ANDREW - Origlio Beverage

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Letter toTHE TRADE Dear Valued Customer, SELL MORE BEER; MAKE MORE MONEY. It’s too simple to even put down on paper, but, it’s the “how you do it” that matters. If you do it well, you don’t just sell more beer, you build your business. Finding interesting and entertaining ways to coax your guests into lingering a bit longer can help increase the size of checks. Why not leverage your well-chosen beer portfolio and showcase your servers’ extensive knowledge of your products by revisiting the idea of beer flights? There is a lot of data being collected suggesting that casual restaurants are not capitalizing on the strength of craft beer to the extent they could be while fine dining has demonstrated the “most robust growth for craft beers”. On-premise last year, craft grew in fine dining restaurants at greater than 13%, bars came in next at 11% and then casual at 7%. So reports trade journals such as Harry Schuhmacher’s Beer Business Daily. Schuhmacher writes, “Those numbers don’t just reflect price. They account for actual volume sold. And my contacts tell me that three of the best on-premise performers are Lagunitas, Dos Equis and Blue Moon.” So why beer flights? Customer engagement is a big focus of marketing because guests who feel emotionally invested in a bar or restaurant, are likely to visit more often. When servers suggest a beer flight, they engage the customer in a conversation while discussing the depth of your beer portfolio. And a server who is well-versed in beer knowledge conveys that your establishment is the “authority” on craft beer. “Part of the dining experience is being educated by the staff in an unpretentious way. Those who do order a flight begin to understand the different varieties of beer and they also expand their craft beer repertoire. It’s a hat trick: It’s a teachable moment that entertains and upsells the customer,” says Mike Kugler, Origlio’s Director of On-Premise Sales. “And a check with food and craft beer averages $86 versus food and any beer which comes in at around $73.” All this is just something to think about as you revise your menus and beer selections this spring. Thanks again for choosing Origlio Beverage and I wish you continued success. In This ISSUE Cover Story .........................1 Brewer Highlight ..................2 Ambler Beverage Exchange...3 Candlewyck.........................4 New Products ......................5 Seasonal Selections...............9 Available Year-Round.........18 Perfect for the Season Programs ..........................19 Retail Edge........................24 The Beer Guy ....................25 Yours Truly, Dominic Origlio President P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this edition of Heady Times contains the last Beer Guy article that will be written by Lew Bryson. Lew’s vast knowledge of all things beer and his spot-on analyses of the industry have both informed and entertained all of us for about 13 years. He is now the editor of Malt Advocate magazine for which he is eminently qualified. Beer is distilled whiskey after all. Congratulations, Lew! Heady Times is published five times a year, courtesy of Origlio Beverage. ®
CoverSTORY Lager: The Undiscovered Country by Lew Bryson WE LIVE IN LAGER LAND. HERE IN PENNSYLVANIA, Yuengling Lager is ubiquitous, which has created a beer landscape unlike any other in the country. If I walk into any bar and call out “Lager!” I’ll have a cold amber glass in under a minute, no questions asked…except maybe, “Draught or bottle?” And yet… “lager” means so much more than Dick Yuengling’s tasty and very successful beer. Because here in Pennsylvania, we also live in Craft Lager Land. We are blessed with a concentration of some of the best lager-making craft brewers in the country, like Sly Fox and Samuel Adams – made just up the road in the Lehigh Valley. And we have always been a thirsty market for lagers from all over the world: Germany, of course, but also Canada, Holland, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Japan, Poland… we like cold-brewed beer! But you’d never know it if you asked most “alpha beer geeks.” They tend to dismiss lagers, largely because the mainstream brands they loudly disrespect are all lagers. Silly beer geeks. That’s like dismissing crisp baguettes and tangy sourdough because you think Wonder Bread is soft and bland. They feel if it’s not an IPA, if it’s not wildly aromatic and stuffed with hops, it ain’t craft! Speak softly to these people, and hand them a glass of Sly Fox Pikeland Pils. The bountiful Noble hop aroma will suck them in, the bright effervescence will excite them, and the clean malt body will have them reaching for another before they even realize it’s a lager! Got a big-beer geek? Hit them right between the eyes with a Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Über Pils; a big and beefy pilsner, yet rounded and straightforward as only a lager can be. Bang! That’s when you can take a moment to remind them that lagers are harder to make than ales. As one lager brewer said to me, “Ales! I could teach a chimp to make ales. I brew lagers.” He was exaggerating, but lagers are much less forgiving of errors. The cold maturation takes three to four times as long as ales, and lager’s straightforward and clean nature means that a brewer has nowhere to hide. All true, and it all adds up to lagers being more expensive to make. They need more care with their yeast strains which means more lab equipment and more time for yeast cultures to grow. Some lagers use a decoction mashing process. It’s too involved to explain, but it takes more energy. The cold maturation means more energy for chilling the tanks, and the longer maturation time means brewers need to buy (and maintain, and plumb, and find space for) more tanks to put out the same amount of beer. But the hard part is that they can’t really charge more to cover those costs; the consumer doesn’t see them. Craft lager brewers are a stubborn lot who really do it more for love than money! Is it worth it? I absolutely believe so, and I try to introduce people to great lagers all the time. Despite the notion that lagers are bland, or too simple, or not hoppy; that one just makes me laugh. There are lagers that can go toe-to-toe with ales. Let’s have a look. Do you have a hophead? Have them try a brilliant beer like Zatec Bright Lager, buzzing with Czech hop aroma; or the new Samuel Adams Double Agent IPL, a cloud of citrusy West Coast hop scents floating over a clean, bitter lager. Does your geek like stouts and porters? Dunkel is the word, and Sly Fox makes a great one: dark, aromatic, and flavorful malts combine with lager’s classic smooth drinkability. Or try a classic from a German brewer: Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel, a rippling river of toasty sweet malt, so flavorful and friendly; a great introduction for those who are afraid of the dark. Lager’s got the big beer drinker covered, too. Warm up with Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock, with its muscle-flexing 6.7% ABV. Move on up to the original double bock, Paulaner Salvator, the first of the breed, at a maltilicious “liquid bread” strength of 7.9%. Double bocks are warming and filling, with a broad, complex palette of malt flavor. And lager’s got something ale doesn’t, one of the most popular seasonal beers in the world: the beer of Oktoberfest, the malty amber beauty also known as Märzen. Heavy Seas makes a great one, as does Sly Fox, and you can also get the German imports from Munich brewers Hacker- Pschorr, Spaten and Paulaner. Nothing can beat their hearty malt character for pairing with a wide variety of food: pizza, chicken, sausage, cheese, noodles and roast pork. They go pretty well with tuba music, too! Lagers are an underappreciated segment of craft beer, and for that to be true in America’s craft lager heartland is just a shame. Let’s get some lager love going! www.origlio.com HeadyTimes v.73 1
Page 1: Spring 2013 | V.73 ORIGLIO BEVERAGE
Page 5 and 6: Off-PremiseSPOTLIGHT Ambler Beverag
Page 7 and 8: NewPRODUCTS From its earliest time
Page 9 and 10: NewPRODUCTS Mike’s Hard Frozen Po
Page 11 and 12: SeasonalSELECTIONS When Demand Exce
Page 13 and 14: SeasonalSELECTIONS Angry Orchard El
Page 15 and 16: SeasonalSELECTIONS Narragansett Sum
Page 17 and 18: SeasonalSELECTIONS Sly Fox Royal We
Page 19 and 20: SeasonalSELECTIONS Green Flash Hop
Page 21 and 22: Programs La Fin Du Monde Now Availa
Page 23 and 24: Programs When the Stanley Cup ® Pl
Page 25 and 26: Programs EXPERIENCE CINCO LIKE FEW
Page 27 and 28: The BeerGUY Bet on Bretts for Sprin

ANDREW - Origlio Beverage

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