Random Thoughts (this is not a writers block post)

I’m just a guy who loves writing and has slacked off on it a lot lately. Half formed post-ideas are not forming into the full-bodied posts I want.

So here are some random thoughts.

Crown/Matilda Bay

I don’t get why CUB have turned Matilda Bay into a nothing brand and trying to up their “craft” credentials by making Crown Golden Ale. Their launch said they weren’t trying to do that, but I heard comments from Tim Ovadia, from the Marketing Dept at CUB, on radio last week clearly saying that the Golden Ale was aimed at people wanting a stronger tasting beer.

I haven’t tried it to find out if it is a stronger tasting beer but it probably isn’t. Unless someone places one in my hand and there isn’t another beer in my other hand, I doubt I’ll ever drink it.

But why aren’t they using Matilda Bay as their weapon in this fight? What’s the point of having a brand like Matilda Bay, who have some legit beers, and letting it flounder to the backwaters with just scant glimpses of Fat Yak and occasional new pale lager releases.

It’s like they are trying to get their brands to meet in the middle. That shitty middle line that comes from too many focus groups, executives and marketers.

The most confusing things are; they own the tap space, they own a popular “craft” brand (for lack of a better term) and within that brand there are many beloved beers. Most beer lovers will be happy to get an Alpha Pale Ale or Redback on tap. CUB can make that happen by barely moving a muscle.

So why waste their time creating the “I’ve never seen something so doomed” Crown Golden Ale?

Exile

I’ve been fairly isolated from new Aussie/Kiwi releases lately. Somewhat of a self imposed exile while I load up my cellar with Belgian sours from wherever I can find them (such a cliche beer geek thing to do, but fuck it, I have lots of Cantillon).

It’s weird being so ingrained in the scene (with a podcast and doing Pouring in Melbourne, that we have launched an app for recently – see below) but being quite far away.

In a time with so many new releases and new breweries from all over our fair lands I can barely tell you what is out there and good.

There has also been an influx of US brands coming in as grey imports. I haven’t been buying any of those (along with the legitimately sourced beers) either.  This isn’t some stance on grey vs legit, but rather I don’t really love the risks involved in buying imported IPAs and pales and I’m not the world’s biggest imperial stout fan (feels good to get that off my chest); so right now I feel really out of the loop.

Here I am stomping round like I know something and I haven’t even been to the new Moondog brewery bar yet.

Pouring in.. and Now Tapped

So keen eyed beer lovers will have noticed we launched an app for Pouring In…  (android only at this stage) and at the same time a similar service launched called Now Tapped. We met up with the guys just to clear the air so there wasn’t a weird rivalry there or anything. Nice guys and they’ve built a solid platform.

Ours is a bit different and we plan on taking Pouring In… down the path of being a curated guide to the best places for a beer in the city (for now only Melbourne but expansion plans to come).

Working in conjunction with the twitter accounts, rather than strictly up to the minute taplists, it’s based around knowing what is good and being able to find all the information you need for that venue.

Also having the option for users and ourselves to update based on photos/screen shots sourced from social media or existing taplists, means we don’t need to rely on the venues themselves to update.

We plan to slowly chip away and improve it where we can.

That horrible term “bubble”

I just know somewhere right now someone is speculating on the craft beer bubble bursting.

Today, after only four months, a restaurant owned by a celebrity chef, backed by another celebrity chef (and partners) has closed down.

Is anyone asking if the good food bubble is bursting?