretty controlling). Then came the incessant questions for launch date, the constant I-want-to-be-an-affiliate requests, etc. Understand: This was my fault. I mean, we were/are already shipping, and while admittedly, it’s not the best system, we still get the product out there with little or no need for a fully-integrated e-comm store or site. It’s still going to be Jason, myself or Mike calling you and packing boxes. (Now, if e-comm came with robots who work for free…) When we opened, we never even had intentions of shipping beer, it came out of one request for a really great customer in a time where it’s cheaper to ship then spend gas money on a road trip for beer. And so finally,  instead of stressing about it, I back-burnered the whole e-comm site for 2009. Why? Because I could. And I had to. It became such a beast that the project itself became unapproachable. We don’t have data-entry nymphs on-hand (they are with the robots somewhere); we are doing this ourselves with the help of Asheville Web, who will implement the project. Our first and foremost loyalty lies to the humble storefront, the home-base of Bruisin’ Ales, the community of Asheville, our local and loyal customers, and those that make beer treks to our fair city. Shipping is not a priority in the great plan, it’s just a super-delicious add-on that happened. We love shipping beer to happy beer people. It’s beerlanthropy, no doubt, but the e-comm is not critical. So, while we’re on the subject: Our goal for launch is first quarter 2010. That is all I can tell you and that is a goal, not a fixed date. Please be patient and we thank you for it. Until then, here is how we ship to you. Whatchu need?

Lesson learned: Big plans and big mouths can lead to big self-inflicted problems.
2010 Goal: Set goals in a way that best serve both customers and ourselves.

Social Media Overload
I joined Facebook over two years ago now. I wasn’t a cool kid from the get-go. I used to make fun of MySpace (sometimes I still do), Friendster, and whatever Friend/Face/Space products were out there. For the record, I often make fun of Facebook, too, but it has been an invaluable tool for the store. I reconnected with many friends, family who had no idea what I had done with my life. There is a sort-of public life that comes with being in front of people daily, and frankly—though probably against all the good graces of Social Media Experts—I don’t care if you see a photo of me making a complete ass of myself. Jason is private; me, not as much. I’m not Mrs. America, a politician hiking the Appalachian Trail of Argentina and I don’t have a PR problem. (Yet. Possibly after this post.) For the first year, my personal page was our business page. It was a mish-mosh of me and Bruisin’ Ales. Only after reaching a whopping 1200+ “friends” at some point last spring, did I realize I had a problem. While I am Bruisin’ Ales, Bruisin’ Ales is not always me. I’m not always drinking beer. I do have other interests. So, we set-up a Facebook Fan Page for Bruisin’ Ales. On Facebook, particularly, it became more of a privacy issue. I get more friend requests from more people than I ever know in real life. These days, my “friend” list hovers around 800 +/- and I clean it about once a month. It’s actually due for a cleaning. If I don’t know you, haven’t done business with you, or you’re not an industry person I need to contact, I won’t accept your friend request. It’s not personal. If you like Bruisin’ Ales, I thank you greatly, and please go be a fan of our page, which is an extension of our blog.

While anyone who follows me on Twitter (@bruisinales) knows how I love, love, love the Twitter, it can be overwhelming. After our initial foray (at the coaxing of our web team) to try this micro-blogging thing, I fell in love. Blogging took time, Twitter was easy. I could keep up with more people quicker and easier than I could ever do with one blog post. We were lucky. It took off for us, but I put a ton of time into it at the start, which paid off immensely. I don’t “tweet” about beer constantly. Half the time, I’m tweeting about crap you don’t even care about. Hell, half the time it’s crap I don’t even care about. But I try to keep it fun and mixed. If anything, the Bruisin’ Ales Twitter feed is an extension of us, not a separate entity unto itself. (In that way, I treat it totally different than Facebook.) Then, the pressure came: Klout (I’m a “persona”), TwitterAnalyzer, other things that “measure” your value on Twitter. Then, we snagged a couple local blogger/Twitter awards (for which, we are extremely grateful). Ack, the pressure! For about two weeks, I started stressing—again—because in my mind this was a reputation to be upheld. Then I realized I didn’t care. Or perhaps a better way of actively putting it to words: I needed to be unaffected by it. Cool, yes. Interesting, yes. Important, not really. But, yes, you will still see me out and about, Blackberry firmly planted in palm. Soon to be bionic, we can only hope.

The blog is still a work in progress. While back in the day, it was the first thing I did every morning, I eventually realized it’s a lot better to post less frequently with interesting content¹ than it is to post daily with regurgitated stuff from other people. Summaries are helpful and I know some of you enjoy them—and they will continue occasionally—but there are plenty of sites like BeerNews.org that do that already and much, much better than me. Simply put, some days I have no blog ideas; there is nothing to say; or if there is, I censor myself from saying it. So, our website hits are down a little in the second half of 2009. Oh, god, no! I must fix that! Truthfully, no. I’m cool with it. My readers read when I write. If they miss it because I’m less frequent than I used to be, perhaps they’ll catch it on a cross-post with our Facebook Page or Twitter. I mean, that’s how this crap works, right?

AddThis. Oh, AddThis, my love/hate relationship with you knows no boundaries. When we first added the little “share” button to each blog post, it just looked cool. Frankly, I don’t even know what the hell half of those things are and who is sharing them. So, we kept it, but added a simple ReTweet button. (Which, yes, I know I made disappear yesterday when I updated WordPress.) I like to stick with easy things. Easy is good. YouTube, I hardly watch you and everyone has a YouTube Channel, right? Perhaps I’m losing market share, or maybe I’m old and out of touch, but I’m not that much interested in being on video myself outside of others video casts. (Ask my mother. I didn’t even want a videographer for our wedding. Ten years ago.) Comments, you make me nuts. I hardly read you. (Except for the Citizen-Times comments, because those borderline on insane half the time and provide endless entertainment, which is a sort-of case study to my reasoning.) We’ve never had comments open on the blog—except once, just recently—and I don’t want them open. It’s not that I don’t care what people have to say, it’s that we’re not a forum. We’re busy selling beer, not moderating our comments. You can comment all you want over on the Facebook Page. Go nuts. Hell, you can comment on me not letting you comment! Boo-yah! And geo-tagging, Foursquare. This I will never understand. I can fully explore my city without Foursquare’s help. Pretty sure I can do it in others, too. And if I want you to know where I am, I will let you know myself. I don’t need to have my GPS location tagged in my Twitter profile. I don’t need to “check-in” unless it’s vacation, which I need desperately. I don’t want to be the mayor of anything. Except maybe BeerCity, USA.

Summary: Social media is great. Truly, it is fun to watch it evolve. It’s fascinating stuff for a marketing girl like me. But without really being social, without really meeting followers on Twitter—and we always encourage you to introduce yourself when you’re in-store—the whole entire purpose is defeated. It’s a great reaching out point, but without the actual social contact, you got nothing. So, we’ll see you out and about in beer land.

Lesson Learned: Ratings, numbers and statistics are overrated. There are no social media rules. Do what works.
2010 Goal: Fight off web/social media armies that will argue with me over these statements. But argue with them in a public social setting.

Back to Basics
My main point of all of this is Bruisin’ Ales is going to back to basics and moving forward at a pace we can live with. We moved here to simplify our lives, get out of the corporate wrangling, and actually get to spend some time together. We just want to sell great beer. So far so good. We’re a married couple running a business and have so far survived, thrived, and made a little, tiny dream come true. The rest will wait and evolve in due time. We thank you for success we never anticipated so quickly. Cheers to 2010!

Lesson Learned: What is good for you, is not necessarily good for the business. What is good for the business, is not necessarily good for you.
2010: Balance. Keep on keeping on, but don’t lose site of what matters. And that, of course, is the beer. And you guys.

“There are too many ideas and things and people. Too many directions to go. I was starting to believe the reason it matters to care passionately about something, is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size.” —Susan Orlean, Adaptation. (2002)

¹ This blog post may or may not fall into the interesting category.

Three years ago, Bruisin’ Ales opened with no fanfare, no ribbon cuttings, no spectacular kick-offs, no big announcements, no press releases… we just opened the door.

We had realistically planned to open after the holidays, but we were ready. After months of renovating what was once a pottery studio, the painting was done, product was in place (that’s me, buried in beer above), permits were in hand, and we were getting anxious. (Possibly bored.) So, Jason & I just said one night, “Let’s open tomorrow. Let’s see what happens.” You see, there were so many awesome rumors as to what we were going to be. We did not have our outside signage yet, so we thought it would be fun to see how people would react. On the very long list of “what was going in the space at 66 Broadway” was: 1) a chocolate shop, 2) a homebrew store, 3) a jeweler, 4) a boxing training center (my personal favorite because someone apparently had seen our logo).

I remember before we took the paper off the windows for all to see, that I grabbed Jason and had one brief moment where I wanted to cry like a 4-year-old girl (literally), change my mind, and turn around. Now that we celebrate three years today, I love looking back. This was never a career move. It certainly wasn’t for the money—Dear Everyone-Who-Starts-the-”Beer-Store-Ideas” Threads on BeerAdvocate: Corporate jobs are much, much easier, pay more and provide little things like healthcare and vacation time. We just wanted better beer, more beer, rare beer—so we opened a store where we would want to shop. We really wanted to be a small-town boutique store, but as we grew, and people started driving—often far—just to shop here, the small beer store life became a bigger duty to craft beer and the people who love it. We now host some of the beer world’s major players in our small city for events. We have met some awesome people in the industry (such as Jay Brooks, and yes, that is fresh Pliny the Elder, six days off the bottling line). We ship nationwide (where we can) and have customers across the United States and Canada. In the first quarter of 2010, we’ll launch our full e-comm/shopping cart site. (Bear with us. We’re still just two people trying to make this little dream of ours work for everyone.) And we have to give a shout to our local kick-ass breweries and our employees past and present: Chris, The Brewsician; Philip, the Performer; and Mike, the Biking Beer Nerd. Without these fellas, we would have (well, I would have) lost our sanity a long, long time ago.

It’s not been perfect (like here, when our coolers were drop-shipped outside by common carrier onto the sidewalk on wooden palettes when we ordered full-service install). It’s not all been smooth. It’s definitely not easy. But it has been fun. Loads and loads and loads of fun. And that’s what matters.

So, cheers to YOU, all our beer loving friends and supporters who have brought us this far. We raise our glass to great beer and say thanks! Prost!

PS: I’ve just spent 25 minutes searching for a picture of Jason & I toasting beer glasses. He hates pictures, so I can’t find one. He’ll only pose with “important” people.

Genesse converts old storage tanks into beer cans
Up in Rochester, NY, the owners of the old Genessee beer plant have converted three old 280,000-gallon tanks into art! Yup, they’re slapping massive wrap-arounds on their old outdoor tanks to look like the old cans of Genessee beer. It wasn’t good beer, but it’s a sentimental thing, so we approve. [Photo: Shawn Dowd, Associated Press]

“Space Barley” has been released in Japan
Yeah, you read that right. Remember months ago (maybe a year?) when Sapporo sent some barley to the Space Station? Well, after five months, they retrieved it and brewed with it, making just 250 six-packs that will be auctioned for charity. Okay, nifty little promotion there, but would you drink it? Personally, I do not know if I’m ready for space beer just yet. But beer IN space is something I can get behind.

ABC discovered Sam Adams Utopias
The beer has been made for years, but we love it when mainstream media discovers old beer news for the first time. It just shows how on top of things they are! So, yeah, Utopias has been released (last week, actually). The 27% beer that comes in a mini-copper brewers’ vessel and costs $150 or more, depending where you are. If you live in one of the few states that actually sees this stuff and have dispensable income, we suggest buying it. Pretty special stuff. “Due to legal restrictions, Samuel Adams Utopias is not offered in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, or West Virginia.”

The Hop Press
In the world of beer sites, the two big players are still RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. Normally, we have used the latter more often in the past, but I gotta say, RateBeer’s redesign without all the eye-bleed-inducing emoticons and colors is slick; the numbers rating system is a bit bitter—gives a better understanding than A, A- and B+—and now they’ve got the Hop Press. If you haven’t noticed this addition to their site, now you know. Regional reps from across the country. We’re proud to say that RateBeer actually asked us for help in finding someone for our area of the world, and that person is Brian Cendrowski of Untamed Beer. He lives in Greenville, SC. (He’s also the person who picked-up Sam Calagione from the airport back in May for us and we’re forever grateful he didn’t actually steal him.) So check it out often. And you can follow Hop Press on Twitter, too, @hop_press.