Saturday, January 26, 2008












Matt said...


I'm all about the cans. Sly Fox's offering, especially Pikeland Pils and the Dunkel Lager(when I can find it), find a regular place in my fridge.

You can't over-emphasize the crossover value either. I have plenty of friends who won't touch a bottled craft beer, but have no problem picking up a 12 pack of Dale's or grabbing a Sly Fox out of my refrigerator.

Lew Bryson said...

Good point on the crossover, Matt, and I really should have picked up on that in the column. People like that Sly Fox Pilsner.

Anonymous said...


Try as I may, I cannot fathom that. What if you lulled such a friend into a state of complacency and then offered him a glass of Sly Fox beer poured from a bottle? Would s/he reject that?

Lew Bryson said...


That's going to be tough: Sly Fox doesn't do their Pils/Pale Ale/Dunkel/Weiss in bottles. It's can only. The bottled beers are bigger ones. I see your point, but I think it's the "friendliness" of the can that's making the issue here. As people kept telling me this week at the Cheers Conference, people drink with their eyes and their head as much as with their mouths.

Anonymous said...

What I as a sometime marketing guy like best about canned beer is that the entire surface of the vessel can be used to promote your brand, unlike a bottle. Throw in the other advantages of cans and you have a great argument for any brewer looking to grow.

Greg Clow said...

OK, hold on a sec - are there seriously people who have a problem with microbreweries advertising and marketing their products? SERIOUSLY???

I don't think I've ever met anyone who feels that way, but if you have... well, that just makes my head hurt.

Do they also refuse to read All About Beer, Brewing News, Ale Street News, Celebrator, etc. because they contain evil advertising?

Note that I'm actually no big fan of the marketing/advertising industry in general, at least in terms of large corporations who use it to twist truths in an attempt to sell people things that they really don't need. But in terms of small(er) businesses who are just trying to get the word out there that they exist and have an honestly good quality product available, I really can't see how anyone should have a problem with it.

Oh, and I don't have a problem with cans, either.

Jeff Linkous said...


Advertising does work, and I fear all those Bud ads during the playoffs featuring Rob Riggle (of The Daily Show fame) will have the unintiated thinking only import beers are dark, that said dark beers are cloudy and that Budweiser is über complicated brew. In short: That those non-Bud beers are somehow flawed by virtue of being deeper in color, fuller in body, oh and that you can actually taste the hops.

The spots, I think, aren't so much as misleading as they actually are dumbed down. Sadly, because of that they have a reach.

It's been forever since I held a Bud (I never liked it when I was drinking Miller or Stroh's or whatever), so I don't know if A-B still makes the rice and corn boast on the label.

Funny that you don't hear funnyman Riggle mention the adjuncts.

(Sorry for preaching to the choir)

Anonymous said...

Great topic. These recent threads on BA find the geekerie discussing a lot of these same sentiments Lew.

I make a point to look at the print ads in beer publications, especially those directly from the brewery. Sometimes the simplest are the Dogfish Head's ads which feature black and white photos and the brewery's "off-centered" self-description.

Doing shit your own way, see it work, then touting the hell out of your bad self does not appeal to everyone though in the geekerie, you are right.

Discussion of canned craft crossover appeal here....

Haha I am guilty of perpetuating the Craft Beer Revolution [trashing BMC] here...

Nice observations.

ReDave said...

It's been discussed before, [by smarter and more eloquent people than me, but i find it similar to the indie music scene and success. if you get too successful, then that somehow bad....