Old Blatz Beer Commercial

Saw this the other day over at New Jovian Thunderbolt.

I remember Blatz was often the beer of choice during those lean college years. In those days we looked for quantity over quality. 

If You Need a Laugh on Monday

"Kirkland Light! Available in 48 packs where you buy your pants!"

Randy Colpek loves his Kirkland Light beer from Costco.

Budweiser has its Clydesdales, Corona has its beaches, and Dos Equis has its Most Interesting Man Alive. But Kirkland Light Beer, Costco's very own house brew, has Randy Colpek. And Randy Colpek is a beer-drinking force to be reckoned with.

By his estimate, Randy Colpek drinks 18 cans of Kirkland Light Beer a day, five days a week. Last time he tried to haul his cans of Kirkland Light Beer to the recycling center, he exceeded the 100-pound limit. He is—and I'm not sure this phrase has never been used before—a diehard Kirkland Light Beer fan boy.

Warning: Language.

See "Area Hero Gets Drunk, Makes His Own Genius Commercials for Costco Beer."

Father's Day Marketing

Happy Father's Day. Let discuss your death.

Marketing Genius

This would cause snowflake meltdown if it aired in the U.S.

The Problem With "Steal the Glass" Promotions

A popular event at many pubs is the deceptively named "Steal the Glass" night. There's usually a few beers offered from a featured brewery, and the patron gets to "steal" a special glass, featuring the brewery's logo. Often that glass is a simple shaker pint, other times the glass can be unique or interesting in some way. 

The fallacy of the promotion is that with few exceptions, the drinker isn’t "stealing" anything, they are actually paying extra for the beer, in order to keep the "free" glass. I have dozens of glasses I’ve acquired at Steal the Glass events, but often times I simply don’t want the glass, and I certainly don’t want to pay extra for a glass I don’t need. And therein lies the rub.

We went out for dinner at a local pub the other night. I had seen a post on Facebook that the restaurant was "featuring" SweetWater Brewery, and pouring their 420 Pale Ale and SweetWater's 20th Anniversary Imperial Hash IPA. However, when we arrived we learned the beers were part of a "Steal the Glass" promotion. In addition, there were actually no SweetWater Brewery specific glasses being offered. Instead we would pick from leftover glasses from previous events — it was a "garage sale."

Wanting to try the Imperial Hash IPA, but not wanting to buy a random piece of glassware not even related to the featured brewery, I inquired if I could get the beer at the regular price and not pay the premium to "steal the glass." As I knew it would be, the answer was in the negative. I knew that because I had asked in the past, with the same answer. I didn't need or want the glass, so I ordered a different beer enjoy. Fortunately, I did have a very tasty Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA served from a cask.

We end up at this establishment on Wednesdays often, so we happen to hit their "Steal the Glass" nights with some regularity. And indeed, there are often interesting beers being offered. On occasion I even opt to pay to "steal," and take home an interesting glass. However, on more than one occasion we have been refused the featured beer for not wanting to pay extra for a glass. A pub should have glasses in which to serve beer without requiring the patron to buy one.

I wonder, could I bring back some purchased glasses and get refills at a discount?

Too much 'extra' glassware already

Five O'Clock Friday: Winter Prep

If anything can get you through the flu, it's Twizzlers.

Click to embiggen

Thanks Staples.

An Expensive Target Holder

Much to my chagrin, we've had to make some major HVAC "investments" recently. But, they say when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade. So I'll look on the bright side and make use of the nice target stands the contractor left street side.

All ready for the rifle range.

Progressive Colors

I picked up a catalog at work the other day and saw this...

I don't get it. I suspect some PC-influence from the marketing department.

Premium Beer

"I'll have water, please. Thanks."

Those Sensitive Craft Beer Drinkers

Even if you didn't watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, you've probably heard that the craft beer community has its collective knickers in a twist over a Budweiser ad that poked fun at craft beer fans. In case you missed it, watch now...

Within just seconds of the ad running, social media lit up with outrage from insulted craft beer drinkers. "Outrageous," "insulting," along with other exclamations I can't print here, hit my Facebook and Twitter feeds. The indignation continues still. Seriously people, that's all it takes to offend you? Sure, they mocked (some) craft beer fans for their constant tasting and sipping and pontificating over beer. But don't we do the same to ourselves? Just a few days ago, this article on "The 19 Types Of Beer Snobs" was making the rounds. I can't count the number of my craft beer connections on Facebook who shared the article. I shared it myself. Why did we share it? Because to some extent it's true, and we can laugh at ourselves. Or can we?

Craft beer drinkers regularly poke fun, or worse, at Budweiser, and Bud drinkers. This time the advertising team at Anheuser Busch turned the tables and lobbed a zinger back. And frankly, I thought it was funny. To some extent, they are right. Beer, including craft beer, is for drinking. Shouldn't all brewers want to people to like their beer "for drinking, not dissecting"? Don't check in on Untappd, skip the note taking and photo shoots, and just enjoy it.

Budweiser's mocking example of a "pumpkin peach ale" was somewhat ironic as they recently purchased a craft brewery that actually makes such a beer. Or maybe it wasn't ironic, but another deliberate tweak at craft beer fans. If that's the case, it worked.

The "battle" between craft and factory beers will go on. There will always be people who prefer Bud over Flying Dog, Miller Lite over Stone. We won't change that. But we don't have to be so sensitive, and hypocritical, in the quest for converts.

Now That's Telemarketing!

But poorly targeted, I'm happily married.

Free Beer!

Remember the vending machine at the Winter Olympics that dispensed free beer, to Canadians only? 10 Barrel Brewing Company has provided the same service to anyone with a valid, over 21 ID. As part of the campaign to promote their new summer brew, Swill, they placed the machine in random locations.

Alas, 10 Barrel is located in Boise, Idaho, so I don't expect to see this gift-giving machine around here. 

The Truth IPA

The press release from Flying Dog started out like this, "Full disclosure: This beer came to fruition because we saw a gap in our portfolio and we wanted to increase our market share." Well, being an avowed capitalist, of course I had to try it out. Okay, that, and it's an Imperial IPA.

Flying Dog The Truth pours a copper color with a very thin, and short-lived head. The aroma is sweet and a little boozy. The flavor is like grapefruit pith, citrusy and bitter at the same time. The initial sip caused a bit of a cheek pucker and eye blink, but that may have been more from surprise, as the aroma didn't prepare me for the big flavor. I recovered quickly and went in for another sip. And another. And another. Well, you get the picture. The subtle, sweet malt backbone helps to pull it all together. A bitter, dry finish rounds out the enjoyment. The Truth checks in at 8.7% ABV, but other than a hint in the aroma, it was pretty well hidden behind the robust flavor profile.

This is a big beer, and one that will appeal to fans of bold IPAs. Needless to say I enjoyed my single bottle of The Truth. Finishing the glass was bittersweet (no pun intended) as Flying Dog is being released on August 15, but only in Washington, DC and Maryland. Since this is a year-round addition to their beer portfolio we can hold out hope to see greater distribution in the future.

In classic Flying Dog manner, the brewery stirred up a bit of a controversy with a short-lived ad campaign for The Truth. I saw the ad poking fun at all the breweries expanding operations to North Carolina, and frankly, I laughed. We've covered the recent growth in that state with much anticipation. It seems there are some humor-impared beer fans in North Carolina. But, those sensitive types probably couldn't handle such a bold beer anyway. (And probably stopped perusing these Musings a long time ago.) Their loss, seriously.

Notice for the Bureaucrats: Flying Dog sent me an unsolicited bottle of The Truth. It is through my own free will that I enjoyed the beer. No compensation, other than the pleasure of tweaking some sensitive types in NC, was received for its review.

Sam Adams Octoberfest Quandry

I saw over at Beerpulse.com that Sam Adams Octoberfest is already now available for the 2013 season. That's a week earlier than last year. Normally, this would be exciting news as I've always looked forward to this seasonal beer. However, I recently learned that Boston Brewing wishes to avoid any reference to "religion or religious themes" in it's marketing. This creates a problem, as all my money has a reference to God on it, thereby limiting its use in their market.

I guess I'll wait for the release of the excellent Oktoberfest beer from Fredericksburg's own Blue & Gray Brewing.

Sam Adams Goes PC

"Political Correctness," an insipid ideology that leads to a weakening of conviction. It also requires no small amount of hypocrisy on the part of those who pursue such a doctrine. The beer company that lays claim to the name of the Founding Father Samuel Adams, has shown they are not immune to the trap of political correctness.

Boston Brewing Company used the Declaration of Independence to promote their beer in an ad that ran on July 4. Even though it wasn't a direct quote, they conspicuously opted to leave out the words "endowed by their Creator."

Quoting the "guidelines" of the Beer Institute Advertising Code, Boston Brewing states "Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes." The feigned moral superiority notwithstanding, the Declaration of Independence does include the text the brewer opted to omit. The hypocrisy of their claimed attachment to history and freedom is blatantly obvious.

I wonder if Sam Adams will still accept payment in US currency bearing the words "In God We Trust."

Carlton Draught - Beer Chase

Well done.

Pass Me A Beer

Because I really needed something light-hearted today.

For more laughs, watch the outtakes too.

The Bark Side - Friday Funny

Let's hope all the Super Bowl commercials are as entertaining.

Odd Job Offer

I've received some interesting emails since I've been writing these Musings. By interesting I mean that I wondered why the sender thought there'd be a connection. Recently I've been getting requests to perform tattoo services such as the one below. I guess the whole beer drinking, gun toting, Christian thing invokes images of a skilled tattoo artist. (Work with me here.)

I admit that I didn't know what an Awen is, but I do now. Nope, not interested. :-)

I guess I could opt-out of the mailings but they might prove interesting.

No Booze Ads For Students

WRIC is reporting on a ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that stems from a 2006 lawsuit by Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia student newspapers. The papers claimed that a regulation against alcohol ads in student publications didn't apply to them since at least half their readers are 21 years of age or older. The court ruled that the restrictions did apply to the publications.

Of course, this a sure to be good news to the nanny-state crowd. After all, we know that just the sight of a beer ad will induce an underage student into an alcohol-induced rage. Whew, what a relief that we avoided that ugly scene.

See "Ruling Likely To Ban Booze Ads In Tech, UVa Papers".