A Not-a-Party-Guy Does Brew Year’s Eve
Our night did not start out hopefully. Four of us got out of a hybrid Civic in a dark commuter rail parking lot and tried to board the wrong Metra train. Then we saw the right one across the street on another line and had to run to catch it, which just about did in […]
The Biggest Surprise from Pack Expo 2016
A lot of manufacturers at this November’s Pack Expo had revealed their new craft beer equipment back at CBC. While they were happy to talk about their craft machines, many of which were there on the show floor, they didn’t demonstrate the kind of energy they might have back in the spring when they could […]
Sightings: Craft Beer Has Arrived for Global Manufacturers at Pack Expo 2016
When I walked onto the show floor amid the hum of a thousand spinning and shaking and shuffling machines, I was sure I was in over my head. Over the next four days of Pack Expo 2016, though, I saw something of the complexity and expense involved in beginning to automate your bottle or can […]
Midwest Beers Shine at GABF
The Midwest did itself proud at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. Midwest beers netted 47 medals against some 3,126 total entries across 46 categories. For someone who drinks his fair share of Midwestern beer, it’s no great surprise that we’re producing really good beers, but it’s nice to be recognized for it. I’m from […]
How Revolution’s Recall Will Improve Brand Loyalty
Chicago’s beloved Revolution Brewing recently recalled several brands of their beer. The stated problem was that the beers “exhibit ester or phenolic flavors” more typical of Belgian beers than these styles. They believe a previously undetected wild yeast is to blame and are taking steps to eradicate it from their brewery. It’s an embarrassing, costly event […]
Hillary Gets Her Story Right
In her “closing argument” for last night’s debate, Hillary Clinton may finally have gotten her story pitch right. By “story pitch” I mean the focused marketing narrative Donald Miller describes in his StoryBrand seminars. (Or at least what he’s described in interviews). Miller has founded a whole consulting business on an argument that is deceptively simple: […]
Don’t Fear Disruption in a Fragmented Market
A Networking Parable There I was, a humble beer writer, at the 79th annual convention of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, trying to figure out how to connect to the middle tier of the alcoholic beverage industry. I had come to learn and to meet people, but a convention of over 2,000 people is not […]
An Anti-Marketing Strategy That Gets Great Results
One of my favorite breweries right now is just down the road from me: Sketchbook Brewing Co. in Evanston, IL. For me, there are two main reasons they have been growing like they have. The first is brewing tasty beers that foreground distinctive flavor profiles rather than showy or gimmicky ingredients. The second is developing […]
Three Things I Learned at Brew Talks Chicago 2016
By the time I saw the announcement about tickets for Brew Talks Chicago, I had less than a week to plan childcare with my wife, but I knew I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to rub shoulders with local beer industry folks. Like, literally rub shoulders, as we jostled to get the bar staff’s […]
What’s at Stake in the Steak ’n Shake Name?
When You Give a Writer Time to Think Where I live just north of Chicago, we literally have more restaurant choices than we know what to do with, and most of those are independently owned small business ventures. That means it’s rare that I can’t find a non-fast food chain option when I want to […]