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Post by Fletcher on Jan 3, 2024 20:41:44 GMT
It’s just beer, and a shitty one at that. Get over it. Jeesh! Big beer has bigger fish to fry...beer battered fish.... Beer sales are taking a hit lately with the legalization of marijuana, and especially with the next generation of drinkers who aren't getting in the habit. Food prices, housing prices...less disposable income for the young and independents who used to be good for a few. And microbrew has changed the landscape significantly in the last 30 years. When I was first in bars, they had a Labatts tap, a Molson tap, and a light beer tap - strangely is was usually Coors rather than either Blue Light or ... whatever Molson had as a lower alcohol offering. And if it was a fancy faux Irish pub, it would also have Guinness and maybe Harp, Stella or Heineken. The place I usually go to in Ottawa - perfect pub because it's underground, low-ceilinged, dark at all times, and has about 30 taps at all times with 11 rotating - doesn't have anything branded Labatts or Molsons. Most of the taps are "local" ranging from about 1KM away to somewhere in Ontario. Too small to have been bought up by the big distributors. I had the urge to listen to Lou Reed's New York yesterday. Last Great American Whale seems appropriate here. So many cultural changes causing shifts that big beasts are nimble enough to handle without great pain. I think we're going to see it in the world of sports before the end of the decade, with broadcast TV rights taking a major hit because they don't have the audience to pay for the exorbitant rates they pay now. If gambling doesn't replace the revenue, it's likely going to mean work stoppages and a major renegotiation of the economic landscape. And god help the players if the owners realize that athletes are the only "content" still getting paid like partners. I have a similar local bar here. Delightfully unpopular, by design, it seems. I have a weird sense of loyalty with beer, more than anything else I buy, to the true independent producers. So much so, that when a good local independent brewery is acquired by AB InBev, or whatever, I'll abruptly stop buying it. I've read enough about the ruinous intentions of the big beer companies towards independent brewers. I'm out, the second they get acquired, which has led my to abandon some some beers I like (Wicked Weed, Goose Island, etc.). By and large though, I support independent breweries not on moral grounds but because they literally make a better product, and that often isn't the case in other industries. Almost all innovation in beer comes from the independent breweries. The beer industry is a good example of the total lack of integrity in advertising too. I remember Anheuser Busch running commercials making fun of craft beer and the people who drink craft beer (talk about fratty, btw), while at the same time buying up craft companies (and shamelessly buying up craft hop varieties) to sell more craft beer and corner that market. With their concert venue and stadium deals, you'll notice that it's very hard to get actual craft beer at any larger event. Yet, the good news is that the independent brewing market is still doing pretty well and has a larger market share of beer sales than they have in the past. Anyhow, I think the beer market is a good microcosm of commercialism and corporate malfeasance vs. quality and small business innovation. Keep drinking local/independent!
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 4, 2024 1:31:31 GMT
Listen folks, it takes a very high level of education, prefessionalism, pretardation, and experience to make it in this bussines, and woman lack the kean hockey knowledge and ensights that are part of the job. Only the best make it. Period. Fluto and I work so damn hard, we've had to order-in fast food, day and night, for 25 years. The last thing we need is a system where personal appearance, hygiene, self-discipline, spoken and written grammer, and general dignity are valued over connections and good old-fashioned nepotism. I send Cam Neely a glazed ham every year. That's how you keep a press pass, honey.
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 4, 2024 1:34:34 GMT
No, they didn't. There is an element here that most people miss, and you in particular miss with your defense of modern cancelling. You've said in the past an argument I've heard elsewhere of it's "capitalism at work". It's not. It's activism, and that's why it's different. Choosing to buy or not buy a product based on morals and endorsements is as old as time, and yes absolutely practiced by both ends of the political spectrum. There is a strong argument that until this century that sort of thing was much more of a right-wing activity, with companies dropping talent based on moral failings or saying things unacceptable to "families", etc. Generally it works pretty well to keep companies acting how the public wants. What's different about modern cancel activities is that it's often NOT based on consumer demand or audience approval. Mark Hamill (not the guy drafted by the Bruins) uses every second tweet to bash Trump and his followers. That MMA woman changed her pronouns in bio to (Beep/Bop/Boop). One was removed from Star Wars, one was not. Why? Was it because people were going to stop watching? No. The reason is this: wfanet.org/knowledge/diversity-and-inclusion/di-taskforceThe WFA is a body created by the WEF and most large companies are a part of it. As part of joining it, the companies take a pledge to promote certain ideals. DEI is a HUGE part of those ideals, and companies are scored based on criteria such as visibility of under represented groups. A group of high priority to the WFA is transgendered individuals. Advertisers gain cred by including them, and are supposed to advertise with organizations that push the DEI goals of the WFA. So organizations and advertisers are including DEI elements in their content not because their audience wants it or because it will grow their audience, but due to pressure from the WFA and other bodies which use similar tactics. Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev is a member of WFA. The Bud Light Boycott is a particularly interesting case study. It's a blue collar product so using a trans endorsement clearly was not done with their audience in mind. It was done to improve their DEI scoring. However, the trans topic is possibly the single biggest example of the general population feeling disconnect between what is frequently being shown in media and their own feelings/opinions. I know a couple trans people and a couple parents of trans children, but other than them the vast majority of people I know don't honestly, genuinely think someone born with a dick can become an actual woman. People range from politely calling a he2she a woman to be kind/accepting to thinking the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous/insane. It's a prime example of an ideal that has been pushed through lobbying and activism and media/social media manipulation, and as such a powder keg for people when they see it pushed on their beer. What's fascinating and flies in the face of you saying they do these things to grow/satisfy their audience is despite completely plummeting sales, Bud Light has done nothing to appease their audience. They can't, because InBev has signed their pledge to the WFA and will maintain it despite the costs. That's activism at work, and anti-capitalism. On a much lesser scale, the NHL having women and minorities on TV isn't mostly about growing their audience or making it happy. It's definitely not about the best talent. It's about making groups such as the WFA happy and make sure they don't blacklist them for advertising. Personally I kind of like them including women as long as they're good. I grew up watching hockey more with my mom than my dad, my wife watches with me, both my son and daughter are learning to play. It's good it's not a total sausage fest now. Having some black guys on the broadcast I'm sure helps with feelings of inclusion too. But it's mostly about DEI numbers and lobby groups. Great post, DoubleOC.
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 4, 2024 1:35:43 GMT
BTW, I met my wife through hockey. She liked it very much before she even knew me.
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Post by The OC on Jan 4, 2024 1:45:47 GMT
BTW, I met my wife through hockey. She liked it very much before she even knew me. A lot of women love hockey. Almost every boy playing has a hockey mom, and a lot of girls play now too. I read some time ago - 10 years maybe? - that the NHL audience was 46% female. That lines up with what you typically see in the stands.
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Post by dannycater on Jan 4, 2024 1:46:18 GMT
BTW, I met my wife through hockey. She liked it very much before she even knew me. Not thru hockey itself, but mine liked hockey, said it was her favorite sport...it was a big selling point the day we met.
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Post by dannycater on Jan 4, 2024 1:47:48 GMT
BTW, I met my wife through hockey. She liked it very much before she even knew me. A lot of women love hockey. Almost every boy playing has a hockey mom, and a lot of girls play now too. I read some time ago - 10 years maybe? - that the NHL audience was 46% female. That lines up with what you typically see in the stands. Yeah, but my story was during a time when "Chicks dig the long ball"
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 4, 2024 2:13:39 GMT
BTW, I met my wife through hockey. She liked it very much before she even knew me. A lot of women love hockey. Almost every boy playing has a hockey mom, and a lot of girls play now too. I read some time ago - 10 years maybe? - that the NHL audience was 46% female. That lines up with what you typically see in the stands. My wife likes hockey and baseball, just like me. She doesn't care about basketball, doesn't like football, and she absolutely hates soccer.
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Post by RichHillOntario on Jan 4, 2024 6:13:27 GMT
A lot of women love hockey. Almost every boy playing has a hockey mom, and a lot of girls play now too. I read some time ago - 10 years maybe? - that the NHL audience was 46% female. That lines up with what you typically see in the stands. My wife likes hockey and baseball, just like me. She doesn't care about basketball, doesn't like football, and she absolutely hates soccer. And with you being a footy guy, too, H.
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 4, 2024 7:09:35 GMT
My wife likes hockey and baseball, just like me. She doesn't care about basketball, doesn't like football, and she absolutely hates soccer. And with you being a footy guy, too, H. Sorry Rich, I've given up on soccer along time ago. I may have played it as a kid and even a bit later, but I don't like it anymore. I don't like to watch soccer, not even the big tournaments.
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 4, 2024 17:29:37 GMT
A lot of women love hockey. Almost every boy playing has a hockey mom, and a lot of girls play now too. I read some time ago - 10 years maybe? - that the NHL audience was 46% female. That lines up with what you typically see in the stands. My wife likes hockey and baseball, just like me. She doesn't care about basketball, doesn't like football, and she absolutely hates soccer. I should go look and see if anyone has done a comparison for the major sports in terms of gender and viewership, because this lines up for me. I can count on her watching hockey with me; she's been to games and one of her daughters sang the anthem in the era when Chara was a Senator, so it wasn't hard to transfer her loyalties when the big man was the Bruins captain. Huge Marchand fan. She won't watch baseball with me on TV, but she has a soft spot for going to the park. We've had AAA, A, Rookie league, and independent league baseball here over the last 20 years - ideal for me when the AAA team was in the same division as the Louisville Bats, but I never managed to get to a game to see Reds prospects. Her stepfather used to like to take her and her kids when the kids were the right age to appreciate the mascots and all the other things that happen at a ball game other than baseball, so she's happy to go sit in the sun for three hours and watch guys for whom the dream of an MLB career died when they were 17, but they still play for a couple hundred bucks a game because otherwise they'd have to get a real job. Well, a better real job because I'm guessing most of them have other jobs. Football is a non-starter. She sees three hours of standing around punctuated by butt patting and hugs. I try to explain to her it's like a chess match where the pieces actually fight and she reminds me that chess isn't a huge spectator sport in this part of the world either. But basketball almost doesn't exist despite Ottawa being the mecca of university basketball for close to two decades and the city going nuts when the Raptors won an NBA title. She isn't opposed to watching it, but she's got almost no interest. Same thing with soccer. She'll watch combat sports; trained in martial arts in her 20s. My ex was one of the people who like to feel superior to those who watch sports by calling all of it "sportsing." Except the Olympics. That was somehow different. I always want to ask a follow up question on the stats about women's fandom, and it works with a crowd test, too. How many of the women in the 46% of the NHL's audience are there with someone else who is the driver for their attendance/viewership? When they pan through the crowd, you almost always see couples or families. It's a date night. It's a family outing or a treat for the kids. Sometimes you see a group of three or four guys in their 30s. How often do you see two or more women sitting together without others? I see it, but it's not nearly equal to 46% of the non-family, non-date crowd (and who knows, maybe it is a date, but that's not really the point in this case). The number of hardcore women fans is > 0% for sure, so there's no point in proceeding with anecdotal evidence, but I am curious if the NHL is wondering about this sort of thing and whether there's more to be squeezed out of women as fans.
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 4, 2024 17:38:27 GMT
No, they didn't. There is an element here that most people miss, and you in particular miss with your defense of modern cancelling. You've said in the past an argument I've heard elsewhere of it's "capitalism at work". It's not. It's activism, and that's why it's different. Choosing to buy or not buy a product based on morals and endorsements is as old as time, and yes absolutely practiced by both ends of the political spectrum. There is a strong argument that until this century that sort of thing was much more of a right-wing activity, with companies dropping talent based on moral failings or saying things unacceptable to "families", etc. Generally it works pretty well to keep companies acting how the public wants. What's different about modern cancel activities is that it's often NOT based on consumer demand or audience approval. Mark Hamill (not the guy drafted by the Bruins) uses every second tweet to bash Trump and his followers. That MMA woman changed her pronouns in bio to (Beep/Bop/Boop). One was removed from Star Wars, one was not. Why? Was it because people were going to stop watching? No. The reason is this: wfanet.org/knowledge/diversity-and-inclusion/di-taskforceThe WFA is a body created by the WEF and most large companies are a part of it. As part of joining it, the companies take a pledge to promote certain ideals. DEI is a HUGE part of those ideals, and companies are scored based on criteria such as visibility of under represented groups. A group of high priority to the WFA is transgendered individuals. Advertisers gain cred by including them, and are supposed to advertise with organizations that push the DEI goals of the WFA. So organizations and advertisers are including DEI elements in their content not because their audience wants it or because it will grow their audience, but due to pressure from the WFA and other bodies which use similar tactics. Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev is a member of WFA. The Bud Light Boycott is a particularly interesting case study. It's a blue collar product so using a trans endorsement clearly was not done with their audience in mind. It was done to improve their DEI scoring. However, the trans topic is possibly the single biggest example of the general population feeling disconnect between what is frequently being shown in media and their own feelings/opinions. I know a couple trans people and a couple parents of trans children, but other than them the vast majority of people I know don't honestly, genuinely think someone born with a dick can become an actual woman. People range from politely calling a he2she a woman to be kind/accepting to thinking the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous/insane. It's a prime example of an ideal that has been pushed through lobbying and activism and media/social media manipulation, and as such a powder keg for people when they see it pushed on their beer. What's fascinating and flies in the face of you saying they do these things to grow/satisfy their audience is despite completely plummeting sales, Bud Light has done nothing to appease their audience. They can't, because InBev has signed their pledge to the WFA and will maintain it despite the costs. That's activism at work, and anti-capitalism. On a much lesser scale, the NHL having women and minorities on TV isn't mostly about growing their audience or making it happy. It's definitely not about the best talent. It's about making groups such as the WFA happy and make sure they don't blacklist them for advertising. Personally I kind of like them including women as long as they're good. I grew up watching hockey more with my mom than my dad, my wife watches with me, both my son and daughter are learning to play. It's good it's not a total sausage fest now. Having some black guys on the broadcast I'm sure helps with feelings of inclusion too. But it's mostly about DEI numbers and lobby groups. I'm just going to let this one die here because a) chappy is going to get mad if we keep getting farther and farther from hockey and b) there's too much here that I disagree with even for the length of posts I write.
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 4, 2024 18:02:38 GMT
Big beer has bigger fish to fry...beer battered fish.... Beer sales are taking a hit lately with the legalization of marijuana, and especially with the next generation of drinkers who aren't getting in the habit. Food prices, housing prices...less disposable income for the young and independents who used to be good for a few. And microbrew has changed the landscape significantly in the last 30 years. When I was first in bars, they had a Labatts tap, a Molson tap, and a light beer tap - strangely is was usually Coors rather than either Blue Light or ... whatever Molson had as a lower alcohol offering. And if it was a fancy faux Irish pub, it would also have Guinness and maybe Harp, Stella or Heineken. The place I usually go to in Ottawa - perfect pub because it's underground, low-ceilinged, dark at all times, and has about 30 taps at all times with 11 rotating - doesn't have anything branded Labatts or Molsons. Most of the taps are "local" ranging from about 1KM away to somewhere in Ontario. Too small to have been bought up by the big distributors. I had the urge to listen to Lou Reed's New York yesterday. Last Great American Whale seems appropriate here. So many cultural changes causing shifts that big beasts are nimble enough to handle without great pain. I think we're going to see it in the world of sports before the end of the decade, with broadcast TV rights taking a major hit because they don't have the audience to pay for the exorbitant rates they pay now. If gambling doesn't replace the revenue, it's likely going to mean work stoppages and a major renegotiation of the economic landscape. And god help the players if the owners realize that athletes are the only "content" still getting paid like partners. I have a similar local bar here. Delightfully unpopular, by design, it seems. I have a weird sense of loyalty with beer, more than anything else I buy, to the true independent producers. So much so, that when a good local independent brewery is acquired by AB InBev, or whatever, I'll abruptly stop buying it. I've read enough about the ruinous intentions of the big beer companies towards independent brewers. I'm out, the second they get acquired, which has led my to abandon some some beers I like (Wicked Weed, Goose Island, etc.). By and large though, I support independent breweries not on moral grounds but because they literally make a better product, and that often isn't the case in other industries. Almost all innovation in beer comes from the independent breweries. The beer industry is a good example of the total lack of integrity in advertising too. I remember Anheuser Busch running commercials making fun of craft beer and the people who drink craft beer (talk about fratty, btw), while at the same time buying up craft companies (and shamelessly buying up craft hop varieties) to sell more craft beer and corner that market. With their concert venue and stadium deals, you'll notice that it's very hard to get actual craft beer at any larger event. Yet, the good news is that the independent brewing market is still doing pretty well and has a larger market share of beer sales than they have in the past. Anyhow, I think the beer market is a good microcosm of commercialism and corporate malfeasance vs. quality and small business innovation. Keep drinking local/independent! I have similar stories of moving off of favourite crafts. Creemore was a big deal in Ontario in the '90s. By today's standards for 'craft', it was just a very good lager and they were a single offering shop. They were acquired and pretty soon they were just a slightly different version of the big commercial beers with the added bonus of giving me headaches if I had even one. Bye. Same thing happened decades earlier with Kokanee out west. People in Alberta would vacation in the Okanagan and drink nothing but Kokanee for whole time they were there, and then load up the trunk with as many flats as they could hide under their camping equipment. Because it was illegal to transport alcohol over provincial borders back then. Many, many stories of someone's older brother or uncle or grandparents (they were the best because they'd find places to hide flats in campers) getting stopped by the RCMP 100' over the border and getting off with a warning or a small fine...but all the beer was confiscated. My favourite story was the guy who actually got a hefty penalty and so went to court to contest it, and when they read his offense they said he had 48 cans. He was outraged because it had been something like 240. But what are you going to do? It was a running joke that the RCMP patrolling the highways near the borders didn't pay for a beer all year. Lots of stories out there that beer in general is taking a hit. A Forbes story reported a recent poll where only 37% of people called it their first choice, down from close to 50% in the 2000s, and the Brewers Association points to people choosing other kinds of booze as the main factor followed by health and inflation. I have to think that means the Buds of the world are getting squeezed considering that the premise for the story was an apparent end to the insane growth of craft sales. I kind of like the idea of them toppling the monoliths, but that wouldn't happen without consequences for things like distribution. And no one wants to see the loss of all the jobs associated with making, bottling and distributing shitty beer. There was a time that it was one of the best blue collar job paths if you didn't have a trade. One of my friends got his start working for a distributor; another got in with one my all time favourite crafts - Big Rock out of Calgary - when they first started and part of your compensation was 48 bottles a week (unlabelled). Their McNally's Irish Ale was brilliant when it first came out and it would become slightly more alcoholic after bottling so the bottles were labelled "at least 7% abv". So much of the 'innovation' in craft is re-inventing beers that have been around for forever. Not all, but a lot. Man, if you could make it alcoholic by brewing it, people have made beer out of it at some point in history. My girlfriend dabbles in some of the simpler recipes that don't require as many steps and fancy equipment. Makes 4L at a time sort of thing just to see what these things are like. Best one so far is spruce beer made by brewing the tips of spruce boughs. Who'd'a thought?
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Post by Fletcher on Jan 7, 2024 16:07:37 GMT
So much of the 'innovation' in craft is re-inventing beers that have been around for forever. Not all, but a lot. Man, if you could make it alcoholic by brewing it, people have made beer out of it at some point in history. My girlfriend dabbles in some of the simpler recipes that don't require as many steps and fancy equipment. Makes 4L at a time sort of thing just to see what these things are like. Best one so far is spruce beer made by brewing the tips of spruce boughs. Who'd'a thought? ^ The 'innovation' I'm talking about has mostly come in the craft IPA scene, which is my bag. And virtually all of it has come from the small, independent brewer. I don't think a majority of it is re-inventing either -- I think it's mostly new and good. First there was the unfiltering movement, which was really born out of Vermont and brewers like Alchemist, then advanced by Hill farmstead, Tree House, etc. while also taking off on the west coast too. The notion that your beer had to be clean and transparent went straight in the trash, via the craft scene, and then all brewers had to play catch up, with the big boys desperately hazing up their IPAs. Hazy beers have tons of flavor that used to be filtered out. The unfiltered trend leaped into other styles too, like session beers, wild ales, and wheat beers. One of the great discoveries that protected the small craft brewers from big industry copycats, is the one big 'weakness' of hazy unfiltered beers -- they don't ship well. They are best enjoyed fresh, and distribution is a nightmare with all of the settling yeast and unfiltered bits. So, quite literally, the hazy IPA you get at the source (fresh at your local craft brewer) is a lot better than one that gets shipped to your state by the big distributors. It isn't close. AB InBev and other conglomerates have tried like hell to take this market, and they have mostly failed. Fresh beer is something they just can't pivot too very well. Beyond haze and freshness, the innovation in hop varieties has been huge. With the hazy and flavorful New England IPA trend, traditional hops like Cascade and Centennial got passed over for dozens of new or hybridized hop varieties with fruit-tasting oils like Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Galaxy, El Dorado, Nelson, etc. It's a whole new industry and hop farms have sprung up like crazy. Try as they might, AB InBev has not been able to control the supply of these hop varieties, or keep up with it. There have been some really sleazy attempts to buy-up/hoard the entire supply of certain new hop varieties that take off in the craft market, but for the most part, small brewers have been able to pivot, find new growers, and find/hybridize new hops. I would argue that the innovation of the independent craft industry has kept big beer on the ropes (particularly in the IPA market), and it's been a wonderful thing. One consequence, is that I think homebrewing is way, way less appealing than it was 20 years ago. The craft beer now is too good (and the best hops are not easy to get ahold of in tiny batches). 20 years ago you could brew something in your basement, at reasonable expense, which was equal or better than the beer you could buy at your local package store. I don't think that's true anymore, and trying seems like a waste of money. I say just keep buying at the local brewery and rewarding craft beer innovation (when they get it right).
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 8, 2024 16:32:25 GMT
So much of the 'innovation' in craft is re-inventing beers that have been around for forever. Not all, but a lot. Man, if you could make it alcoholic by brewing it, people have made beer out of it at some point in history. My girlfriend dabbles in some of the simpler recipes that don't require as many steps and fancy equipment. Makes 4L at a time sort of thing just to see what these things are like. Best one so far is spruce beer made by brewing the tips of spruce boughs. Who'd'a thought? ^ The 'innovation' I'm talking about has mostly come in the craft IPA scene, which is my bag. And virtually all of it has come from the small, independent brewer. I don't think a majority of it is re-inventing either -- I think it's mostly new and good. First there was the unfiltering movement, which was really born out of Vermont and brewers like Alchemist, then advanced by Hill farmstead, Tree House, etc. while also taking off on the west coast too. The notion that your beer had to be clean and transparent went straight in the trash, via the craft scene, and then all brewers had to play catch up, with the big boys desperately hazing up their IPAs. Hazy beers have tons of flavor that used to be filtered out. The unfiltered trend leaped into other styles too, like session beers, wild ales, and wheat beers. One of the great discoveries that protected the small craft brewers from big industry copycats, is the one big 'weakness' of hazy unfiltered beers -- they don't ship well. They are best enjoyed fresh, and distribution is a nightmare with all of the settling yeast and unfiltered bits. So, quite literally, the hazy IPA you get at the source (fresh at your local craft brewer) is a lot better than one that gets shipped to your state by the big distributors. It isn't close. AB InBev and other conglomerates have tried like hell to take this market, and they have mostly failed. Fresh beer is something they just can't pivot too very well. Beyond haze and freshness, the innovation in hop varieties has been huge. With the hazy and flavorful New England IPA trend, traditional hops like Cascade and Centennial got passed over for dozens of new or hybridized hop varieties with fruit-tasting oils like Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Galaxy, El Dorado, Nelson, etc. It's a whole new industry and hop farms have sprung up like crazy. Try as they might, AB InBev has not been able to control the supply of these hop varieties, or keep up with it. There have been some really sleazy attempts to buy-up/hoard the entire supply of certain new hop varieties that take off in the craft market, but for the most part, small brewers have been able to pivot, find new growers, and find/hybridize new hops. I would argue that the innovation of the independent craft industry has kept big beer on the ropes (particularly in the IPA market), and it's been a wonderful thing. One consequence, is that I think homebrewing is way, way less appealing than it was 20 years ago. The craft beer now is too good (a nd the best hops are not easy to get ahold of in tiny batches). 20 years ago you could brew something in your basement, at reasonable expense, which was equal or better than the beer you could buy at your local package store. I don't think that's true anymore, and trying seems like a waste of money. I say just keep buying at the local brewery and rewarding craft beer innovation (when they get it right). We're lucky to have a store in town that has a terrific selection, though probably not a responsive one in terms of having what's hot at any given moment - new hybrids etc.. We get very small batches because she's making less than 5 gallons of anything at a time - so it's more about the experimenting than it is with brewing for the purposes of reducing how much we buy at the local brewers. We've actually had that conversation a few times because my brain always defaults to the idea that this is supposed to be about having lots of drinkable beer made cheaply (which was the point when I had a bunch of university friends decide they were going to make a mint by making their own beer and selling it to the rest of us at parties). She's made a bunch of things - different kinds of wine, kitchen ales - that have gone down the drain, sacrificed to the process of figuring out the process. When I say "re-inventing" I mean going back to the days before modern filtration was even possible, for example. The story they tell about IPA's being higher in both bitterness and alcohol to survive transport to much warmer India is one of those stories about a beer being what it is out of necessity rather than anything to do with what you enjoy, but now we're perfecting it. There's a nordic kitchen ale where it's meant to be very fresh and you're supposed to scream at the wort or something. But it's brewed for a relatively short time and I think the only filtration is that you're supposed to pour it through juniper boughs.
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Post by islamorada on Jan 8, 2024 17:54:06 GMT
So much of the 'innovation' in craft is re-inventing beers that have been around for forever. Not all, but a lot. Man, if you could make it alcoholic by brewing it, people have made beer out of it at some point in history. My girlfriend dabbles in some of the simpler recipes that don't require as many steps and fancy equipment. Makes 4L at a time sort of thing just to see what these things are like. Best one so far is spruce beer made by brewing the tips of spruce boughs. Who'd'a thought? ^ The 'innovation' I'm talking about has mostly come in the craft IPA scene, which is my bag. And virtually all of it has come from the small, independent brewer. I don't think a majority of it is re-inventing either -- I think it's mostly new and good. First there was the unfiltering movement, which was really born out of Vermont and brewers like Alchemist, then advanced by Hill farmstead, Tree House, etc. while also taking off on the west coast too. The notion that your beer had to be clean and transparent went straight in the trash, via the craft scene, and then all brewers had to play catch up, with the big boys desperately hazing up their IPAs. Hazy beers have tons of flavor that used to be filtered out. The unfiltered trend leaped into other styles too, like session beers, wild ales, and wheat beers. One of the great discoveries that protected the small craft brewers from big industry copycats, is the one big 'weakness' of hazy unfiltered beers -- they don't ship well. They are best enjoyed fresh, and distribution is a nightmare with all of the settling yeast and unfiltered bits. So, quite literally, the hazy IPA you get at the source (fresh at your local craft brewer) is a lot better than one that gets shipped to your state by the big distributors. It isn't close. AB InBev and other conglomerates have tried like hell to take this market, and they have mostly failed. Fresh beer is something they just can't pivot too very well. Beyond haze and freshness, the innovation in hop varieties has been huge. With the hazy and flavorful New England IPA trend, traditional hops like Cascade and Centennial got passed over for dozens of new or hybridized hop varieties with fruit-tasting oils like Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Galaxy, El Dorado, Nelson, etc. It's a whole new industry and hop farms have sprung up like crazy. Try as they might, AB InBev has not been able to control the supply of these hop varieties, or keep up with it. There have been some really sleazy attempts to buy-up/hoard the entire supply of certain new hop varieties that take off in the craft market, but for the most part, small brewers have been able to pivot, find new growers, and find/hybridize new hops. I would argue that the innovation of the independent craft industry has kept big beer on the ropes (particularly in the IPA market), and it's been a wonderful thing. One consequence, is that I think homebrewing is way, way less appealing than it was 20 years ago. The craft beer now is too good (and the best hops are not easy to get ahold of in tiny batches). 20 years ago you could brew something in your basement, at reasonable expense, which was equal or better than the beer you could buy at your local package store. I don't think that's true anymore, and trying seems like a waste of money. I say just keep buying at the local brewery and rewarding craft beer innovation (when they get it right). Capitol Ale House in Fredericksburg Va. visited sometime around 2011 unbelievable in selection of craft beers. At least 50 taps. They had Clown Shoes on tap, a Mass. craft beer.
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Post by dannycater on Jan 8, 2024 19:36:23 GMT
What is this a beer thread or are we all just tired of bashing Jack.
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Post by moognoates on Jan 8, 2024 22:04:09 GMT
We have a thread on beer and a thread on Sophia's outfits. This forum has never been better!
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Post by bookboy007 on Jan 9, 2024 0:52:10 GMT
What is this a beer thread or are we all just tired of bashing Jack. Last time I checked, every NHL game includes three periods and two beer breaks. Beer is 40% of the games; like your average bar rail spirit, the game is 40% ABV.
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Post by MrHulot on Jan 9, 2024 1:15:17 GMT
What is this a beer thread or are we all just tired of bashing Jack. Last time I checked, every NHL game includes three periods and two beer breaks. Beer is 40% of the games; like your average bar rail spirit, the game is 40% ABV. And there we have it, the real reason for Jack Edwards' slowness and slurring of words - BEER!
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Post by dannycater on Jan 9, 2024 2:00:27 GMT
What is this a beer thread or are we all just tired of bashing Jack. Last time I checked, every NHL game includes three periods and two beer breaks. Beer is 40% of the games; like your average bar rail spirit, the game is 40% ABV. I need moonshine
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Post by The OC on Jan 10, 2024 21:19:25 GMT
No, they didn't. There is an element here that most people miss, and you in particular miss with your defense of modern cancelling. You've said in the past an argument I've heard elsewhere of it's "capitalism at work". It's not. It's activism, and that's why it's different. Choosing to buy or not buy a product based on morals and endorsements is as old as time, and yes absolutely practiced by both ends of the political spectrum. There is a strong argument that until this century that sort of thing was much more of a right-wing activity, with companies dropping talent based on moral failings or saying things unacceptable to "families", etc. Generally it works pretty well to keep companies acting how the public wants. What's different about modern cancel activities is that it's often NOT based on consumer demand or audience approval. Mark Hamill (not the guy drafted by the Bruins) uses every second tweet to bash Trump and his followers. That MMA woman changed her pronouns in bio to (Beep/Bop/Boop). One was removed from Star Wars, one was not. Why? Was it because people were going to stop watching? No. The reason is this: wfanet.org/knowledge/diversity-and-inclusion/di-taskforceThe WFA is a body created by the WEF and most large companies are a part of it. As part of joining it, the companies take a pledge to promote certain ideals. DEI is a HUGE part of those ideals, and companies are scored based on criteria such as visibility of under represented groups. A group of high priority to the WFA is transgendered individuals. Advertisers gain cred by including them, and are supposed to advertise with organizations that push the DEI goals of the WFA. So organizations and advertisers are including DEI elements in their content not because their audience wants it or because it will grow their audience, but due to pressure from the WFA and other bodies which use similar tactics. Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev is a member of WFA. The Bud Light Boycott is a particularly interesting case study. It's a blue collar product so using a trans endorsement clearly was not done with their audience in mind. It was done to improve their DEI scoring. However, the trans topic is possibly the single biggest example of the general population feeling disconnect between what is frequently being shown in media and their own feelings/opinions. I know a couple trans people and a couple parents of trans children, but other than them the vast majority of people I know don't honestly, genuinely think someone born with a dick can become an actual woman. People range from politely calling a he2she a woman to be kind/accepting to thinking the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous/insane. It's a prime example of an ideal that has been pushed through lobbying and activism and media/social media manipulation, and as such a powder keg for people when they see it pushed on their beer. What's fascinating and flies in the face of you saying they do these things to grow/satisfy their audience is despite completely plummeting sales, Bud Light has done nothing to appease their audience. They can't, because InBev has signed their pledge to the WFA and will maintain it despite the costs. That's activism at work, and anti-capitalism. On a much lesser scale, the NHL having women and minorities on TV isn't mostly about growing their audience or making it happy. It's definitely not about the best talent. It's about making groups such as the WFA happy and make sure they don't blacklist them for advertising. Personally I kind of like them including women as long as they're good. I grew up watching hockey more with my mom than my dad, my wife watches with me, both my son and daughter are learning to play. It's good it's not a total sausage fest now. Having some black guys on the broadcast I'm sure helps with feelings of inclusion too. But it's mostly about DEI numbers and lobby groups. I'm just going to let this one die here because a) chappy is going to get mad if we keep getting farther and farther from hockey and b) there's too much here that I disagree with even for the length of posts I write. I feel like I just unlocked an XBox achievement! Bleep, *BookboyTtooAnnoyedtoWriteAnEssay* I also agree it's best not to go too far down that rathole, as much as I enjoy such conversations. And I'm also not surprised you disagree with everything, especially that people with penises can be woman. You are Bookthey after all!
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Post by dannycater on Jan 10, 2024 22:11:37 GMT
Last time I checked, every NHL game includes three periods and two beer breaks. Beer is 40% of the games; like your average bar rail spirit, the game is 40% ABV. I need moonshine I still need moonshine especially after long book posts...my eyes get tired...it's like watching Matt Beleskey toward the end of his career...my eyes got tired.
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Post by schlich on Jan 11, 2024 0:52:54 GMT
I'm just going to let this one die here because a) chappy is going to get mad if we keep getting farther and farther from hockey and b) there's too much here that I disagree with even for the length of posts I write. I feel like I just unlocked an XBox achievement! Bleep, *BookboyTtooAnnoyedtoWriteAnEssay* I also agree it's best not to go too far down that rathole, as much as I enjoy such conversations. And I'm also not surprised you disagree with everything, especially that people with penises can be woman. You are Bookthey after all! Yay
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Post by islamorada on Jan 11, 2024 1:38:36 GMT
I'm just going to let this one die here because a) chappy is going to get mad if we keep getting farther and farther from hockey and b) there's too much here that I disagree with even for the length of posts I write. I feel like I just unlocked an XBox achievement! Bleep, *BookboyTtooAnnoyedtoWriteAnEssay* I also agree it's best not to go too far down that rathole, as much as I enjoy such conversations. And I'm also not surprised you disagree with everything, especially that people with penises can be woman. You are Bookthey after all! Well, it is just contextual, a longer understanding you don’t understand, you see. Jack after all is old and his verbiage is not enunciated properly. There we are back onto Jack!
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