Welcome to the latest newsletter from Craft Quality Solutions. Thanks for subscribing!
This week has unfortunately seen the start of what appears to be a return to widespread closures. Just when it was starting to look like things might return to some semblance of normal, we're seeing major coronavirus outbreaks again. This is leading to another round of forced bar and restaurant closures in states like Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California. No one knows what the ultimate impact of all of this will be but it looks like we'll be dealing with pandemic-related issues for quite a while. I've got more links this week on the effects of the shutdowns and how some are coping.
We've also seen a lot of businesses struggle to figure out branding and messaging in the midst of the continuing Black Lives Matter movement. There's some interesting links here on this topic, too.
Branding and messaging is a tough subject for some with a lot of reflection about what to do with some of these old symbols of racism. Some brands are clear cut representations of old racist institutions like the confederacy or colonialism and obviously need to go. Others are more tangentially related, creating more questions than answers. What does a business do with old terminology that has nefarious roots but no clear-cut offensive tone in the modern day? This week on Twitter I threw out a random question along those lines regarding India Pale Ale, a beer that has historical roots in British colonialism. My expectation wasn't to cancel IPA, the main driver of craft beer, rather to spark discussion and see what types of responses people had. It generated some interesting discussion. Some were ready to ditch the term, while others dismissed the issue as not relevant, noting that many people have no idea about the colonial roots of the style. Many pointed out that no one had called it out as problematic nor had anyone professed to be offended by it. A few got mad at me for even posing the question, both from the side of those who feel cancel culture has gone too far and from the side of a couple people who saw my question as coming from just another white guy who wants to substitute cancel culture for real action. This last criticism was along the lines of the most productive discussion this generated - that getting rid of symbols in the absence of real action is meaningless. Real social change comes from changing the way we act in the world as people and companies in order to make things better for the less advantaged. This can manifest itself in any number of different ways but the important part is to make real change first. Otherwise ripping down statues and changing brand names don't mean a thing.
I hope you enjoy the links this week.
Neil Witte
Owner - Craft Quality Solutions
sellgreatbeer.com
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Industry News
More bad news this week from the Brewers Association in the form of more layoffs. This time took some high-profile names, including some personal friends of mine. Julia Herz, the Craft Beer Program Director and arguably one of the BA's highest-profile faces of craft beer over the past several years has been let go. Another notable one was Acacia Coast, who coordinated state brewers guilds around the country. The Brewers Association is reporting a loss of almost 70% of their annual revenue this year, after the loss of Craft Brewers Conference, Savor, HomebrewCon, and the Great American Beer Festival. So this second round of labor cuts probably shouldn't come as a surprise. For now, the BA is closing ranks and focusing on core functions for their members.
Read more...
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Bronx Reverses their Stand
I posted last week about the bold new beer coming soon from Bronx Brewery, called Defund the Police. As it turned out, Bronx didn't expect the level of pushback they experienced after the announcement. Now they've pulled the plug on the project.
Read their statement....
The announcement of the release became big news due to the firm stand they appeared to take on one of the most controversial topics to come out of an already high-profile issue. Now it's bringing attention to them for all the wrong reasons. Fermentum PR has a good breakdown of the hole Bronx Brewery dug for themselves from a marketing authenticity angle.
Read more...
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Brewery Name Change
Speaking of bold branding moves from a brewery, Dixie Brewing announced this week that, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, they're removing the name Dixie from the brewery and their flagship beer. This is a dramatic move for the 113 year-old New Orleans-based brewery. They've been in the middle of a bit of a revival after changing ownership in 2017 and commissioning a new facility just five months ago. No word yet on the new name.
Read more...
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Cause-Based Collaboration Beers
Another topic I've posted about here is the Black is Beautiful collaboration project from Weathered Souls Brewing Company. This project invites any brewery to brew a stout beer, use the label and branding, then donate proceeds to organizations who support equality and inclusion. This is one of several collaboration beers we've seen in the past few years raising money for a particular cause, the most recent noteworthy one being Resilience from Sierra Nevada. That one raised money for victims of the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, CA. Kate Bernot takes a closer look at these collaborations in this Good Beer Hunting piece. She explores their obvious upside but also looks at how much a cause is actually advanced by these collaborations and whether the PR benefits breweries receive by participating are the bigger motivation. Good food for thought.
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More Creative Uses for Old Beer
Breweries are still dealing with mountains of returned keg beer as a result of the covid-19 shutdowns. An earlier post here covered a partnership turning out of code beer into hand sanitizer. This article is another fun one, with Irish stalwart Guinness finding unique used for the old beer, including turning it into Christmas tree fertilizer.
Read more...
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Craft Quality Solutions can help you deliver high-quality beer to your customers
With Craft Quality Solutions, I take two decades of experience with draft beer quality and use it to help improve quality for all tiers of the beer business.
Retailer Services
- Covid-related draft system startup services
- Custom draft system design and installation
- System troubleshooting and maintenance
- Front-of-house staff training
Distributor Services
- Sales team training for covid-specific startup issues
- On-premise sales team draft beer basics training
- Draft department training and organizational consulting
Brewery Services
- Sales team training for covid-specific startup issues
- On-premise sales team draft beer basics training
- Field quality services
- Field quality management consulting
- Sensory program consulting and training
Check out more at my website and send me an email with any questions.
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