Your Beermonger: Growing Apart

Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).

It hasn’t been a slow news week in the beer world. In fact, I’m starting to believe that we’re not going to have slow news weeks in beer anymore. We’re going to get into some stuff outside of the headlines week, but there are some news stories worth reading up on:

-Florida’s HB 1329 bill, which I wrote about in last week’s column, is dead in that state’s House, but a fight remains as the state Senate takes it up in its original form.

-Left Hand Brewing is fully entrenched in trademark litigation madness, simultaneously attempting to trademark “Nitro” (as in “Milk Stout Nitro”, “Sawtooth Nitro”, and Wake Up Dead Nitro”), and facing a challenge from Maryland’s DuClaw over the Sawtooth and Black Jack names in a case that could have maddening consequences for breweries and brand names as craft beer grows.

–The FDA is trying to kill a symbiotic relationship between brewers and farmers that has benefitted both for centuries, because life isn’t hard enough as-is.

-Craft brewers are exporting a lot more beer, according to the Brewer’s Association.

-And in this week’s most talked-about beer story, The New York Times profiled the twin brothers behind Mikkeller and Evil Twin, casting them as sibling rivals who “can’t stand each other.” The article itself is fascinating, thought-provoking, and at times sad. Two quick thoughts from my perch: 1) I’ve never heard much about Mikkel and Jeppe’s relationship at all, let alone anything about them “hating” each other. 2) Considering Jeppe’s reaction, I think the author might have picked up on some tension between the brothers and decided early on to take the piece in this direction. As a writer, it would be hard to resist. In any case, it’s worth a measured, open-minded read.

So what else is going on this week? Well, some reflection and hard truth-facing for me: with craft beer becoming more popular at Arrowine, I find myself constantly trying to find space to carry the beers our customers are asking for. At the same time, I see breweries whose products I’ve supported for a decade grow to the point of being featured in grocery stores and ‘big box’ retailers, with distributors pushing price points higher all the time. Every day now it seems I’m having to decide whether one brewery or another is worth keeping on in my beer department.

I’ve known for years that this day was coming. I’ve talked and written about it often: growth and expansion will lead many of our craft beer “heroes” away from smaller, independent shops — that’s the nature of business. I just thought I’d have more time before facing some of these difficult decisions.

Retail is a good way to rid yourself of sentimentality, but it’s hard to avoid in this case: without naming names I’m talking about some of the breweries who got me into craft beer in the first place; breweries whose work I enjoy immensely even now. But also breweries whose pricing structure has become tilted in favor of those who order in terms of pallets rather than cases. Difficult decisions, but when brewers start flaunting how great the selection of their wares is at your neighborhood mega-mart, that decision’s pretty much been made for you, hasn’t it?

There comes a time where you just have to be honest and go your separate ways, like friends who grow apart. Such is life. On the plus side there are more than enough up-and-coming breweries to get excited about, many of which are located in our region: last week’s Spring Beer Tasting at Arrowine featured Hardywood, Devils Backbone, and Three Brothers breweries — all of whom are in Virginia, along with North Carolina’s Mother Earth Brewing Company. All four have become a regular presence in our shop, and with recent arrivals like Atlanta’s Sweetwater and New York state’s Ithaca (Flower Power IPA in this week!), it makes it a little easier to give up some old favorites for a while.

Until next time!