I was reading an article on Vita.mn that had "Beer Experts" pick a MN 6 pack of fame. I have a bone to pick with these "Beer Experts."
Every week there seems to be another list like this. The silly part is that they are all the same! Sometimes I wonder if these "experts" are going to the same bars and beer stores in MN that I am.
MN has so many great craft breweries and beers. We have such an awesome diversity of beers. MN as a state is at the forefront of the craft beer movement, but yet these types of lists never change.
We have a Surly beer, check! We have a Summit beer, check! We have a Schells beer, check! Throw on Grainbelt for the hipsters, Check! And throw on maybe one lesser known MN beer to make it seem like we have cred, Check!
I LOVE beer! Heck, even more I LOVE MN beer! I drink a fair amount of it weekly.... let's just call it blog research...He-he!... But I haven't had a Surly or Summit in a long time. I tried Schell's Star of the North and Goose Town, but other than that haven't had Schell's in forever.
Grainbelt? Uhhh.... couldn't tell you the last time I had one of those... Probably a night when I had already had a few good beers at a friends house and maybe accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle out of the fridge or something.
I do want to be clear, I am not trying to bash any of the breweries, or their beers, on these types of lists. More what I am doing is questioning why these "Beer Experts" can't get off a kick that started many years ago, and for most of us ended years ago too.
Surly and Summit are not the only game in town anymore. They haven't been for a while now. By only making readers aware (again and again and again and again) of these few beers the "Beer Experts" are selling our craft beer scene short. It takes something that is really awesome about our area and makes it seem so small, dull, and old.
So, I am going to make a pledge. This weekend I am going to drink nothing but MN beers. I am going to open my eyes to some new MN beers and I am NOT going to drink a Surly, a Summit, a Schell's, or a Grainbelt... although I wasn't going to be hitting up that last one anyways.... All I want to know is, who's coming with me, man?
(Here is the article if you want to take a look: http://www.vita.mn/best-of/230914481.html)
Weren't you the folks asking Shells for free stuff to give away the other day on twitter? Good luck with that
ReplyDeleteI am saying absolutely nothing bad about Schells. Like I said in my blog post, I am not knocking the breweries, just wishing that lists like this had some different beers.
DeleteI think you mistook me knocking the lists as knocking the breweries.
DeleteYes most of the lists leave something to be desired. But lets be realistic here, if you were giving someone from out of state a six pack of Minnesota beers and didn't include something from Surly (Furious being the most obvious year round choice)....you would be doing it wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat depends on what the six-pack was about. If I wanted them to drink the "iconic beers MN was known for", yup I would include Surly. But more often then not, I like to challenge people to try new things so thus I would generally pick beers from newer breweries to show our depth and skill has come so far beyond Surly.
DeleteI understand what you are trying to say, and I truly agree that we are lucky to have such a depth of great beer being made locally. But if you were building a 6 pack of MN beer for someone and didn't include something from the best brewery in the state you would be doing that person a disservice. I am lucky enough to travel frequently and share all of what we have to offer with others, and Surly is always the first one they request me to send to them the next time, serious or casual drinker. Yes Surly has the hype train behind it, but why do you think that is......it's because they consistently brew the best beer!
DeleteBased on the merits and qualifications of the picks I only have problems with two of the selections. Bent Paddle (which is also my second favorite on the list) is just too new and unknown to be iconic or have the impact of others available, and it is a shame they picked the Pils from Schell's, versus other more appropriate choices. Also, being a "Hall of Fame" and not including the best beer in the state, Abrasive makes me downright Surly!
First off this was a great experiment, it was our first editorial piece, and the fact that Andy sparked some response is a credit to his writing, whether you agrees with him or not, this is the MOST responses we have ever seen to a post. So thank you to those too who wrote in. That being said, I think we need to be clear, Schell's, Summit, and Surly are GREAT Minnesota brewers, and even more so iconic mainstays. I personally have a sampler of Schell's in the fridge, and we have enjoyed a good relationship with them so far. This piece was not about them. This was about the media attention given to them. But that is a bigger problem in itself, and one too expansive for the scope of our little operation. The media spends it's time putting words in front of people that they think will trigger the most responses to their "news" because that's in turn how they make sponsors for their programs, thus make money. Joe Parker I think you bring up a good point about "Experts", after all what qualifies us as people they should listen too. Excellent call out. But I think if you swap "Experts" for "Media" you will get a more clear picture of the problem I think Andy is trying to point out. Lastly, let's remember, this is an editorial piece. I see Andy's side of the story, but you want to know what. I'm glad the media pays so much more attention to those breweries. It leaves a HUGE section uncovered, and let's organizations like ours have a place in the GREAT Craft Beer scene in Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for sharing your opinions and comments! I hope we didn't ruffle to many feathers with this, and it's great to see such responses to our work (both the criticism and praise, it makes US a stronger company).
Will M.
President