Big boys and their marketing toys

The new Carlton Draught tv ad is ridiculous.

If you’re a petty criminal lugging round a decent haul of cash in an American metropolis and drinking CD do you get away with it? Obviously shot in the states replicating some of the movie car chase scenes, I wouldn’t be surprised if XXXX follow up with something like this, extreme stormwater kayaking?

The Pub? I'd challenge you to find a CD branded bar like that anywhere in the continental USA. Bring it a little closer to home at least fellas.

Whats more, is the average CD drinker that dumb or amused by such an ad? Clearly the marketing boffins think so, which if I were a CD drinker (I am not), I'd take offence at.

Could you argue that the ad glorifies drink driving?

Yes I know they aren’t actually driving cars, nor do they ever take a sip, but the implication is apparent and even brewers don't drive around the place with a full glass in hand (unless it's a really hot day and you're on the forklift).

We've got some ads coming out shortly and they're so close to home that brewery employees not only star in the ads (well their hands and lips anyway) but also hold camera, get to yell “action” and sit in the directors chair. Stay tuned.

If you find the Carlton Draught ad humorous or effective, good for you. But for me it's simply the same old formula of:

                   

    Marketing Bullshit

Shit beer =       --------------------------         X      lowest common denominator

                       Huge budget +(no sense)²

Olympic rant

Since when has a silver or bronze medal at the Olympics been decreed a disaster or failure? The answer – since about July 27^th 2012.

Australia’s’ incessant fixation with gold at Olympic games has seen us become a sporting nation amongst super powers. Every four years we stand with pride as an elite selection of our 22 million-population sweat, slog and toil there way towards the ultimate goal. It’s this high ideal that unfortunately has come unstuck in London so far.

But not from the public’s perspective – only that of the media throng.

Take this for example from an article today on theage.com.au “The Australian media are once again frothing at the mouth - on behalf of the public - and demanding answers about why our athletes haven't won more gold medals.”

I think you’ll find that most Australians, whilst having a preference for gold, thoroughly appreciate the amount of sacrifice, commitment and work involved to even reach the Olympic games, and hence respect and applaud any performance on the ‘battle ground’.

Silver medal winning long jumper Mitchell Watt summed it up beautifully ''I think people need to start understanding that it's not easy to win an Olympic gold medal and there's absolutely nothing wrong with a silver medal.….the team's happy, I'm happy, the head coach is happy. I've got thousands of messages back home that they are happy. The only people that aren't happy are you guys. So you need to wake up.''

The medias’ dramatisation of any result other than the gold expected is atrocious. Sure they’re allowed to ask the questions they want to, seek the answers they require, that the medias’ job. But to then report it as a failure is ridiculous.

This morning saw the unfortunate capitulation of Michael Diamond in the men’s trap final. An impeccable qualifying round record of 125 out of 125 saw him begin the final as a gold medal favourite. Unfortunately consecutive misses saw him bow out devastatingly without a medal. To Diamonds credit, HE took responsibility for the fall, HE admitted his mistakes and with it showed why he’s regarded as a consummate professional in his sport and held with such high esteem amongst Australians.

Again the age reported, “The cruel moral is inescapable. With five shots remaining in this final, Diamond had a third Olympic gold medal in his hands, and, like the targets he has been setting his sights on for a lifetime, it disappeared in a puff of orange dust.”

You don’t think he knows this?

Elite performance doesn’t have to be measured in medals. Lift your game Oz media.

Winds of Change

Over the course of the next few months you might notice a difference in the way that Van Dieman beers are packaged. We've just about exhausted stocks of our current cartons, 6packs and labels that we've been using for the past 18 - 24 months and wanted to bring all of them up to speed with one another.

We've taken the decision to go into four packs because we believe it offers a better choice for you the consumer, as well as reducing the overall cost of the beers. As the beer drinker becomes ever more discerning, we believe that a 4 pack better suits the evolving nature of the Australian beers scene.

New labels will also begin to be filtered out into the trade. They'll hopefully be easier to spot at your drinking spot of choice as well as looking damn fine.

As we go forward into this stage, there will be the inevitable crossover period which we will try to minimise time wise, so that any inconvenience is minimised. We'd love your feedback on any of the new packaging or the beers at any stage either by Email, Twitter  or Facebook . Cheers

Meet the Brewer - 23rd June, The Aproneers, Hobart.

Come down the The Aproneers in Lindisfarne, 145 East Derwent Hwy, between 12pm and 2pm this Saturday for a meet the brewer session, taste some of our beers and get a entirely street legal and 100% refillable 2 litre growler with some delicious Jacobs Ladder Amber Ale off tap. 

Pint of Origin - Tasmania

Next week marks Good Beer Week in the calendar and as part of the festivities, The Courthouse Hotel in North Melbourne will be pouring Tassie brewed beers all week.

Van Dieman will have some TPA - Tasmanian Pale Ale, a wet hop harvest ale, and our Hedgerow Autumn Ale, a barrel aged sour beer on tap, with a "Meet the Brewer" session with yours truly on Tuesday 15th May from around 6pm for a casual tasting session.

Make sure you pop in for a pint or two at some stage during the week showcasing the best of Tassies' growing craft beers. Also on tap will be MooBrew, IronHouse, Seven Sheds, Two Metre Tall and newcomers Morrisons' brewery.

More Info: The Crafty Pint or Good Beer Week


The Courthouse Hotel, 86-90 Errol St, North Melbourne, Ph: 9329 5394

Attn all Double IPA obsessed canines

Via Beerpulse.com

A Warning about Dogs and Hops

 Posted on April 30, 2012 at 11:32 amby Adam Nason   

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Sponsored Guest Post:

Here at Northern Brewer we love dogs just about as much as we love brewing (maybe more). For many years, dogs accompanied their owners to work at Northern Brewer and freely roamed our offices. And for many of us, brew day is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our canine friends. So when we heard about a customer’s scary experience after their dog consumed hops we were shaken and wanted to help. For wider education on the issue, we would like echo a very serious warning about dogs and hops.

Though research is not extensive, ingesting hops can be highly toxic to some breeds of dogs (Golden Retrievers and especially Greyhounds have been documented). There are many scary stories on homebrewing forums about dogs eating hops after unsuspecting brewers left unused hops out in a place accessible to their dog, or dumped their kettle trub and hop sediment into the yard, or had a hop plant in their yard that dropped cones on the ground. Some dogs that ingest hops rapidly develop a condition called Malignant Hyperthermia, in which the body temperature rises uncontrollably. This can be very harmful or fatal to the dog. Some symptoms are restlessness, panting, vomiting, abdominal pain, seizures, rapid heart rate, and high temperature. If a dog has possibly ingested hops and exhibits symptoms, they should be taken to an emergency pet hospital immediately for treatment.

This abstract from the National Institute for Biotechnology Information represents one of the few scientific confirmations of the issue, and this page has a record of one homebrewer’s experience (their dog was fortunately saved).

Keep your dogs safe!

Hedgerow Autumn Ale 2012

The basis of the recipe is the same as the 2011 hedgerow brew, six UK malts, German brewers gold, UK Bramling Cross and Slovenian Bobek hops are used as aroma and for dry hopping.   Hawthorn berries, sloe berries and rose hips were then added to the conditioning tank and the beer was allowed to sit for a 12 weeks on this mix, developing the subtle fruit flavours.

A further portion of the beer was aged in two, local vineyard, Moores Hill pinot barrels for a period of 16 weeks, with it being brought back into the main hedgerow beer and racked off. It was then conditioned for 6 months before release.

The beer pours an off-white head laced with a subtle berry aroma. There are certainly some aromatic French oak qualities coming out on the nose, as well as a few spicy notes.  The initial sip is quite sour and sharp, but as you work through the beer a ripe sweetness begins to develop and reflects the original hedgerow beer exhibiting a toasty malt character underlies the subtle seasonal fruit flavour.  Hints of peppery spice result in a semi soft and dry palate finish of this autumn ale, the barrel aged element brings that funky edge to the beer as well as the imparted tartness.

A style very rarely seen in Australia.

A keg or two of the 2012 release will make its way to the Courthouse Hotel, North Melbourne for Pint Of Origin as part of Good Beer Week 2012

The Crafty Pints' take on the beer here