Auction price drop, learning to love wine, end of discounts — sipped & spit
SIPPED: satire
“Why do I need a book about “How to Love Wine?†Who the hell needs to know how to love wine?” The HoseMaster does a blind book review–a review without reading the book.
POPPED: bubble pricing?
Wine auction prices to decline by 20%? Might happen, insiders say. [Decanter.com]
SPIT: cost cutting
In the name of reducing “irresponsible drinking,” the government may prohibit supermarkets in Britain from offering discounts on multi-bottle purchases. The resulting price hike may be difficult for some to swallow. [Telegraph]
SIPPED: cost cutting
Beck’s beer sold in the US is now brewed in St. Louis. Scandale! A Bloomberg BusinessWeek story on how CEO Carlos Brito is running AB InBev “like a private equity investor.” That leaves a big opening for craft beer.
SPIT: timely phrasing
NY Gov Andrew Cuomo said he will put promotion of the state’s wine and beer “on steroids.” Jeesh, next thing you know he will want them to win the Tour de France! [AP]
On October 26th, 2012 at 5:40 pm ,Quizicat wrote:
Becks will probably have less skunk problems with it being brewed here. In my youth I drank it quite often and found they had a bad record for skunkiness. Bud has been brewing other peoples beers under contract for a ling time. As do many others. I doubt many people will jump over to craft brews just because it’s made in the US.
On October 26th, 2012 at 7:30 pm ,John Glas wrote:
Well Becks is no better than the beer they have always brewed in St. Louis. It just costs more.
On October 26th, 2012 at 9:17 pm ,RobinC wrote:
Eric Asimov’s new book doesn’t sound like something I would buy though I would like to leaf through it. The Hosemaster’s bitter, shabby, envious, tasteless pseudo review had some humerous insights.
On October 26th, 2012 at 9:57 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Quizicat – Yes, perhaps you missed the post yesterday on “lightstruck” beer–a fancy way of saying skunked. A main cause is the bottle color and green bottles offers no protection against UV rays. Still, it seems mind-boggling that a major brewer could willingly release millions of bottles of beer knowing that it would result in a tremendous amount of off-bottles. But I suppose everything has a reason…
Also, my comment about AB InBev opening ground to craft beer wasn’t related to Becks new bottling in St. Louis after decades of marketing about the german purity law. The article talks about how Brito is a relentless cost-cutter and has swapped out whole grains and a beechwood provider and many hops in an effort to cut costs. Meanwhile, he has raised the price. So tactics like those are the ones that I see leaving a widening gap in the market, which craft beer is pouring into.
On October 27th, 2012 at 1:38 am ,Monkeyboy wrote:
Nothing new with the “brewed under license” fiasco here in Australia. Fosters/CUB/LionN have the market under wraps here – Becks, Kronenberg, Stella, Asahi, Peroni, Carlsberg, Miller, Grolsch, Kirin…the list goes on.
To be honest the brewed under license beers taste like a cross between cats piss and shite. Extremely unattractive much like the mass produced main stays they peddle – VB, Fosters, Tooheys, et.al – except worse & at a premium.
Not to be a beer nazi, but I’ve asked at a few restaurants whether I’m getting the real deal or a local bootleg. I’ve been comped a few times when I’ve been told erroneous information. I’ve asked them to check, to confirm, it’s really not that hard is it? (pst it says on the bottle where it’s made)
In saying that it’s made for a couple of successful parallel import business that are brining the “real” beers into Australia (Peroni is a good case(‘scuse the pun), example for the Melbourne market). The crazy thing is is that I can buy the authentic imported “real” Peroni for less than what it would cost me to buy the locally brewed version. And taste wise there’s no comparison(there was a blind tasting done on a few real vs. locally brewed beers gave interesting results – see if I can find the link).
(All bets are off with Corona though, I don’t think anyone can make it cheaper than what it costs to import from Mexico – Fosters/CUB tried and failed now they just ship it over by the boatload)
The other thing is the micro/artisan/craft-brew market is exploding in a massive way here in Australia. I actually think we maybe peaking in the interim before another thrust upwards. Be good to see the stats/figures and the like behind the Oz craftbrew market and see where we are compared to the US and ROW.
I do love my wine, but I’m actually quite fascinated and taken with the craftbrew beer thing at the moment.
On October 27th, 2012 at 8:57 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
RobinC – FYI, Eric Asimov tweeted this comment with a link the Hosemaster review: “The Hosemaster of Wine goes beyond the call of duty, reviewing “How to Love Wine” without having read it. Awesome!”
https://twitter.com/EricAsimov/status/260411540048576512
On October 27th, 2012 at 9:02 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Monkeyboy – Interesting that local brewing is happening for many formerly imported beers in Australia too. That’s global beer for ya.
As to craft beer’s moment and the rivalry with wine, we had a good discussion about that earlier this week on this thread:
http://www.drvino.com/2012/10/24/craft-beer-is-overtaking-wine-sf-mag/
On October 28th, 2012 at 1:40 pm ,Bob Siddoway wrote:
A blind book review? Haha, that’s classic.
It is an interesting, if perhaps unneeded, concept for a book… at least for true wine lovers. But hey, what do I know.