I couldn't sleep last night. I started reading beer articles and I don't know why it took so long for me to consider this, but in my exhausted state it dawned on me that barely any craft breweries are participating in the 3.2%ABV ceiling-law that's currently in place for
Colorado grocery and convenient stores. I'm not sure why that is. I mean, why is it that we don't see lots of craft breweries making these lower ABV beers so that they can reach a wider audience? It's certainly not because beer that is 3.2% is no good. In fact, there are plenty of examples of good beers with similar or lower alcohol by volume percentages. For example Rockyard's Rock Weisser, part of their Homebrewers Gone Wild series, is a tasty Berliner Weisse at 3%. Many Berliner Weisse beers sit at that percentage. I've had some great Mild Ales that sat around 3.2-3.5%. I've also had a BrewDog 1.1% hop bomb, which was actually kinda fun to drink if I'm being honest with myself. It's funny to think I could drink 16 of those and perhaps only get dizzy from too many hops. There's plenty more examples of course, including some Blonde Ales, Brown Ales, Bitters, and Pale Ales. Here's an
article from Beer Today that reports a number of beers that were brewed specifically to be 2.8% or below and still be impressive.
Do breweries want to distribute to the local liquor shops only? If this 3.2% law remains on the shelf, doesn't it seem likely a brewery could make a good amount of money, or at least expand interest in craft beer, by offering quality beer that meets the regulations of what can be sold in grocery/convenient stores? Maybe the American public just won't accept low alcohol craft beer? That's too bad, if that's the case.
What are your thoughts? Maybe, I'll ask a few brewers these questions so we can get an idea of what they think. Also, I'd be very curious to hear from Breckenridge and Boulder, who I believe do indeed make lighter versions of certain beers in order to sell their beer in these stores. Seems like there should be a lot more available though.
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I think it's mainly not to compete with the macro companies who get preferential placement in the grocery and convenience stores. This is a major reason why most Colorado craft brewers have been against allowing higher ABV in those places.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that the ones who do like Breck, Wynkoop, New Belgium, etc. mainly do it for brand recognition. The only times I would buy 3.2 craft beer in the past was before they allowed liquor sold on Sundays.
The macro companies get preferential treatment until people start buying the micro beer. It seems like a bit of a catch 22 in some ways. Up and down the West Coast the microbreweries are given their own space in the stores that sell craft beer at larger volumes. I've even seen, at numerous stores, the microbrews given their own whole side of an aisle.
ReplyDeleteI suppose they would be competing in many ways, but in other ways they'd be offering entirely different products than any of the macro beers.
I think lower % beers rock! I'd love to try some of those mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI believe that in Missouri the 3.2% law does not apply to convenience stores and there are several craft choices at many gas stations, as well as hard liquor.
ReplyDeleteThat said there is a distinct shortage of lower alcohol craft beers that carry a lot of hype. I think that is largely due to public/brewer preference. The beers that get the hype on sites like Beer Advocate tend to be the monster beers. I believe this is partly because of the novelty of it, as America has been saturated with 5% abv or less adjunct lagers for so long, that, with the exception of, American wheat beers and the like, these big imperial stouts, double ipa's what have you capture our imagination. I am conflicted as I love these big beers, but recognize that there are many times and places where such beers are not practical to drink. I do think there are plenty of delicious and sessionable beers available on the market today, but I would still love to see more berliner weisse and kolshes coming from American craft breweries. I think they will as the industry evolves. The sheer number of breweries under construction and expansion lead me to believe that the great increase in production and variety will help with this problem as consumers can only afford so many $20 beers.
I would love to see more lower % alcohol craft beers!
ReplyDeleteYou've missed the real issue here.
ReplyDelete1. 3.2% laws for grocers and c-stores were put in place largely by macros to protect their market share and rob the wider market of flavor and variety.
2. Breweries need to work with distributors who, in Colorado, are typically poorly equipped to call on big grocery store chains.
3. the average grocery store doesn't employ people who know very much about craft beer, certainly not enough to help a customer who is testing the waters.
4. A typical grocery store set would severely curtail any selection that would reflect the variety of beers produced in Colorado.
In Colorado we're very luck to have a market that insists on the existence of awesome liquor stores who care for beer and work very hard to reflect the variety that it's produced in. Picasso didn't paint in handcuffs, brewers shouldn't be limited in the flavors they want to produce by market channel. Celebrate great quality and expression of passion, don't look to circumvent it.
This is an excellent idea! I've been wanting a better/craft selection of lower ABV beers and your idea of the grocery store option makes this even more appealing.
ReplyDeleteOne note, I believe it's actually 3.2% ABW and not ABV which would put 3.2 beers at 4% ABV.
Anonymous - I'm not at all looking to circumvent quality beer and expression of passion, and I'm not sure what gave you that impression.
ReplyDeleteIf you've read this blog you know that I care very much about quality beer and am amazed at what craft brewers are doing. I'm simply asking why not make 3.2% beer for stores? Good 3.2% craft beer...
I also don't think that making 3.2 beer will handcuff brewers or limit their flavors. It's just another option and tons of low alcohol beers made by craft brewers have amazing flavor.
Distributors might be poorly equipped to call on big grocery store chains and that's a problem. That sounds like something that needs to be fixed, to me. If brewers were making plenty of Mild Ales, Browns, or Pales that were 3.2 then the distributor might want to figure out how to better work with grocery stores. And why not make them? They can be very good beers, sessionable, not so heavy, and a lot of people would probably enjoy them.
I'm increasingly inclined to agree with some of your other points.
Removing the law would be very good for us beer drinkers. Why?
ReplyDeleteIf liquor stores could sell any beer, I can more or less see exactly what the local Safeway would have:
-New Belgium
-Bristol
-Sam Adams
-Maybe 3-4 other of the "bigger" names
-The standard imports (Bass, Guiness, Harp, etc)
Now, none of those are bad beers, but you know what that means? You local liquor store needs to get creative, they can't (or shouldn't) stock 85% of their shelves with the same stuff. That means they'll look to get more variety and options, which is a win for consumers.
My guess is the law will be removed eventually, don't know when, but it's just a matter of time. Particularly as micro gains more and more of the market every year.