Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Beverage Chronicles. I'm Gary Montroso. My co host
Michelle Lamb will be along a little bit later. Each
week we bring you the latest beverage news plus smart
consumer tips to help you buy better, whether you're choosing beer, wine, spirits,
or zero proof options. Let's dive into what's new, what's noteworthy,
(00:29):
and what's worth bringing home. This is Beverage Chronicles. For
a big chunk of the twentieth century, some beer brands
felt like they were part of the American culture. You'd
see cases at union halls, fishing trips and bowling legs,
and during card games on the back porch without a
(00:51):
second thought. Then came craft breweries, imports, and flavor drinks. Suddenly,
tap handles switched almost instantly. A lot of the classic
brands are still around, surviving thanks to habit, local pride,
and a bit of nostalgia. Their tales now exist as
(01:11):
much in our memories and old bar signs as they
do in actual pint glasses. And today I'm going to
talk to you about three classic beers Americans rarely order anymore.
One of those is Schlitz. Schlitz once sat near the
center of American beer culture. It was marketed as a
(01:36):
taste of Milwaukee. You'd find it at stadiums corner bars.
A recipe change and shifting taste pushed it out of
the spotlight, and the brand never fully regained that old reach.
It still appears in certain cities and throwback bars, yet
often feels like a nod to history rather than a
(01:58):
serious rival to modern laggers and hoppy craft favorites. And
next is Old Milwaukee. For years, Old Milwaukee has been
the go to for filling coolers, especially during tight budget
times and big get together so those red cans became
a staple at block parties, garage hangouts, and late night
(02:21):
card games. However, as drinkers started checking out local breweries
and more aggressively marketed budget choices, the brand began to
lose its spot on the priority list. It still enjoys
some local fans in the Midwest and among its longtime supporters,
but in a lot of bars it's more of a
nostalgic memory than a regular on the tap tower. And finally,
(02:45):
there's Rolling Rock. This is a beer that gained popularity
thanks to its green bottle, unique script and the intriguing
number thirty three on its label, it provided a lighter
option that still had a distinct vibe compared to typical macrologgers.
As breweries introduced refreshing pilsners and smooth ales with modern branding,
(03:08):
rolling rock, subtle uniqueness faded. While bottles are still available,
they seldom take center stage in a cooler or dominate
bar orders like they did back in the nineteen nineties.
Of those three Have you had any of those lately?
If so, send me an email, send me a message
through our Beverage Chronicles dot Com website. I'd like to
(03:30):
hear from you. Now. I'm going to introduce a new contributor,
my buddy, Jeff Eikinger. Who is He's a beer ficionado.
He knows his beer, he loves his beer. He's going
to talk to you today about a very interesting topic,
and we're talking about cellaring beers, laying down beers as
one MTE with wines. So here's Jeff.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Hello, all you beer enthusiasts. This is Jeffikinger, and I
am being brought to you by Gary Montroso and Michelle
Lambo Beverage Chronicles dot Com. Today we'll be diving into
cellaring or aging beers. What the seller, what not the seller,
what happens to the beers during their journey, and the
proper techniques to follow. That being said, let's get to it.
(04:16):
When you're choosing a beer to seller, I recommend you
buy two or more of that particular beer. This allows
you to try one fresh and then you can try
them along the way. Also, continue to buy that beer
year after year For a vertical tasting. At some point
you'll want to invite some friends. From a standpoint of style,
(04:37):
you will want to pick beers that are higher in
alcohol at least eight percent plus. The higher the better.
Imperial stouts in some pointers, sours, goose lambecks, Belgian quads, triples, doubles, barleywines,
strong ales, and barrel aged beers all work well. IPAs
(04:58):
aren't the best as the hostile dissipate over time, but
some triple IPAs like dogfish one twenty minute ipa, which
I actually consider a body wine, will work. However, those
nice bitter or double dry hop IPAs are best consumed fresh. Also,
as the beer's age, the malt profile will change as
(05:19):
those proteins fade. This most often results in a beer
that seems thinner so full body beers work best. The
first and most important consideration, in my opinion, is to
keep the beers in the dark. If their bottles, keep
them in a six pack holder. If you have any
and in a closed box. Light is the devil to cellering.
(05:41):
Think about that heineken you had and its taste is skunked,
wasn't very good. Obviously, canned beers won't have this issue.
The second most important consideration is temperature. A good rule
of thumb is to try and keep them at ten
degrees below the temperature they are fermented. That for ales,
that means sellaring them around fifty five degrees. Laggers aren't
(06:05):
usually a candidate for cellaring, but they would be around
forty degrees. I have used temperatures in the low sixties
with no issue. I have also tasted beers that there
was no attention paid the temperature and they were fine.
But stick to the fifty five degrees or as close
as you can and you should be fine. Basements, cross
spaces or closets are good spots to consider. Third on
(06:30):
the list is to keep bottles and cans in the
upright position. If they are corked, they should lay on
their side. Treat them like wine, rotate the bottle once
in a while, keep the cork wet. Also, you want
to stand it up about a day before you drink
it to let the yeast settle to the bottom of
the poor unless you prefer that yeast in a glass. Lastly,
(06:54):
how long can you sellar porters? Anywhere from one to
five years, sow goose, lambicks anywhere from one to ten years.
Most Belgians can be aged one into twelve years. Barley
wines and stouts can be aged from one to twenty years. Okay,
let's do a quick recap. Keep the light out, keep
(07:17):
the right temperature, store in the proper position. Hop some
walt proteins, wol mellow. As the flavors melt together, you'll
generally have a softer beer with slightly less body on
behalf of Gary Monterosa, Michelle Lamb and myself Jeff Wickinger,
Thanks for listening and look for more articles on Beverage
(07:39):
Chronicles dot com. Now go and start your journey and enjoy. Hi.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Everyone, this is Michelle Lamb, your co hosts Beverage Chronicles,
and today we're going to talk about why public relations
is so important for both hospitality groups and beverage brands.
Whether you're running a restaurant, launching a new spirit, are
growing a food and beverage portfolio, relation isn't just support
its strategy, visibility and long term brand value. Now, let's
(08:06):
dive in PI drives demand and foot traffic visibilities everything
for hospitality peer secures features, reviews, and social buzz that
keep guests walking through your doors. Example, a restaurant lends
an eater in New York feature and immediately sees reservations.
Now the key takeaways visibility converse to reservations. Earned media
builds lasting awareness and staying top of mind drives repeat business.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I do a number of wine seminars, and the one
called Pino Envy is always packed. This is John Mahoney
from New Jersey Wine Radio for the Beverage Chronicles reviewing
one of the healthiest wines, pino noir. The Pena noir
has high resveritol, a chemical that is very helpful against
heart disease. It is one of the softest and fruitiest
(08:54):
red wines. I usually compare the red pino noir to
a jealous seven yond blanc or an inhibited pinogrigia, sometimes
to an inadequate rose from California. I tease it about
the envious Cabernet seven yon all against the confident, proud
and healthy pinan noir. Grape Red Bourgundy is one hundred
percent pino noir, but because of its excessive costs, I
(09:16):
now use New Zealand examples of pein and noir, sometimes
in the Oregon one. They're half the price and they
still have the same cherry fruits, soft tannins, long after tastes,
and they are wines that enhance everything from salmon to hamburgers.
Besides being one of the healthiest red wines, it's a
great transition wine for white wine drinkers trying to get
used to red wine. White wine drinkers usually like drinks
(09:39):
that are cold, and white wines are always chilled. Lower
temperatures exasperate the tannins in red wines and make them
taste a little bitter, So all red wines should be
savored at room temperature. Pin and noir is the easiest
red to enjoy it room temperature, especially for new wine vincers. Well,
this is Jamahoney's suggestion that you seek out some South
American pino noirs. Looked at Chili, then New Zealand, or
(10:02):
try Oregon pan and No Wars and learn as much
as you can about pan and No War before you
shell out a fortune for red Burgundy. All the other
grapes are envious of Penan Noars because it's just so
easy to enjoy in vino Veritas.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Heard from Michelle Lamb with her marketing and public relations tips,
and then our wine expert John Mahoney. Thanks to both.
You know, there's an old joke in the industry that says,
when you order a beer, the drink itself is free.
You only pay for the excise tax, the packaging and
the shipping out of these, shipping is the hardest to change.
(10:36):
Taxes can be negotiated down a bit, and packaging can
be modified, improved, or reduced. But until someone creates a
star Trek like transporter to beam beer from the brewery
to your fridge, the challenge of transporting a heavy product
to thirsty customers on a large scale will still depend
on the unpredictable nature of labor and fuel costs. Because
(11:00):
because of this, big brewers valued being close to their
customers long before craft breweries made local a key part
of their marketing. Anheuser Busch is a prime example, having
come out on top from the fierce competition of the
twentieth century with several strategic brewing locations in major cities
across the nation. This network of large plants gave Anheuser
(11:22):
Busch in Bev an unmatched capability to deliver fresher beer
to more consumers faster than its rivals could ever hoped
to achieve. Now their shutting down three of those brewing giants. Recently,
it was announced that Anheuser Busch InBev intends to close
as breweries in Fairfield, California, and Merrimack, New Hampshire completely
(11:45):
and sell a third one in Newark, New Jersey to
a buyer not involved in the beverage sector. We will
be moving production from these three sites to our other
US facilities, and these changes will allow us to invest
even more in our own mating operations and in our
portfolio of leading growing brands. The company stated, well about
(12:06):
four hundred and seventy five employees are going to be
impacted by these changes, which highlight two more undeniable facts
about the brewing industry. First, these large mega breweries are
incredibly costly, and second, they can quickly turn into financial
drains when there isn't enough beer flowing through the tanks.
To be honest, and I hate to say this again,
(12:27):
but the beer industry isn't exactly thriving right now. Anheuser
Busch InBev, being the longtime leader and the most diverse
player in the game, has actually held up pretty well
against this year's challenges. Their latest earnings report shows domestic
shipments down only two point five percent and depletions down
just two point seven percent, which is a lot better
(12:49):
than most. Looking at the bigger picture makes this win
even clearer. The company had already been experiencing a slow
and steady drop in market share for about fifteen years
when and the bud Light mess kicked off in twenty
twenty three. They are much praised and sometimes criticized craft
brewing spree from the last decade has turned into a
(13:09):
bit of a corporate hangover this time around, complete with
fire sails and layoffs. Sure a Michelobultra took over as
Anheuser Busch InBev's former flagship earlier this year, but with
the American drinking crowd becoming more diverse and the allure
of spirits based canned cocktails. That throne isn't as shining
as bright anymore. It's pretty easy to see why it's
(13:32):
not great for a brewery to be selling less beer
than before. What's less clear is just how serious that is.
With massive plants scattered across the country. Anheuser Busch InBev
had a significant advantage over its competitors during the light
beer wars when demand was high in competition from Corona
craft brewers, Big Liquor and others was minimal. But now
(13:54):
that demand has shifted, all that capacity is more of
a burden. I've talked about this tricky city situation in
relation to the current struggles of craft brewing. Real estate, equipment,
and debt are all costly and running at about fifty
percent utilization rate, which is the industry estimate right now.
This this just doesn't cover those expenses. Now, if you
(14:15):
scale that up by a huge factor, you start to
see the magnitude of the issue Anheuser Busch in BEV
is facing. Just to clarify, there is no proof that
Anheuser Busch in Bev's tank is genuinely half empty. By now,
you would have definitely heard the uproar from Wall Street However,
it's a reasonable assumption, considering the firm's total domestic capacity
(14:37):
versus its total domestic barrilage, that it is producing less beer,
along with flavored malt drinks, canned cocktails, et cetera, than
necessary to operate its huge network at peak efficiency. And
that is it for this week's episode of Beverage Chronicles
on behalf of Michelle Lamb and our guest contributors Gary Montrosso,
(14:57):
saying see you next week.