Quench Your Thirst

Finally, some beer news in the media.  First of all, AB-InBev is reporting a decline in revenue largely based on slower than predicted sales in Brazil.  This is somewhat interesting to me since Brazil and South America are among the driving forces in the growth of the global beer market.  This emerging market is a critical lynch pin and if there’s issues there, could it be the sign of more to come - Let’s hope not because this will affect us all.  It could also be due to the growth of the micro beer market down there.  Should be interesting to watch.

The more fascinating story to me is the fact that Miller has pulled the distribution rug of Miller in Canada from under MolsonCoors.  Not really sure of what’s going on here but it’s fun to speculate.  Miller and MolsonCoors have a joint distribution business in the U.S - how will this affect that relationship?  Not well - I would think.

Moreover - if MGD and any of the other Miller brands move from Molson, that is a big share and volume hit.  Now here comes the big question - who is going to be awarded with the distribution rights?  Will SAB Miller set up it’s own business model in Canada?  Will MGD go over to Mark Anthony Brands who are already selling Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell and Peroni?  What happens to the Leinenkugel brands which were rumored to be coming to Six Pints this year?

The beer industry has been relatively quiet for the past few years - looks like that could change very shortly.

Cheers

While I was in Scotland last week, I enrolled in the Scotch Whisky Experience full day training program.  The school is housed in an old school building situated just outside the gates to the Edinburgh Castle.  The facility receives over 2 million guests a year (mainly for the tour and tasting components) but they have developed a wonderful training program for the industry.

The trainer, Lenka was excellent.  She had a thorough knowledge of her subject matter, was engaging and well paced.  It was indeed a very full day with a variety of topics and interactive events.  After this course, I felt well prepared to visit the distilleries.

All in all, I came away with the another insight into my being….that is - I have this huge burning desire to a) learn and b) share my knowledge with others.  It has been said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to others.  I’m not sure I’ve always had this intense drive but I am sure that Dean Nadon and the rest of the team at Oland Specialty Beer Co. (including our brewmaster Bill White) ignited the fire within me and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Cheers

This past week, I was fortunate enough to have spent my days traveling around Scotland in the search of whisky knowledge.  One of my clients asked me to explore the whisky world and quite frankly, it was an eye-opening experience.

First of all, Scotland is a true marvel to behold.  The landscape is nothing short of spectacular.  Secondly, the complexity and diversity of whisky is somewhat mind boggling.  I do admit that I enjoy the splendors of the other malt based liquid - perhaps a little more than I should.

This was a whirlwind adventure - arriving in Edinburgh on Saturday, February 16th and leaving Dublin on Monday, February 25th seemed to go by in a blur.  All in all, I visited 5 distilleries in 4 major scotch regions and quite frankly you would think that in such a relatively small country, this is a doable feat.  Not so quick my friends!  The roads are windy and narrow and the times between distilleries were often 3-4 hours.  The weather was brilliant (blue skies every day- yes in Scotland) and the food was wonderful - although the breakfast choices started to wear on me - one can eat eggs, bacon, beans, blood pudding only so much.

Upon my return, I was as always grateful to call Canada my home and more importantly I cherished the feeling of comfort putting my feet on Canadian soil.  Dorothy was right….there is no place like home!

Now…to the above title - I, reluctantly tell you that I think that although I love the opportunity to explore the world of beer and now whisky, I really am a home body.  I love sleeping in my own bed, cooking in my kitchen and eating the foods that I chose.  I love picking my clothes out of a closet, not a suitcase.  I love driving my car on the roads of Ontario and the rest of Canada and I love what I do (more about this tomorrow) - it was nice to get back into the classroom this week.

As much as I preach that change is good, I think that I like controlled change.  I suppose that as I get older, I become a little more resistant to changes in my day-to-day life. 

It’s good to be back - more tomorrow and all next week

Cheers

Everyone is talking about the explosion of the beer industry in British Columbia - The micro / craft beer market is on fire and it is showing in the rate of registrations in our Prud’homme classes that we launched earlier this week.

As of today, we have had 8 registrations for three different classes and that is simply outstanding.

I can speak for myself and also for Ken (our west coast beer educator) that we truly appreciate the enthusiasm.  Ken has worked extremely hard on creating partnerships with Steam Works Brewing and also Vancouver Island Brewing to secure locations for our classes.

Let’s keep this ball of education rolling - I for one have been waiting 15 years for this kind of passion in the industry.

Cheers

We are finally able to offer Prud’homme Beer Certification to beer enthusiasts in the Vancouver and Victoria areas.

Ken Beattie has worked very hard to secure locations at Steamworks Brew Pub and Vancouver Island Brewery.

Classes will start in March at both locations and the second set of classes will be in April.

You can register at www.beercertificate.ca

Look for more class times in the near future.

Cheers

I am very proud to announce that as of February 7, 2013, Prud’homme Beer Certification® Level 2-Beer Specialist is now available as an online program.  Registration can be completed at www.beercertificate.ca

This unique program will have an online format followed by a two day in class sensory session that will include tutored tastings of many different beer styles, a comprehensive draught workshop, a cooking with beer / beer dinner event.

Please join me on our journey of discovery

Cheers

Normally, I would to do this tomorrow but I can’t get this out of my head.

I’m enjoying a great Super Bowl right now but I am somewhat disturbed by the new Bud Light ad.

First of all, I spend a lot of my time and energy trying to convince people that big brewers are not automated factories.  Thanks to the new Bud Light Platinum ad, we can kiss that thought goodbye - somehow some idiot thought it would be a good idea to portray the production of beer as robotic.  Nice work!

Secondly - triple filtered - really?  Who cares?  MGD has been boasting about this for decades.

Thirdly - Platinum? 6%? Now - I’m really confused.  Isn’t platinum supposed to be your best?  What happened to Budweiser?  Next - if it’s Bud Light - what happened to the concept of light?  Isn’t Light supposed to 4% ABV or less.

I’m sorry - I try very hard to be unbiased but this is just downright tripe.

Cheers

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of celebrating the great beers of Ontario.

To mark that prestigious milestone, we are proud to announce a brand, spanking new website for the awards http://www.ontariobrewingawards.com/

It’s got all kinds of great stuff on it including photos and winners of past years.  This year we are also opening up a smaller judging competition for home brewers - so tell your buddy who is a fan of brewing to get his batch of IPA or British Pale Ale ready for April.

The gala awards night this year is at The Gladstone Hotel on Tuesday, April 30th.  Check out the site to get tickets.

More on this great way of applauding our wonderful Ontario brewers in the coming weeks.

Cheers

It seems like we live in a love / hate relationship most of our lives.  For example, the negative comments about the spoiled babies in the NHL was rampant for months and yet, many people are now flocking back to the rinks.  Personally, hockey at this point in time doesn’t hold my interest in the least.

There’s a big love/hate going on in the beer biz - you know….big brewer / small brewer and the funny thing is that it goes both ways.

My big issue at this time of year is technology.  I am so amazed at where tech has come from and where it is going to that for most of the time it makes my head spin.  I have to admit that I am not a tech toy kind of guy - no games or apps for me thank you very much - my phone is for making calls and making sure I can see emails and make my appointments on time.  I do like the ability to catch up on Twitter though (no..I do not check it every 30 minutes).

What is currently driving me crazy (although I know the outcome will be amazing) is working on getting my second level of Prud’homme online.  I’ve been working like a dog to get this edited and published and have missed my self imposed deadlines on at least 3 occasions.  I’m not really upset at that because they are self imposed and sometimes, it’s tough to manage all the other things in the business and still work on the development part of the program.  However, I am getting really pissed when technology holds me up - in this case - updates to technology.  The system I am using recently went through an update and that is a good thing because very soon, my programs will be available on tablets.  There have been a series of little glitches which delay my progress.

So….the bottom line is that level 2 Prud’homme will be available online mid to late next week - my apologies to all of you who are waiting with baited breath.

Next week I am going to start posting my tasting notes again.  I’ve been given several beers from far away places by my students and I want to share my experiences with you.

Cheers

Have you ever noticed that the way you walk says a lot about how you are in life?

I see a lot of people sauntering.  Maybe this is a good thing.  Does this portray a devil-may-care , a feeling on non-chalance, a I’ll get around to it when I damn please attitude?

I also see quite a few folks moving at a rapid pace - not necessarily hurrying - but with a purpose, almost as though life was moving too fast and we needed to keep up with it.  Of course, it could be that it has been unbearably cold in the past few weeks.

Here’s my dilemma - I’m the guy with some urgency and maybe it’s because as I age, I lose some of my patience and willingness to just see how things end up.  So, what drives just a little bit batty is when I am walking, quite often groups of people take up the entire sidewalk, hallway etc and they saunter.  Should we as pedestrians figure out a way for a fast lane?  It works on escalators!  People stand to the right to allow us impatient types the opportunity to move on.

So, some friendly advise….you and your friends should start paying attention to the world around you and perhaps consider that others don’t necessarily share your pace of life.  Oh yeah -please do not walk and text at the same time -slows the pace - step off to the side and answer your important text or email message properly.

Sorry for the rant - the college instructor gig ends up rearing its ugly head from time to time.

Cheers