(Milton, DE) – Dogfish Head Founder and President, Sam Calagione, had a bunch of interesting things to say in a recent interview with the Better Beer Authority podcast…
On new Brewers Association role…Calagione revealed that he will be named the next Brewers Association Board of Directors Chairman (note: he actually referred to the role as the “Chairmanship of the Brewers Association” though I’m presuming he means the BA Board of Directors Chairman). F.X. Matt Brewing Co. Chairman and CEO, Nick Matt, assumed the role in 2010 and it is a two-year term.
Calagione noted that he has been on the Board and committees for nine years (he is the youngest person to be named to the Board according to the bio section of his book). Calagione said of the new role that he will be just as focused on growing craft breweries in the U.S. as a whole as he will be growing Dogfish Head. After serving these next two years, he says he will likely “unwind” from his role at the BA to focus more on his family (more specifically, his kids for the next 5-6 years until they go to college).
The Brewers Association is expected to announce the new Board seats officially in March.
On a big craft beer industry risk…says one of the bigger risks facing craft breweries today (more than proliferating breweries and SKUs) is the quasi-craft beers like Blue Moon and Shock Top. “Frankly, I get very concerned when seeing a Blue Moon or a Shock Top growing because they don’t have the same challenges as an independent family-owned business. They don’t have the same access to market challenges or the same access ingredient challenges. So when they go into a retailer and charge $30 less for a keg but tell the retailer that they can charge the same as Dogfish Head or Lagunitas or whatever, that is not a karmic playing field. I want to see large brewers not lose market share but I want to see the small breweries own [the market share of] what defines a craft brewery.”
On recent comments made on Beer Advocate…the interviewer asks, “Are the people on [the Beer Advocate] forum beating the fun out of beer? Is there a point where you take it too seriously?” Calagione: “I think so. I do think of all our beers as children and it’s hard to think of your children getting beat up. I felt it when I saw the names of The Bruery, Sam Adams, Stone, Rogue and the others on this list. I know what passion these guys bring to what they do. What is ironic is that there is this perception that as you grow, you become less cool and less relevant. Even though we have 1/15th of 1% of market share.”
“90% of the Beer Advocate community is awesome and is doing God’s work in putting craft breweries like Dogfish Head, and particularly smaller now, on the national radar of good beer. There is that minority component of eating their young yet they weren’t even parents when the craft beer movement started. […] I look at when these people joined the community (the start date of when they were on it) and they say negative things about our beer and wait a second…Indian Brown Ale was an opaque, super hoppy, proto-Black IPA in ’96. We have been doing Immort Ale since ’95. We did our first wild ale, Festina Lente, eight or nine years ago. I feel like maybe these folks don’t have the context to see the contributions our brewery made before they got inro our community, probably before they were 21, so I don’t hold that against them. I want to inform them on what our path through the industry was.”
Other notes…Calagione says they have a line item on their books called “Damaged/dated goods” which is a $200,000 or $300,000 item each year. He estimates that they have dumped $100,000 of beer in the past six months…on Noble Rot, Calagione says they shipped $62,000 of grape must shipped coast to coast for the production of that beer…on changing Delaware liquor laws, says it was possible because of the small size of Delaware. He could just go to a Senator’s door and knock, something he may not be able to do in a big city like a Boston or a New York.
I don’t really get why these guys can’t just say “Lots of people like our product, some people won’t, I don’t really care.” The fact that it seems to bother them that some people don’t like their product, and, GASP, express that fact, is beyond asinine. It makes me think that while Sam can run a business and brew crazy-ass beer, he’s not actually all that bright.
I agree with Sam that many of the commenters on BA are young and uninformed tickers that just chase the latest rare and hyped up beers. However, can he really blame the users of the site and not say a thing about how poorly it is run by the Alstrom’s? They do a terrible job of moderating the forums and have been active in banning long-time users simply for being critical. You want a professional and informed discussion of beer, then run the forums in that fashion.
Good going Sam I see guys trashing beers on BA that do not deserve it. I think allot of problems come from style guideline’s. I make beers that do not conform to typical style guideline’s and I get people that give me grief about that. I can make a classic IPA all day long but doesn’t everyone make that! It will take a few years for the public to accept the taste for originality.
@Harlan how do you find this connection to be style guidelines? Look at the top 100 beers rated on Beer Advocate or Rate Beer. I’d hardly call that a conformity to style.
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“However, can he really blame the users of the site and not say a thing about how poorly it is run by the Alstrom’s? They do a terrible job of moderating the forums and have been active in banning long-time users simply for being critical. You want a professional and informed discussion of beer, then run the forums in that fashion.”
This is absolutely correct Rob. These guys, and Todd’s foul-mouthed wife, are doing no good for the “movement”. To be fair though, I think Jason has little to actually do with the site. When people get banned for posting opinions of them on other sites, that is going a little too far. When people are getting banned for being critical of AB-Inbev, while Candice can blatantly call Clown Shoes racist, sexist, bigots then something is very amiss. I’m not sure how they can keep advertisers with the way they run their business. And yes, it is a business. But trying telling Todd that. I wish Sam would have held them a bit more accountable for the way the scene is now, as they are the main perpetrators to this whole new attitude. And it seems Joe over at RB seems to bend to their will as well. Although he likes to toe the line for his users and keep the Alstroms (I won’t put the ö in there, as they were born in a country that doesn’t use them) happy.
via Bierfesten:
I think Sam is great for the craft industry but saying macro craft is bad is a bit short sighted . More people drinking blue moon or shock top will only increase the craft beer presence. Like saying Yellowtail wine is not wine.
Good article.
To be honest I dont blame him for his comments. I own a beer bar and we get alot of ratebeer guys most are great, but some dont give a crap about the beer or the effort put into the pub or atmoshere.
They could have the best beer ever made take to sips and leave and never drink the same beer again.How are you supposed to get the most out of a great stout of barley wine if you dont drink the whole glass and find out how it changes when it warms or exposed to oxigen. They dont support well made beer as return customers and if it could come from a vending machine they would buy it there.this is why brewers and pub owners are some times skeptical of beer tickers.
I dont believe crap beer should be rewarded but great beer should.
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