The Fate of Beer at Starbucks

So what ever happened to the Grande Americana Double IPA with Extra Foam?

While not outright abandoning the idea altogether, Starbucks Coffee currently has made no announcements to expand its beer service beyond its two Seattle, WA, concept locations, 15the Ave Coffee & Tea, and Roy Street Coffee & Tea.

You may recall during the past two years that Starbucks underwent a sweeping Starbocalypse where a large portion of its over 7,000 locations were shut down in anticipation of the recession and upon a re-examining of a business model centered around canvassing every street corner with caffeine induced opportunities to purchase James Taylor albums and books chronicling fraudulent stories about war torn African children.

Evil Clowns

Starbucks execs also recognized an even greater threat to their $4.00 cup of coffee business; Yes, the $1.00 cup of coffee business. McDonalds began selling its McCafe, which not only was cheaper, but according to customers, also tasted better. This spelled trouble for our friend, the little mermaid coffee lady with two tails.

Annoying Clowns. Preferred by more Americans over James Taylor.

Problem: Solution. Beer: Beer.

So Starbucks did what we all do during difficult times; it turned to alcohol. In summer of 2009 plans were announced to launch beer and wine services beginning at the new 15th Ave Coffee & Tea concept coffee house, and to then expand into other locations. According to a November, 2009, news release that is still posted, 10 more concept locations were also lined up, all apparently planning to serve beer. And keep in mind, Beer was only slated for the concept locations, not the usual stamped locations bustling with aspiring novelists and soccermoms.

But like all decisions influenced by alcohol, the decision to serve beer might have been a little too optimistic. Now according to Starbucks, in what represents a step backwards, there are no "announcements" (as opposed to "plans") to expand beer service beyond the two concept locations nestled deep within Seattle. And within those two locations, Starbucks states that it focuses on serving Pacific Northwest regional brews. While the 15th Ave C & T website is silent on the beer menu, Roy Street's site shows that of the 8 Beers on the menu, there are 3 beers that could be considered local crafts. They are Snoqualmie Wildcat IPA, Steelhead Scotch Porter, and Full Sail Wassall.

Craft Beer, a Clown's Natural Enemy

Starbucks should do what Starbucks does best, sell a lifestyle. And by launching more concept locations that individually reflect the specifics of the regional markets, they will find overlaps in consumers' demand for good coffee and local craft beers. It all appeals to the younger artisan loving "Millenial" types who, loving all brands they find sincere, genuine and local, would appreciate the change from the one-size-fits-all stamp coffee locations. To attempt to serve Beer at its stamp locations would require location specific contingencies of which the energy needed to sort out would be better spent on just exploring concept locations. Of course, Starbucks is smart enough to know this already.

Besides, Ronald McDonald's European cousin (Ronaldo?) has been serving beer for quite some time now. McDonalds already has the knowhow for adding beer services to its stamp locations and could easily outdo Starbucks in that game winning on every front from logistics, legal, and marketing. But McDonald's is limited to serving regular common denominator beers with its regular common denominator menu.

Ronaldo McDonald, winner

What Starbucks can do that McDonalds just couldn't, is to offer region specific craft beers that appeal to those who like to fancy themselves as having discriminating tastes. This would be a huge opportunity for small craft brewers throughout the US because, as opposed to trying to pry into regular bars, restaurants, and groceries that are dominated by regular beer distribution issues, they would have a ready made market backed by a somewhat strong corporate player.

Brewers Take Note

It would be wise for craft brewers to pay close attention to Starbucks' plans because any concept location would likely have only a small menu offering of the craft beers. So it would pay off to get in especially early on any opportunity. According to Starbucks, the decision of what Beers to place on the menu rests with the concept locations' management, who, of course, rely on customer choice.

So cheers to Starbucks moving forward with its concept locations and cheers to the little, two-tailed, mermaid coffee lady. May she one day be a two-tailed, mermaid beer lady as well.

Science Never Lies

And remember, bathing suit season is just around the corner. Thank God for beer.

Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

Breakfast is Served

We all have our routines, especially in the morning. And Terrapin, by just adding the alcohol to the oatmeal and coffee, has gone ahead and eliminated one of the steps in my morning routine for me. Thank you and good morning.

Released every year in November, Terrapin teams with a Georgia coffee company named Jittery Joe’s to make the imperial stout as part of it’s “Monster Beer Tour”, a seasonal series which Terrapin unoriginally describes as “extreme”. And for a brewery whose major marketing thrust consists of lovable but not-so-subtle ganja references, you wouldn’t be surprised that the unofficial name of this brew is “Wake ‘N’ Bake”. For those of you who skipped college, or high school even, and don’t catch the meaning of wake and bake, it refers to the common practice of waking up (“wake”) and smokin’ the herb first thing (“the bake”) right before you start your long day of watching cartoons and smoking more weed more.

And keep in mind, Athens, Georgia, the location of Terrapin Brewing Co, is a college town/party epicenter. Know thy market. But the “Wake ‘N’ Bake” reference is only found on the website and nowhere on the bottle, at least not in my next-door market of Alabama. Perhaps marketing and sales at Terrapin knew it was too much of a commercial risk to essentially have the word “duuuuude” placed on their six-packs across America. So they decided to pipe it down a bit.

The Sticky Icky

So Terrapin adds the oat flakes, the pale, chocolate, and black malts, along with Chinook and Northern Brewer hops (collectively known as the “Bake” part), and the jittery guys add the grinds (the “Wake” part).

Crack it open and it pours thick and creamy like chocolate milk. A quick thin filmy light tan-white head of foam appears and begins to bubble out into little patches revealing an oily darkness beneath.

The aroma is certainly a roasted espresso coffee along with dark chocolate. I’m reminded of those tiny chocolate covered coffee beans that a friend used to hand out while studying for law school exams (yeah, that’s right. We were hardcore back then). In fact, for the most proximate smell, go to the grocery. Select some dark coffee beans. Place them in the grinder and press start. Dump some Hershey’s chocolate syrup from aisle 7 into the machine. Lean over it and inhale. That’s what this beer is on the nose. Delicious and awakening. And as much as I try to, I can’t pull out any hops from the aroma. Only coffee and chocolate.

Flavor is big. This is an imperial, after all. Along the thick, oily, and rich texture a sweet malty chocolate and a smokiness persist through first, what I want to say is the “oaty” presence, quickly followed by second, the dark and dry malt flavors. Though the pungent Chinook does not immediately break through, the aftertaste is all bitterness adding the appropriate balance. While flavor is not completely uniform from start to finish, this beer was not meant to be too complex. The finish that lingers is all beer, but begs to be washed back with a glass of milk.

Now, we know that the particular coffee blend used for the stout is a “premium” blend of 1 to 2 South American and African bean selections, but what we don’t know is the precise caffeine amount, say in milligrams, that each 12 once bottle contains. Though considering that this Imperial is an imperial of 8%, there is substantially more Bake than there is Wake.

The Stats

ABV: 8.6% or 8.1% depending whether you ask the website or the bottle, respectively.

IBU: 50, which is the absolute high end of the typical stout bitterness range, fitting for an Imperial.

Hops: Chinook, Northern Brewer.

Sales are Down but way Up

According to the Brewers Association, sales of domestic craft beer rose from 2008 to 2009 by an increased sales volume of 7.2% and by a dollar amount of 10.3% while beer sales as a whole declined by 2.2%, including a 9.8% drop in import volume sales. This drop in beer sales has not been felt since the mid 1950s. For some quick stats see the Brewers Association Fact Sheet.

2009 also saw an increase in the amount of craft brewers from 2008's 1,485 to 1,542. That's an extra 57 craft breweries. Whether those 57 are only just opened on the books or if they're fully operational and getting to market is not known. For those of you who love pie, these graphics break it down.

Anhueser-Busch and MillerCoors who represent 80% of the market were down 2.1% and 1.9% respectively. These large brewers are not worried, however, because they wisely increased prices and cut costs during 2009 to offset these expected declines.

Yeungling and Boston Beer Co 2009 sales caused them to both outgrow their Craft Brewers status which is partly defined as brewing less than 2 million barrels a year (1 barrel = 31 gallons). New brewery O'Fallon Brewery of St. Louis had a 36% increase of sales. Being a start-up, O'Fallon had plenty of room to grow and relied on outsourced contract brewing to meet demand (as opposed to the established Boston Beer Co. that only increased by 2%). Still, O'Fallon admits it had a higher target than 36%.

Other Sources: Here, Here, and Here.

Looking for a Brewfest?

One of the many many long lists of Beer Festivals throughout the world (and USA) by date. Commit it to memory.

River City Brewery Festival 2010. Get There.

On March 13, Memphis is again hosting its River City Brewery Festival at Handy Park to benefit St. Jude's Research Hospital. Our Alabama own Olde Towne Brewing Co will be there, along with some of my personal favorites like Abita and New Belgian Brewing.

Let us know if you go. We'd be glad to post some pics and hear some good stories about it. Tickets at the link.

I'd Drink It.

Some kids daydream what it's like to fly in a spaceship, or live underwater, or about winning the big game. On my spare time I daydream about the beers that haven't been made yet that I would want to drink. And by "spare time" I mean "office hours." And seeing as how the home brewing equipment is a bit dusty theses days (the shame), I can only plan ahead by designing the labels for the beers that I hope to get around to brewing.

So in honor of St. Patrick's Day I designed this label, and it's actually the bottleneck label, not the body label.