tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post5366946309599390409..comments2023-09-20T12:50:40.208+01:00Comments on Pete Brown: The Big BoysAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03011702209832734676noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-30802864349915882082010-07-29T03:55:45.774+01:002010-07-29T03:55:45.774+01:00One way you can screw up a brand like Johnnie Walk...One way you can screw up a brand like Johnnie Walker is to spell the name wrong...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-19833945077925368692010-07-12T17:34:16.189+01:002010-07-12T17:34:16.189+01:00Happy birthday! :)Happy birthday! :)Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03075616729566415696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-89559473977822204052010-07-12T03:52:32.128+01:002010-07-12T03:52:32.128+01:00I'd go further than Tandleman and suggest that...I'd go further than Tandleman and suggest that AB InBev don't like the on-trade very much. Their way of operating comes from markets where the vast majority of sales is packaged beer and that's what they're comfortable with.Rob Sterowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870233673933087794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-62386786788176652822010-07-09T16:12:32.689+01:002010-07-09T16:12:32.689+01:00Mild Pedantry...
Isnt Red Stripe a W&Y brand ...Mild Pedantry...<br /><br />Isnt Red Stripe a W&Y brand in the UK?<br /><br />Chris<br />xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-65547794969642512142010-07-07T20:59:11.165+01:002010-07-07T20:59:11.165+01:00Molson Coors are engaging the craft beer world. I ...Molson Coors are engaging the craft beer world. I too might be biased having benefited from their hospitality, but they are currently the only ones who take the whole of the beer world seriously. There are many brewers, big and small, who do not do that.<br /><br />As for AB InBev, I just wish I knew how to tear them apart like you do.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11319272987951077205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-24406107484488312702010-07-06T21:39:32.856+01:002010-07-06T21:39:32.856+01:00I wouldn't dismiss a beer just because it was ...I wouldn't dismiss a beer just because it was made by a big brewer but you can't escape the fact that they're all mostly shit, even if some are a bit less shit than others.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13844169940650659196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-21305199105683341352010-07-06T21:17:32.435+01:002010-07-06T21:17:32.435+01:00Given its profile at Glastonbury (along with more,...Given its profile at Glastonbury (along with more, better kept ale than ever before, to give workers beer their due) my feeling is carlsberg are trying to "do a becks" with tuborg, so have carlsberg for footie and tuborg for the, ahem, cool kids...CarsmileStevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10569787692912613393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-68013528652036745182010-07-06T19:35:57.929+01:002010-07-06T19:35:57.929+01:00Indeed, Martyn - Holsten was once a well-respected...Indeed, Martyn - Holsten was once a well-respected premium brand in the UK, because it was different from the mainstream. It is now reduced to being a low-end branded commodity 5% lager one step up from own brands.<br /><br />In other fields (specifically the car industry) it is often felt that bread-and-butter products gain a "halo" effect from the same manufacturer producing high-end, aspirational models. It could be said this happens in the whisky market too, but it doesn't seem to to any extent with beer. If a particular mega-brewer was seen to be "interested in beer" - as, arguably, InBev once were - it would have the potential to percolate through the rest of their range, especially if journalists kept writing "MegaBrewCorp do actually produce some pretty good products".Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-40732519450597884262010-07-06T18:34:01.097+01:002010-07-06T18:34:01.097+01:00Insightful analysis, Pete, as usual: one point abo...Insightful analysis, Pete, as usual: one point about the mega-brewers, from my experience of observing them over two decades, one of the biggest problems is the way brand managers get rotated in and out of a brand every two or three years, each new seatwarmer determined to make his/her mark and boost his/her career up the corporate pole, and each coming out with some fresh fuckwittery that ultimately is more likely to damage the brand than promote it. I remember watching aghast in the mid-1990s as Holsten, really quite OK for a mainstream lager, was wrecked by a new BM who thought that by tweaking the recipe for the UK so the beer would taste more like its rivals, he could improve sales. What happened, of course, was that Holsten loyalists stopped drinking the new beer because they didn't like the change, and drinkers of rival beers failed to move over to take their place: bye bye Holsten.Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-37882628370043983912010-07-06T17:07:00.856+01:002010-07-06T17:07:00.856+01:00For some reason this is one of my favorite beer bl...For some reason this is one of my favorite beer blog posts of the year and I almost didn't read it because it was about the big boys.<br /><br />I don't really have anything to add but nice work.<br /><br />MattMattnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-84888521574800820922010-07-06T16:51:26.234+01:002010-07-06T16:51:26.234+01:00I love the Stella "only contains four ingredi...I love the Stella "only contains four ingredients advert. Does that mean when it only contained <i>three</i> ingredients it was a better beer? <br /><br />Surely not what they mean??mentaldentalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15226160741245530097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-32872109370789415862010-07-06T16:08:24.429+01:002010-07-06T16:08:24.429+01:00Good piece, interesting points, it needs to be sai...Good piece, interesting points, it needs to be said, it’s not a level playing field of evil — I remember the Jacobsen brands, they were good (got them to a Guild dinner), were sold in Sainsbury’s but then vanished; while from my own dealings with SAB-Miller (or their ad company) in the past there was almost a complacency (a bit like some German brewers can be about their beers) about its legendary status and as you say they kept doing relaunches — and the fact that they brew it in Poland as well is a serious own goal and shows a right lack of understanding. From the original source indeed…I’ll still drink and enjoy it though but I do wish I had taken more notice of it when drinking it in the early 1980s.ATJhttp://maltworms.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-4009075622150211832010-07-06T13:42:31.505+01:002010-07-06T13:42:31.505+01:00Fascinating. I always find it interesting to see h...Fascinating. I always find it interesting to see how Carlsberg is perceivcd in the UK, because in Denmark (at least in Denmark when I was there 2002-2005), it was actually pretty interesting. It had the boutique ranges that you mention, but also ran a national contest for the Danes to decide its next product from a line-up of 4. Carls Dark won, and it was a welcome change on the taps in the country.N Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14436151448525539734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-88283115594238314822010-07-06T13:33:25.896+01:002010-07-06T13:33:25.896+01:00It certainly seems at times to be de rigeur to bas...It certainly seems at times to be de rigeur to bash the big breweries, without paying any regard to the fact that the majority of them are products of their time, when mass production was all the rage regardless of industry. <br /><br />With regard to SABMiller, I find it sad what has become of Pilsner Urquell since they took the reins, and I speak as someone who enjoyed the occasional pint of Prazdroj before SABMiller took over. It seriously is not as good as it used to be, probably a result of cutting the lagering time in half. In the right place at the right time it is still head and shoulders above the vast majority of mass produced lagers, though I would contend it needs to be the unpasteurised "tankove" version to attain such heights.<br /><br />I get the feeling though that all of us have, in our previous non-craft beer existence, loved a beer from one of the big boys and like the jilted lover we become, we have nothing good to say about our former tipple, for fear of re-igniting an old flame. Analogy getting out of hand there, time to stop.Alistair Reecehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929927359428659775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-41056602709529689302010-07-06T12:30:18.252+01:002010-07-06T12:30:18.252+01:00Really good summary Pete, but it doesn't half ...Really good summary Pete, but it doesn't half make you think back to the days when "our" big brewers were British and had some understanding of the different beer market Britain was to the rest of the world. Allied used to be good at that with its Firkins, Walkers on Merseyside and HP&D in the Midlands.<br /><br />The world has changed a fair bit, but there is surely scope to get under our skin a bit better and offer at least a nod to the craft and cask beer revival as Molson Coors are doing?<br /><br />On the other hand it is maybe better to leave them to what they do best? Big brand lager for them and craft beer for others, with volume cask from a select number of others. No blurred lines and false dawns? Yes maybe that's it. Damn.That's what we have now. I knew there was a flaw somewhere.<br /><br />Oh and Caley ruined their beer before anyone else got their hands on it. IMO.Tandlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06804499573827044693noreply@blogger.com