You say you want a Revolution? Well, Drink Up!
I don’t know about you, but I am feeling pretty good about the recent improvement in local beer selection. Heck! Just compare what was available at the beginning of the summer to what we have today. Was I having an out of body experience the other night when I was sipping on a refreshing Hoegaarden Belgian Witbier at Appalchian Power Park? Was that really a Czechvar that I was sipping at Blues BBQ? If this is all a dream, please don’t wake me up until I finish my pint of Magic Hat Number 9…
Am I over reacting? Have I been so “beer starved” that I’m acting like a state-pen inmate on “Ice Cream” night? No! We have really seen some change in the area and no, I am not experiencing the “beer-geek held hostage” equivalent of Stockholm syndrome when I thank the Budweiser behemoth Central Distributing for the change we are experiencing. The three beers that I mentioned are really available in Charleston and it’s all due to Central Distributing Company’s apparently recent realization and acceptance that selling good quality beer along with the usual macro-swill is a sound business decision.
Many such large distributors must be seeing the growth numbers, and I am sure they want to get in on the success. They now know that they can’t just sit and wait for their “mega brewery” masters to endow them with the right products to sell; it cannot and will not happen. In fact, some of these macro brewers are in craft beer denial. They think this is just a passing fad. What products do they think will capture the palates of the American consumer? How about Miller Chill! You know, the one with the lime and salt already added. That sounds like such a profound product that I am sure its luster will never fade…. Yuk!
Even though this current trend is encouraging, it is far from the sweeping change in WV beer laws that is really needed; but we need to crawl before we walk. It’s up to us now. We need to assure these distributors that their recent change of heart was one that will help their bottom line. These guys know there is potential to make better margins by selling higher priced craft and premium brands, full knowing that their decision doesn’t sit well with their macro-brewery bosses. Our job is to buy good beer and drink it. If we fail to do this, these guys will run back into the arms of the old status-quo and we can kiss this revolution goodbye for many years to come…
September 11th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
By the way the reason Central Distributing is selling those beers along with a few other European beers is that those macro-brewing bosses are now the Importers of those brands so that now even more people will get to taste them.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:15 am
That’s true for Hoegaarden and Chzechvar, but not Magic Hat and some of the other brands that Central is handling and looking at handling.
I believe their businesss model has changed to include growth fueled by the craft beer sector.
There is more to it than what you say…