Fall 2019 | V.29
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Fall 2019 | V.29 CHEERS TO TEAMWORK Delivering Excellence Seasonals Rethinking Retail New Products Programs GREAT RHYTHM BREWING CO. | FALL SELECTIONS | CIDER IS HAVING A MOMENT – AGAIN Letter toTHE TRADE ALL HASN’T ARRIVED yet, but our inventory of In This F craft beers and ciders is ISSUE changing in anticipation of the upcoming cooler weather. Many fall seasonals will start to play with a heavier body and more Delivering the autumnal spiciness. In many ways, fall beers were the first Taste of Excellence ...............1 seasonal beers to gain popularity. Now is a great time to be a beer Cover Story .........................2 lover, as the selection available has never been better. Here you will find a lineup of some popular Brewer Highlight .................4 fall seasonal styles and a few examples from our portfolio. Lazy Dog Beer Shoppe .........5 • Pumpkin — It should come as no surprise that pumpkin, one of the most autumn-inspired foods, dominates the seasonal beer scene every fall. Pumpkin brews often feature large amounts of nutmeg, allspice and Black Mtn. Burger Co. ���������6 cinnamon. Pumpkin also creates a heavier body, giving these beers a more dessert-like feel. In fact, these seasonal beers are so well received, they are New Products .....................7 starting to be released earlier and earlier every fall. Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. • Amber — Amber beers, whether they are ales or lagers, are a little darker Seasonal Selections .............9 than pale beers. Ambers have a slightly heavier maltiness that is perfect for the fall, especially if you’re spending the day watching football. Supremely Available Year-Round drinkable, they come in a lot of different varieties, so you can cater your Perfect for the Season ....... 15 amber beer to your specific tastes. Switchback Ale, Stony Creek Crum and Rogue Dead Guy Ale (This is a Maibock but it’s similar). • Belgian — Belgium is famed for its Trappist beers, which can only be legally Programs ......................... 16 made by Trappist monks. These beers have long been hailed as the best in the world. They tend to be spicy and boozy. If you want to spend some time Rethinking Retail .............. 21 sipping on one beer and really exploring its flavor profile, Belgian ales are perfect come autumn. Allagash Tripel, Brasserie d’Achouffe La Chouffe and Unibroue La Fin Du Monde. • Oktoberfest — Autumn is also the time when Germany’s famed Oktoberfest, probably the greatest holiday dedicated to beer in the world, is celebrated. So it only makes sense that many breweries offer their own Oktoberfest beer. Oktoberfest beers are typically heavier brews with a deep amber color. If you want to really celebrate like a true Bavarian, find one of these beers and raise your stein. Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest, Great North Märzen Rover and Moat Mt. OPA’s Oktoberfest. Given beer shoppers’ infatuation with what’s new on the shelves, seasonals are a dependable source of variety and are a perfect way to get your customers to try something new. This issue features many new fall seasonals and perennial favorites beginning on page 9. Lastly, we’d like to thank all of our customers and suppliers for making our business possible and hope you have a great fall. Tom Bullock Ed Murphy Heady Times is published four times a year, courtesy Chairman of the Board President of Amoskeag Beverages. DeliveringTHE TASTE OF EXCELLENCE Amoskeag People Get The Job Done George Laliotis Graphic Designer How long have you been with Amoskeag Beverages? It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 15 years. What do you like most about your job? The creativity. I love being a graphic designer because it’s about creative exploration, thinking through ideas and coming up with a visual solution. In this department, things can get a little crazy with requests coming at us from all directions, but it is really rewarding to design something unique for one of our accounts or suppliers. What was your first job? Working in my father’s and uncle’s restaurant. What do you like to do when you’re not working? I like to be outside, playing a round of disc golf. There are some great courses in the state, but you can’t beat playing at Top O’ the Hill, in Canterbury, which is especially beautiful in the fall. If you could be anywhere on a dream vacation, where would you be? That’s an easy question, I would love visit the Greek Islands. Zach Hebert Full Time Route Driver How long have you been at Amoskeag? A little over a year. What do you like most about your job? I enjoy getting to know our accounts and working with the people at Amoskeag. It’s a busy If you could be anywhere on a dream environment, but I love how every day is a little different. vacation, where would you be? I’d go to What was your first job? I worked for the city of Manchester in the Colorado and do some hiking and fishing. Parks & Recreation Department. If you could have a super power, what What do you like to do when you’re not working? I love to spend would it be and why? I would want to time with my family. I have two kids that are four and three and I have have the power to deliver more beer as fast one more due at Christmastime. as possible. www.amoskeagbeverages.com HeadyTimes v.29 1 CoverSTORY Cheers to Teamwork (Haters Gonna Hate) Collaborations epitomize the craft beer spirit. And the merger-collaboration of Boston Beer When artisans collaborate, good things happen. So why are and Dogfish Head is good for craft beer, as so many people skeptical of the merger of Boston Beer and nationally, more consumers will have access Dogfish Head? Will these pioneering companies lose their to the most inventive adult beverages in underdog appeal or craft beer cred? Not if you talk to Jim the world. That is because Dogfish Head Koch and Sam Calagione. products will now be available in any market By now it’s old news. that also has Boston Beer brands. The deal is nothing like the acquisitions of other high- In May, The Boston Beer Company, the maker profile craft breweries. The transaction unites of Sam Adams and Delaware’s Dogfish Head two bona fide craft breweries. And perhaps breweries, announced the merger of their most significantly, each company will retain companies. The marquee players – Jim Koch of its own leadership and artistic identity. In fact, Boston Beer and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head – both men believe they will be able to spend said they decided to join forces to better compete more time innovating. against Big Beer, the companies that make more than 80% of all the beer consumed in the US. “So many mergers pay for themselves with synergies that save money,” said Koch. “We The initial reaction to this announcement was mixed. The mainstream press have some soft synergies, but if it was just focused on the cost of the deal, a $300 million cash & stock transaction. about the money, Sam and I could have Beverage alcohol publications had mostly tepid reactions. Many wondered if cashed out many times over. This allows us to the quality of the beers would suffer, while others pondered if this somehow be brewers first and businesspeople second. signaled the end of American craft beer’s golden era. (The Calagiones ended their relationship with On a recent phone call, Heady Times asked Koch and Calagione private equity firm LNK and took no money why two pioneering, top‑tier craft breweries would do something so out of the deal.) We’re eager to share tips and corporate now. secrets we’ve learned over the years. Sam knows his stuff about continual hopping. ven putting our two companies together, we still make less than two The evidence is in every sip you take of percent of all the beer made in America,” Koch said. “Percentages Dogfish Head 60-, 90- and 120 Minute IPA. “E aside, Sam and I are still just two guys who started out as Our [Boston Beer’s] Sam ’76 is the product homebrewers… who went bar-to-bar handselling our wares. And for 20 of a bunch of brand-new, innovative brewing years, we’ve worked together – collaborated if you will, with the Brewers secrets. So is our Marathon 26.2 Brew. Association for the advancement of independent American craft breweries.” I’m intrigued by the work Sam has done to invent SeaQuench, Slightly Mighty and “We’re eager to share tips and secrets SuperEIGHT… creating beers that serve a new wave of drinkers, who are making mindful we’ve learned over the years.” – Jim Koch choices about what they eat and drink.” During their many appearances at trade “Mariah and I have kept an eye on what’s being said about the merger symposiums like those sponsored by on social media,” said Calagione. (Mariah is Mariah Calagione, Sam’s Brewbound and Beverage Daily, both men wife, and a driving force behind Dogfish Head’s success.) “Most of it have fielded questions about how the craft is positive. Lots of folks who are fans of Dogfish Head worry that the beer business has changed over the last brewery is going to lose its identity. And it’s not. I’d like to address that twenty years. Each have said that there was a more later,” said Calagione. “But what surprised me was a headline that time when almost any craft beer got noticed or said something like, ‘Sam Adams Buys Dogfish Head: RIP Craft Beer’.