Comments on: Beer on Showcase Minnesota

By: ryan

ryan — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:12:28 +0000

Regarding who gets press with MNBeer, here’s how it works… we actively seek out information from breweries, brewpubs, stores and bars that offer good beer. We subscribe to mailing lists and try to watch websites but more than anything, we rely on emails from the breweries, brewpubs, bars, stores, etc. By all means, if you want to be on MNBeer (and you’re pushing craft beer, not swill), email us!

I think the element that is getting missed here is that the places which often get complaints for getting “all of the attention” are places that effectively market themselves. Surly is another example of a company that some people complain about because they get so much attention. They may not be the only game in town, and they certainly weren’t first, but they sell a great product and have created a solid buzz.

Couple all of this with a writer who is working under a deadline and isn’t a beer geek like all of us and I can’t say I’m surprised that someone such as Alvey or Omar might get the call for an interview. Regardless of the notion that other places sell specialty beers, if I’m a reporter and I want to write about craft beer and don’t necessarily know a lot about craft beer, who would I call, the guy who has created a store dedicated to beer or a guy that works at XYZ Liquors? Making the choice to call Alvey isn’t necessarily the right one (maybe it is, maybe it isn’t), but it sounds credible, engaging (What?! There’s a store devoted to beer?) and interesting.

The average Joe watching television doesn’t geek out over beer, doesn’t really care how many times Alvey has gotten press and really doesn’t care who “paved the way” for a place such as The Four Firkins.

Plain and simple, a lot of this comes down to marketing. Sure, you have to offer up a good product or service, but even the best products can be passed over if nobody knows about it. My advice for people who might feel left out of the limelight? Market yourself. Find a niche and take advantage of it. Make use of all of your free resources. Get on the web. Send updates to MNBeer. Take advantage of services like Twitter, Facebook, etc. Talk to people, talk to people, talk to people! And then talk some more!

As for regrettable Beer Advocate comments, aside from the Surdyk’s remark, I read them more as an indictment of places that don’t particularly care about craft beer… places where a dusty six-pack of last summer’s kolsch sits on the shelf nearly a year later, and not places like Princeton’s or Heritage, Dennis Brothers, etc. That being said, let he who has never said anything dumb on Beer Advocate throw the first stone. Anyone? Anyone? I didn’t think so…

Play nice. Thread’s closed.

By: dbrewing

dbrewing — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:36:55 +0000

This Alvey guy sounds like a real asshole. Why doesn’t he get with the program
and start taking kickbacks and selling shitting beer? How dare he defame the name
of all mighty Surdyck’s ?

By: Scott McGerik

Scott McGerik — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:46:42 +0000

@Jason, It is appropriate to call a person on something they recently said. It is at an entirely different level to hold it against them 10 months later.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:55:48 +0000

I agree it was inappropriate of Alvey to say what he did regarding Jim Surdyk.

I wonder how many people who hold Alvey’s words against him have themselves said something similar?

Wow, give the guy a pass why don’t you.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:37:09 +0000

@James, I think that quote from @Sean was directed at @Ben.

What liquor store do you work for?

By: Mag

Mag — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:25:32 +0000

As much as we’d like to have a finger in every pie, so to speak, it’s challenging to stay on top of all the beer news, events, goings-on, etc. I think I can speak for the folks contributing to this site when I say we don’t conciously promote one beer/brewery/store over another. If there is a seeming imbalance of content, it is probably due to how much information we get, how frequently we get it, our relationships, etc. and not about any design or any grand machination on our part. Some folks/companies do a better job providing their information via their website, in e-mails, etc. than others and those will tend to have a bit more of a presence here.

I, for one, would welcome leads, referrals, news, etc. from anyone that can be posted. I’m sure Ryan, Kris, Eric, Kat and Jeff would appreciate this as well. If you feel X is under-represented, help us out. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

By: James

James — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:00:40 +0000

“But that last statement, about him not going to every beer event, implying he doesn’t care, was out of line. I know he tries to go as often as he can- but he has responisibilities, like working at his store, which have to come first.”

I never said he doesn’t attend. That was elsewhere. As for the beer tastings, many people are on par with him. It is more the idea that he comes out and says “MN’s only specialty beer store”, when he wouldn’t exist without other “specialty beer stores pioneering the way. Call it MN’s only beer exclusive or something along those lines.

As for the mention of the business plan. I am not sure I know who Brad is, but why does opening a store with a risky and questionable business model deserve blind support and unlimited loyalty? I love jazz and classical music. If I open a Jazz and classical music only store, should all fans of that genre of music support only me, even if they like other music as well, and can find the same music and more within the genre, excluding one or two underground, albums cheaper elsewhere?

By: Scott McGerik

Scott McGerik — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:39:56 +0000

@Ben, Thanks for the link. I had searched for it before but, without knowing what I should be looking for, I came up with a lot of useless results.

I agree it was inappropriate of Alvey to say what he did regarding Jim Surdyk.

I wonder how many people who hold Alvey’s words against him have themselves said something similar?

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:31:20 +0000

@Trav. I will tell you why I don’t twitter,
9:00 am: Oh here comes a wine salesman, time to drink
9:43 am: Oh you have a sample of a new vodka, of course I will try it
11:00 am: Here is my hohensteins rep…I would love to taste the new Southern Tier
noon: My Hohensteins rep is still here. I have had lagunitas, but lets try it again.
1:00: Here comes my JJ rep. Oh, you know my hohensteins rep. Ok lets try new things and I will open up something I get from Dahlheimer.
My twitter would just remind me how much I drink. Just kidding. I have never used twitter, maybe I should look in to it.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:16:19 +0000

Scott: No problem. Here’s the thread. It does require a BeerAdvocate account but I can copy and paste some of it. As one might imagine, those also in the industry didn’t take kindly to his comments about the freshness of their product or their lack of passion for beer. I know there were a number of others that were offended by these comments but chose not to voice their opinions publicly.

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1934765#1936859

“Even though we are a tiny store we sell more craft beer than many of the big liquor stores in town, that means FRESH beer.

Ask yourself, do you want FRESH beer?”

“If you don’t care about these things then that’s fine, do you think Jim Surdyk actually cares what beers you like? No he doesn’t”