American lager temperatures

A-B has a vested interest in making sure that its products are delivered and served in as optimal a manner as is possible to ensure, and that includes quality control by its reps and distributors at the point of sale.

It *is* served at a proper temperature FOR THE STYLE - the style being American Light Lager, typically served at palate-numbingly cold temperatures.

What "proper lager temperatures" did you have in mind?

Although both Oregon and Washington states have three-tier systems, small breweries in both states are also allowed to sell their products on a retail B2C basis, and are allowed to self-distribute as well, bypassing the middle distribution layer of the three tiers. This is not limited to brewpubs. I know of several breweries where I can take my own corny keg, party pig, growler, or similar container to be filled and sold to me directly; these are production operations, not brewpubs. Some of these operations will also sell me bottled beer to go, as well.

In the main, you're probably right, though. I've seen A-B branded bars in some U.S. airports, and suspect that it's some kind of brand licensing deal between an independent operator and A-B, so that A-B gets around no-direct-ownership laws. But in Portland, OR's airport, local brewpubs have their own outlets and are allowed to sell product there, making it possibly the most craft-brew friendly airport in the country.

I am certain there are taverns across the country who only sell A-B products. As such they get significant support from A-B via their distributor. I knew a tavern owner who had A-B in his bar, but sold whatever thru his package goods store that was part of the tavern. He told me he got most of his equipment either free or heavily dicounted via his distributor. For the record, I see nothing improper in that.

Dick

yedyegiss wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

Well, now I have a reason to visit Portland....or at least the airport.

If you like good beer at all, Portland ranks pretty high on the A-list of beer-friendly cities in the USA. Lots of of breweries and brewpubs, and some great pub and restaurant venues as well, including a fine- dining place, Higgins, that has as good a beer list as its wine list.

Combine it with a visit to Seattle and places in between (Vancouver WA has some breweries and a killer bottle shop right next door to the Salmon Creek Brewing Co brewpub, Olympia has a couple, Tacoma has Harmon Brewing and Engine House #9 Pizza Co brewpubs, and there's more, and ... it can all be done with the train!), and you've got one of the best beer-touring trips in the USA.

It's also a similar model to more recent times, when A-B attempted to levy its "100% share of mind" campaign on its distributors, exhorting them to concentrate exclusively on their A-B brand family to the exclusion of anything else. The campaign was a colossal failure, in part because even A-B gave up on it when they went outside of their usual boundaries and became the U.S. importer for InBev and Budvar (under its USA-only "Czechvar" moniker), and in part because many distributors didn't want to give up the growth and margin opportunities available with so many non-A-B brands, particularly craft brews and imports. There are exceptions, of course; A-B's Seattle-area distributor is still an exclusively A-B-brand-family house, for instance. I think Cindy McCain's distributorship in Phoenix is also exclusively A-B.

A-B owns very few beer-serving venues, mainly because there are laws against it in much of the country. The probable exceptions are the beer concessions at the Busch Gardens theme parks, although A-B might have to work around the law by having these venues run by "independent" concessionaires. The menus at all of these places state that beers available are exclusively "Anheuser-Busch beverages."

Is there a more beer-friendly beer city in the US than Portland? I think not.

That statement is way too Beer Barney for my tastes.

Believe it or don't, but many food items are made with a particular serving temperature or temperature range in mind. Try eating cold lamb stew complete with congealed fat sometime. You'll get the point. Similarly, if you take a tour of a Bud factory you'll get the opportunity to try some of the beers they brew. They most assuredly will serve it to you at the temperature they feel is most appropriate. If you then told them they were serving their beer at the "wrong" temperature I suspect they would not react well.

That depends. If they responded as if they were admonishing a particularly errant and misbehaving child, I'd consider that "well." Mildly derisive laughter tainted with sarcasm would also work.

It's up there, but I don't have a problem with Seattle either. Last night was a good case in point: Harviestoun's Ola Dubh, Flyer's Sick Duck '07 and '08, Deschutes Abyss '08, Cantillon 50N 4E, Baird Brewing's Yuzu ale, Reunion Red Rye, Reunion Imperial Brown, and Sierra Nevada Monorail, as well as a taste of the missus's Kasteel Rouge (mmm, Luuuuuden's). Not at all a bad evening out.

But Portland continues to shine: Hopworks Urban Brewery, Bailey's Tap Room, and on it goes. Every time I go to PDX, a new surprise awaits. Now I see there's a nostalgia-tinged event coming up: the Produce Row Cafe's 30th anniversary bash. Should I go there and point out that the place has been around longer than that? Nah. I should go there and enjoy the festivities, and see if the old Canadian and German beer bottles and cans that I put in the display cabinet are still there. They were last time I looked, a couple of years ago. I put them in the cabinet in 1977.