Arizona brewery president says local bars are not supporting local beer
Patrick Fields, president of Old World Brewery at 25th Avenue near Van Buren Street in Phoenix, said more beer could be sold with growlers. But he worries that popular out-of-state brands such as Bend, Ore.-based Deschutes Brewery and the major breweries will continue to dominate regional taps. "We can’t get the local bars and restaurants here to put local beer on tap," he said. "The main brands own the real estate on taps." He said he is considering a Southern California location where craft beer is more popular.
via AZCentral.com.
I understand where theyre coming from, however just being local doesnt mean you deserve draft lines. The quality has to be there also and from a quick look at Beer Advocate reviews it looks like Old World Brewery has a little bit of work to do before their beer is ready to dominate the beer scene
Being local is only part of the story. Customers must also want to buy the beer.
I see tons of local AZ beers with tap handles throughout the Valley such as 4 Peaks, SanTan, Papago, Sun Up, Sonoran, Mudshark, Barrio, College Street, Phoenix Ale, Borderlands, Thunder Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Lumberyard. I see limited local tap handles from Nimbus, Oak Creek, and Old World. I’m sure there is a logical reason for that, maybe something Gravy stated earlier…
I invite everyone to read the whole piece and decide whether Patrick speaks for the entirety of the AZ Beer Scene.
On the heels of a recent closure at the hands of the health department, Patrick Fields probably should have kept his thoughts to himself about whatever move he has in mind as his statements have only fomented more derision toward his business than already existed. With that aside, though, this is probably the most abstract and untruthful conclusion possible to have taken from the article.
Sure, Arizona’s craft beer scene isn’t yet on the level of Portland, but it’s also not on the level of Mobile and consumer demand and accommodation from craft friendly on-premise accounts are among the least of our concerns right now. (Chief among the problems of our rapidly growing craft industry is quality control, but that’s another story.)
Anyway, in the year Four Peaks Brewery, which distributes exclusively in Arizona, broke into the top 50 US craft breweries by sales volume, (a feat matched by only a handful of California and Texas breweries which distribute to a much larger in-state populace), it’s hard to make an argument that Arizona craft beer bars and consumers aren’t supporting their local brewers.
Isn’t this the same brewery that was shut down by the board of health, for more than 15 different violations, including rat feces near the stored malt? But it is the bigger craft breweries that are keeping him out of the market? Yeah, right! Any distributor in his or her right mind wouldn’t touch this brand with a ten foot pole.
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Patrick Fields’ opinions don’t count. Nor does his incredibly substandard product line. His inevitable exit from our state and it’s craft brew market will gather no swarming crowd begging him for a change of heart. Nor will it create a stir within his own establishment’s fold of regulars – or even in this economy, within the ranks of his own employees. There will be no weeping, no gnashing of teeth or even mild confusion. The only eulogy will be the snap of the shackle-bolt on the chain at his front door as his establishment is closed forever and relocates to a market that will more than likely slap him back to reality and show him that success in this industry relies on eclipsing substandard competitors with actual quality products and by keeping threats of relocation and turncoat rhetoric at a minimum while looking at the bigger picture and wondering why not even one of his offerings can break the 32% mark on Ratebeer or rise above the 2.72 mark on BeerAdvocate.
It’s time to face facts, Mr. Fields, you need to reconsider your entire brewing philosophy, bud. Apparently nobody has worked up the balls to tell you why you’re not being offered tap space in establishments around town… you’re cranking out crap and nobody feels comfortable selling it to their patrons.
Seriously, Patrick Fields must be already living in lala land. The reason his product isn’t supported is the quality. It’s got nothing to do with out of state competition. The recent health department closure of his facility should have been a wake up call to him on why his beer tastes like rat feces. Arizona bars and customers fully support the local craft brewers, that is the ones that are making good beer, which apparantly Patrick Fields hasn’t figured out yet. Four Peaks alone is selling 40,000 barrels of beer a year just in Arizona, not a drop of it goes out of state. That is support. For the Health Department to actually close down his place for a couple of weeks tells you that his sanitatiation practices are horrible. What kind of a responsible brewer would allow the possiblility of rat feces to get into your beer and why would anyone who knows that the health department shut them down ever drink their beer? Sorry Mr. Fields, but supporting local only goes so far. I’ll support Four Peaks, Papago, Sun Up, San Tan, Phoenix Ale, Sonoran and even Sleepy Dog before you. Go to California and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
You need a new marketing team it sounds like. I’ve never seen you guys do any tastings down south in Tucson. Everyone is willing to support a local brew if you can produce something worthwhile.
It’s not a marketing team they need. They need to learn about sanitation, sanitation and sanitation first and foremost. Then they need to replace all their rodent dropping infested grain with fresh grain. Fire the brewer. Clean their brewing system. Develop new recipes and then get a new President who isn’t insane. Replace him with a mutant that can tell that Mirror Pond tastes better than rodent crap and that is the reason it gets put on tap instead of his beer..
It would be easier to just stick a fork in it. Change names and move to California where no one know’s who you are.