Beer, Bars & Brewers in October 2015 II
Welcome to the new and improved Beers, Bars & Brewers. We’ll be publishing both our German and English version bi-weekly from now on, so you don’t miss the most relevant international and German beer news.
This week we’re looking at why Braufactum stopped distributing Brooklyn Brewery, how BrewBerlin did at BCB, BrewDog’s record funding, Germany’s crowdfunding landscape, and a collaboration between Ben and Jerry’s and New Belgium.
Bye Bye, Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Brewery and Carlsberg have worked on two projects so far, Stockholm’s New Carnegie Brewery and the E.C. Dahls Brewery in Trondheim. The only logical consequence then, was to join forces in terms of distribution. Bad news for Radeberger subsidiary Braufactum, who, up until now, was in charge of Brooklyn Brewery’s distribution in Germany.
Brooklyn beers have been one of Braufactum’s drawing card since its incarnation and in the early stages of craft beer, brewmaster Garret Oliver might just have been the most famous face of the niche beer market. Braufactum’s Facebook post though, is light and tone, emphasizing the positive cooperation and regrets the loss. It’s not all grim though, Braufactum has pre-emptively filled the gap that Brooklyn Brewery has left behind, by taking on Mikkeller beers and further prominent additions have been hinted at. One can only assume that Brooklyn Brewery’s strategic step will lead to it being more readily available internationally.
Brew Berlin at Bar Convent Berlin
What a fantastic time we had at BCB this year and we’re so delighted to see our beer platform Brew Berlin continue to grow. We hope you had the chance to try some German craft beer classics, like BrauKunstKeller and Crew Republic, as well as the three Danish brewers that had their own booth. More than a third of BCB visitors stopped by beer alley to catch up on beer trends and new product offerings. Organizer Jens Hasenbein says “beer has joined soft drinks and spirits as a pillar of our trade show concept, one that’s developing in a highly dynamic way.”
BrewDog’s Record Crowd Funding
Over the last few years, six to be exact, the Scottish brewery BrewDog has managed to raise a record breaking £7 million. What sets them apart from other breweries seeking crowdfunding, besides the sheer amount of money, is that they managed to do this without the use of a third-party platform. The company has seen an average annual growth of 167% since its launch in 2007 and is sold in major UK supermarkets.
Thirteen global, branded bars help promote their “zeitgeist-y” image. BrewDog has managed to grow without what many would consider to be “selling its soul”. Director James Watt has said that one reason for BrewDog wanting to forego the traditional path of invest funding was to be able to “avoid having to deal with pretentious investment bankers”. The money is expected to be invested into even more outlandish beers as well as new bars opening worldwide
Germany’s Beer Crowdfunding Landscape
Let’s have a look at the crowdfunding situation for craft beer over here in Germany. There’s two days left to go in Berliner Berg’s Startnext campaign and, at press time, € 53.486 of the € 50.000 goal has been funded. This is a shining example in Germany’s beer crowdfunding landscape. Brewcifer launched his Startnext campaign three months ago, earlier this week it sadly proved unfulfilled. However, this is an unfortunate path that other brewers have trodden before him.
Back in September Bierothek’s campaign quickly went south as well: with only one day of their campaign left, € 975 of the original € 50.000 goal had been achieved. One would be remiss to ignore the fact that when BrewDog is selling its shares and crowdfunding, their enthusiastic beer fans are buying into the BrewDog lifestyle. Like it or not, they sell a certain image. And that friends, seems to be the only way people will shell out their hard earned cash for brewers to start their business.
Ben and Jerry’s Craft Beer Ice Cream
Eeehh … where do we sign up? Though craft beer and desert might not necessarily be the first pairing that one might think of, it has proven to be very successfull when done right (Nunzio’s chocolate cake made with Brlo’s porter comes to mind). And now Ben and Jerry’s has teamed up with New Belgium to release a Salted Caramel Brownie Ale. Some people might say salted caramel has had it’s update, but frankly, those people have no tastebuds. Because it’s still delicious and always will be. Full stop.
The Drinks Business reports that the limited edition ice cream will consist of “New Belgium Brown Ale-flavoured ice cream with salted caramel and fudge brownies”. Yes please! The product will be in store from November onwards, only in the States unfortunately. And, even better, percentage of the proceeds will go to a charity that helps combat climate change. “The companies are recommending a new “pour over” method to enjoy both products at once, saying that the sweetness and the saltiness of the ice cream and salted caramel are matched by the dryness of the ale”
