Packaging and information on said packaging on the vast majority of beers need a lot of improvement. There’s a dearth of pertinent consumer information that should be included, which is not, and there’s info on the beers that’s not pertinent, yet there it is.

Is your packaging leading people to your brand - or away from it?

A case = flat of 4 – 6 pack of 12 ounce bottles (granted cans would be much better) and the entire set up was worth reading completely – so I did.

Here’s what Abita has done right.

1. Clear easy to read text and font. Not over crowded or too small, fancy or otherwise difficult to read.
2. Flavor Profile – YES!!!! Color scale, Hops scale, Yeast info, Malt and water notes.
3. Food Pairing  - I can’t stress enough that this is a million dollar idea. Why wouldn’t a brewery include food pairings AND recipes on their packaging?? This should be standard practice.
4. Brief description of the kind of beer and a the few sentences are easy for everyone to understand and not technical (which isn’t very important to most average consumers). Save the technical info for your website.
5. “Beer doesn’t grow on trees.” – Environmental comments on the businesses responsibility factor.
6. A list of all their beers = nice optional info. If they like one, then they’ll look for others your list. Make it easy for them to ask for your beers by name.
7. A list of avenues to connect with Abita. Sharing how the consumers can get a hold of the brand is critical. Communication and availability of information is more important all the time with consumers.
8. A small map of where the brewery is located. They utilized all sides of the packaging they’re already buying and printing on. Use them all – you’re paying for the whole thing, right?

Take a nod and provide plenty of information to the consumer in your packaging. You’ll get more brand buying, more brand buy in and happier customers. Which should make for a happier and more successful business.

Cheers Abita – this Purple Haze is to you!

Happy Anniversary!

What is a big deal is that after 3 + years of Women Enjoying Beer progress, it’s encouraging to still see new women in the community where I live ‘discover’ WEB and want to be part of it. More importantly they want to come back. And bring friends.

Here’s the menu we featured to celebrate last night:

• Trumer Pils with simple citrus and greens salad
• New Belgium Dig Pale Ale with lightly grilled pear and goat cheese sandwich slivers (extra thanks to Christian Holbrook w/NBB for the bonus insight on this beer)
• Boneyard Femme Fatale with Apple fries and caramel (poor image choice for this label…tasty beer)
• Avery Maharaja with french bread and Hopyard Cheddar cheese from Rogue Creamery

This time I didn’t tell the group what their beers were before partaking, which lent a fun twist to the discovery. Without being about to put any preconceived brand notions on what was in their glass, they were more open-minded (although they’re pretty good about it as it is).

The groups always have Veterans and Rookies. So the combination of seasoned participants mingled with newbies is just as good as sampling new beer for WEB. We consistently hear the same discoveries, aha moments and the same patterns, every time.

Onward into year 4.

Per the host, Oregon Brewers Guild, here’s the scoop:

Zwickelmania, hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild (OBG), is a free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers.

pig tail attached to a zwickel

I got myself and willing friend to attend a free Beer 101 class hosted by the brewer at Standing Stone, Larry Chase, at the brewpub. It was enlightening to go through beer 101 with a room full of other interested and lively beer enthusiasts.

Here just a smattering of the things I learned.

1. A zwickel is a sample valve on tanks
2. Chlorides in the water make for a more mellow flavored beer
3. Calcium sulfate is in the Burton on Trent water, home of Bass Brewery
4. Sulfates help accent hop character
5. 6 row barley has more protein than 2 row

Great price, super event, and always time to celebrate what the beer community brings to our country at large, starting with your own local.

Support your local guild

A few notables:

• Top 20 Trends #7 Gluten Free/food and allergy conscious, #8 Locally produced beer and wine
• Preparation Methods #2 Fermenting
• Culinary Themes – almost the entire list
• Alcohol and Cocktails #1 Locally produced beer and wine, #4 food-beer pairings/beer dinners, on-site barrel aged drinks, #7 Gluten free beer, #8 Specialty beer, #10 Craft/microbrews, #12 Beer sommelier, #15 Organic beer

Survey consisted of 1791 NRA members (what do non members have to contribute?), October to November 2011. They were given a list and asked to rate them (was there the opportunity to offer new non list ideas?)

Survey information is as good as the format, questions and objectivity of the surveyor. You can usually find interesting applicable information in them…just as everyone can.

What you out on the table is a piece of your brand that consumers can take with them or admire. Have you ever asked consumers what they’d like to see at your table? If so, good. If not, why not? Chances are good you’re investing at least some money in what you’re putting out into the universe.

Be smart and responsible with your schwag

Make sure the money you invest is hitting the target AND generating further interest and action in your brand. Pointless, crappy, off color, or tired items need to be passed over. The world does not need more foam koozies (killer on mother nature too!), if you bottle beer you can offer bottle openers (I guess) although it’s a tired idea, and in general re-look at what you’re buying to give away.

Take full responsibility of what you’re offering – even though you’ll not be at the end of the cycle. Responsible companies that think these things through resonate with women and they’ll benefit from increased and stronger brand patronage. “Oh – you care about the earth? Then I’m more likely to try/care about your brands.”

The best giveaway from this recent festival I found and took home with me was from Full Sail. They had simple, well designed, easy to read Beer Pairing Tips cards along with recipe cards. BINGO!!

These are useful and usable items that make a minimum impact, are easy for supporters to mail to other friends thus helping you market further, and straight forward.

Beer enthusiasts like to cook with beer. Women are still buying the majority of groceries so putting smart giveaways like these will go farther than you think.

With the frenzy of inventive cooking being hot and lots of media attention around it right now, you can cash into this activity. Women and men will enjoy taking a nod from your brewery on how to use this incredible beverage as a cooking ingredient as well.

Simple, easy, economical, and no foam.

I’ve got a few that almost drive me to distraction.

Microbrew = quantity of output and outlets

While I usually focus on the positive and like to make people think, today I’m going to vent on words that I think should be sent into orbit concerning beer. Some are the entire word and some are contextual. Caveat: Words are like guns. It’s the people that wield them that need education and correction. Insist on proper words per your beloved beer. 

In any event, I’d love your help purging these words from our current beer vocabulary.

1. Real. As in people saying they only drink or make “real beer.” What is real beer? Is it someone’s opinion? Is it based on some rule or law a few people with an agenda put forth a long time ago or very recently based on what they think beer should be? “Real” for beer is whatever you want it to be. There’s a snob component here that’s unattractive. It’s all about education and in the end liking what you yourself like to drink. [Suggestion: shift to 'beers I like']

2. Microbrew. AUUUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!! Okay….I’ll be alright…. This is an extremely misused and overused and misunderstood word. At one point it was proper and properly used. Today it’s flung about like saying microbrews or microbrewed beer is what delineates ‘real’ beer (see above). Per the Brewers Association a Microbrewery is: A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels (17,600 hectoliters) of beer per year with 75% or more of its beer sold off-site. Time to shift your words, folks! Not every beer that isn’t from a really large house or from a brewery that someone thinks is too big (for whatever their own goofy reasons) is NOT a microbrew. [Suggestion: learn the brewery size category descriptors - either use it right or don't use it at all]

"Dark" and "Light" get a bad - and usually wrong - rap

3. Import. Who else has been to a bar or restaurant wherein the menu with beer includes an “Import” list…and at least one of the beers is from an incountry brewer?! Plain and simple – this is sloppy and unacceptable. Know where the beers you’re drinking are from before you share that info with others. Incorrect education is hard to reverse. Stupidity is totally inexcusable – plus look at the ‘truth in advertising’ idea. [Suggestion: find out where the beer is from and get the info right]

4. Heavy. Oof. Even the word sinks to the sidewalk like lead. Get rid of it. Use other fabulous more descriptive words like robust, full, lush, chewy. Take a nod from describing people: would you rather be called robust and full bodied or heavy? Not rocket science here, folks. [Suggestion: load your vocabulary with plenty of descriptors that you can use]

5. Domestic. It kills me when I hear people still use this word. To me this falls into the ‘who cares’ category. Beer is beer and it’s made everywhere, literally. And it also borders on beer racism, like import does. It’s a totally outdated term. [Suggestion: know the country of origin, if you wish, and simply enjoy the beers for what they are]

6. Light. This one must be contextualized before it can leave your lips. Light what – body? Color? Flavor? Mouthfeel? It’s a great word to describe that also needs a partner word to complete what you are trying to communicate. Using only the word ‘light’ is a disservice to the beer and indicates an incomplete and uneducated and outdated thought. While most of us have an idea of what the talker or writer might be discussing, it’s time to throw the blanket “light beer” idea to the curb. [Suggestion: only use 'light' when you will augment it with another word that will fill out the meaning of what you're trying to describe]

Improve your beer vocabulary for the beer's sake, if not your friends' sake

7. Dark. See Light, above. The most powerful – read: educated – beer folks have a whole litany of terminology at their tongue tip. Develop your beer vocab. There’s a whole rainbow of words to describe color and other beer characteristics. [Suggestion: get rid of any racist beer terms - again]

8. Good. This is a totally subjective word. Don’t use it. Good should be supplanted by ‘quality’ if anything, when applicable. And again, if you really want to know and love your beer, increase and improve your vernacular first. [Suggestion: don't use this word with beer - it indicates either a snobbery or an ignorance]

9. Bad. See Good, above. Bad should only be used if the beer has truly turned into something other than what the brewer intended. Too many people use Good and Bad to throw their weight and opinions around. Arrogance is never attractive nor helpful. [Suggestion: don't use this word with beer - it indicates either a snobbery or an ignorance]

I feel better already.

Beer for your female sweetheart this year (please!)

Short and Sweet (no pun intended): Get her a beer this year!

If you choose to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day – get her a beer this year. Sweethearts, loved ones, those women you care about will thank you for a fresh, fun, and tasty beer.

It’s that simple.

p.s. it’s tomorrow

Jamie FLoyd leading the sensory exercise at Ninkasi

Jamie Floyd, co founder, founding brewer of Ninkasi and beer friend & colleague generously invited WEB guests to their sensory lab Thursday. We gladly took him up on it because we know Jamie to be not only passionate about beer – he’s super smart about it too.

The ten of us who took advantage of the exercise walked out with more beer knowledge than when we started. And with an interesting lesson lodged in our brains, we’re all the smarter and happier for it.

Sensory is a big part of beer and keeping the flavors of brands as we know them using the science of sensory. I think it’s something that many beer enjoyers have no idea happens.

When you come across an opportunity to offer sensory exercises to consumers – do it! When you come across the opportunity to take one as a consumer – take it!

Educating consumers is one of the smartest ways to help your brand survive and thrive. Get them involved and they’ll help the breweries out.

The Love of Beer Screening, Eugene OR

Looks like fun, yes? Maybe because the beer community is all about passion, progress, and fun. Here are some pictures from yesterday and last night’s screening of Alison’s The Love Of Beer at the David Minor Theatre.

Great show, happy audience, and all around good time had by all.

Beer does that somehow….