Fall seasonals are my favorite when it comes to beer. As you may have read in my last post, that’s not because of pumpkin beer. I know this style is unwaveringly popular, but I have issues with any pumpkin beers that are released before mid-September. Rather than start this blog with a rant though, I’ll take a more positive view and talk about what I do like: Oktoberfest.
This is my dream vacation right here.
Oktoberfest is the king when it comes to seasonal beers, and if you ask me (I’ll assume you are because you’re reading this post), it is a great barometer for whether or not you like real, traditional beer and not just the hops (not that there is anything wrong with the latter). True German Marzen/Oktoberfest should have everything classic beer lovers crave: a perfect harmony of smooth and toasty caramel malt, a crisp, snappy hop bite, and a modest alcohol level that allows you to fill up a stein and smash it against a friends again and again.
It doesn’t appear like much has changed since the days of black of white.
Although many people have surely had Oktoberfest before, one thing I commonly encountered working at a beer shop was confusion about the labeling of different Oktoberfests. Traditionally, this style of beer was brewed in March (Marzen), and then stored over the summer. This was back before refrigeration, when brewing in hotter months could lead to spoilage and wasted time. Due to the old-fashioned kilning techniques, beer used to be much darker. Over time, the fest-style gradually lightened, from dunkels (early to mid 1800s), to amber and copper-colored Marzens (invented by Spaten in 1841), to the golden-colored festbiers introduced by Paulaner in the early 1970s.
These are the 6 official beers of Munich Oktoberfest.
So which ones am I drinking?
The short answer: anything German. There are 6 breweries that serve their beer at the Oktoberfest in Munich: Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Paulaner, Lowenbrau, Augustiner and Hofbrau. If you want to know what this style should truly taste like, any of them will do. I also like Warsteiner (a touch on the sweet side) Weihenstephaner, and Andechs (draft only) for other German offerings.
However, my personal favorite isn’t even on the list, and that’s Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen, which is probably my favorite beer in the world. It’s the perfect balance of everything I want in a beer. Flavorful, but crushable at the same time.
IMO, Copper Legend is the best of the style from Massachusetts.
Two Roads (Connecticut) Ok2berfest makes a great, albeit lighter style, Marzen lager.
American Oktoberfest beers tend to be either on the sweeter side or with a little too much hop influence. There’s plenty of good ones, but like most things American they tend to be a little much. However, a few local New England brands I like are Jacks Abby Copper Legend, Zero Gravity and Two Roads.
This year, Sierra Nevada got together with Bitburger for their fall seasonal.
Left Hand Brewing out of Colorado makes a solid homage to traditional Marzens.
For outside New England, look to Sierra Nevada, who puts out a different Oktoberfest every year in which they collaborate with a German brewery. Left Hand, Victory and Firestone Walker also do a good job. I have yet to find anything truly impressive for the style down here in DC, which is part of the reason why I’ve waited until a little later in the fest-season to write this blog.
**A final word on pumpkin beer:
Pumpkins are harvested in September and October. Generally speaking, an average batch of beer from a microbrewery takes 4-8 weeks to brew from start to finish. That would mean even if you used pumpkins picked a couple weeks early, the earliest you could get a beer brewed with fresh pumpkins from this years harvest would be mid-September.
So how does a company like Shipyard have theirs ready to go by the end of July? They cut corners. They are using one or a combination of the following not-pumpkins: butternut squash, yams, artificial pumpkin flavoring, or a mixture of spices (nutmeg, vanilla, clove, etc) to mimic pumpkin pie. This irritates me. At the end of the day, I don’t want to hate on people for drinking what they like, but as someone who worked retail, I find label transparency is important when trying to sell products.
There’s been one brewery on my mind ever since I checked out their new taproom two weeks ago: Aslin Beer Company. Many people in the Boston area may not be familiar with these guys; I certainly wasn’t when I first moved to the DC area. Once I did move, I kept hearing the name Aslin again and again when trying to find the best brewery around.
Aslin Beer Co. houses their original location in Herndon, VA. Recently they opened up a second, much larger facility in Alexandria, VA that will house the bulk of production one it’s fully functioning.
Lucky for me, they just opened up a new taproom 15 minutes away from my apartment not even a month ago, and I was quite impressed. They make NEIPA’s as good as anyone actually in New England, mouth-puckering sours that leave you making faces well into the fourth and fifth sips (a sign of a great sour in my opinion) and some downright killer stouts. When it comes to what grabs your attention in the beer world these days, those three boxes are all you really need to check to stand out.
Although the new location doesn’t have a ton of can stock, I do like their labels.
The top rated beers from Aslin are almost exclusively IPA’s and stouts, no surprise there. If you can get your hands on them, Single, Double and Triple Orange Starfish, Master of Oranges, Master of Karate and Mind the Hop are some of their highest rated beers on Untappd, but it seems like every IPA they make has above a 4 rating on the app. For stouts, they have a bunch of amazing styles featuring all sorts of flavor additives, while their line of sours beers does the same.
So what do I actually recommend? Here’s a quick run down:
–Glamping Imperial Stout– Probably the best stout I’ve ever had. Made to mimic a s’more, this beer features marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and the added bonus of…peanut butter! This is the first beer with peanut butter I had where I could really smell and taste the PB. Incredible. Oh yeah, it’s 15% alcohol and drinks like it’s less than half that, so watch out. –Pisghetti Western Stout– Another 15% imperial stout that doesn’t taste like it, this is conditioned on chocolate, hazelnuts, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. I thought this had a touch too much cinnamon, which accentuated the heat from the alcohol just a bit more than I preferred. However, all the other flavors are delicious, and it’s still a great beer. –Master of OrangesDIPA– It’s pretty hard for me to be impressed by IPA’s these days. NEIPA’s can easily disguise off-flavors or a weak malt base by adding more dry-hops, more citrusy hops, more more more. On top of that, most people use the same four or five hops, so the difference from beer to beer is minute. That being said, this beer was fantastic, easily the best IPA I’ve had in DC. This beer is a combo of Double Orange Starfish and Master of Karate, and it blew me away. –El Frutero Sour Ale- A light, easy going sour at first taste, every sip seems to pack more flavor. Brewed with watermelon, lime, habanero peppers and salt, this beer is a perfect pairing for fish tacos. As a matter of fact, I would actually prefer this beer with food because the habaneros really punch you in the tongue.
I don’t play the games, but anyone who is a fan of Elder Scrolls will be excited to see Aslin came out with an entire line of beers to celebrate 25 years of Elder Scrolls games.
I really only have one beef with Aslin to this point, and it has nothing to do with the beer. The new spot is tinkering with the food menu, and we found out the hard way that it is overpriced. Much to our chagrin, the $8 deviled eggs we ordered was actually one egg, cut in half, with a sliver of jalapeno and a fried oyster on top. Considering all over Boston you can find $1 oysters and I can go to the grocery store and buy an 18-pack of Nellie’s Free Range Eggs for $5.69, that price is a rip off. I was assured they would be changing that, so I now have nothing more to complain about.
Although they don’t make it up to Boston, I highly recommend anyone traveling down to DC or Virginia stop by their locations and drink up. You won’t be disappointed.
It’s your go-to beer snob back with round 3 of Liquor Store Etiquette! I know it’s been a while since the last time I wrote one of these, but you’ll have to accept my excuse: I’ve been too busy drinking beer fresh off the line at my new stomping grounds, 3 Stars Brewing Company. In this post I’ll go over the right way to return bottles (yes there is a right way), the habits of my favorite customers, and what drives me crazy at the register.
Only Return Bottles That You’d Want to SortYourself
Ah, bottle returns. The most annoying part of the job for any employee. Some stores are lucky enough to have machines that will force the customers to sort the products themselves. Cool. The problem with these is they can only be rented by the store (at least in Mass), so you have to get enough returns to not lose money on the investment. This leaves most small stores the task of sorting them by hand. This becomes infinitely worse when customers bring in nasty cans and bottles. Here are some easy rules to follow when it comes to returning bottles:
-Rinse your bottles. Nobody wants to get your stale beer all over their hands and clothes. -Don’t bring back broken bottles, cans that have been shotgunned, or anything that may cut the employee. I’m not getting tetanus because of some lazy jabroni. -If it’s a craft beer, bring your empties back to where you bought them. Most stores don’t accept returns for products they don’t carry. Don’t argue about it. We know the law, and the law says we are only required to take back items we’ve sold. -Don’t bring back cans that have been crushed/can’t be scanned or empties you found under your deck that have been there for three years and have now accumulated all sorts of mold, dirt, earth and funk.
If you are unwilling to do any of these things, either recycle them like a normal person or bring them to a redemption center. If you do take them to a redemption center, don’t be surprised if they turn you away. Oftentimes, they are just as strict as retail stores.
2. Enough With the Cliche Jokes
I’m all for stupid dad jokes. Just ask my wife, she’ll tell you. But, most of the time, these types of jokes should stay at home. Retail workers and service employees hear the same stupid jokes over and over again. And, after the second time hearing a joke, it gets difficult to be fake-nice. Obviously, that’s part of the job. But, you should aspire to not make yourself look like a jackass every time you go somewhere. I’d say at least once a day I get some moronic answer to the yes or no question of “Is there anything I can help you find today?”
Some common responses:
-the winning Megaball ticket -a million bucks -A one way ticket to (insert country here) -a supermodel to be my wife
When you ask people that question over 100 times a day, your cheesy come back gets stale…fast! If I had $5 for every time I heard one of these, I’d be on beach somewhere thinking about how much those people suck.
3. Pick the Staff’s Brain
My favorite customers are ones that look for recommendations. Of course, this relies on a competent staff. For the sake of this article, we’re assuming that’s usually the case. Great staff members know what their customers like and don’t like. They will not only keep products in mind for the next time they see these customers, but they’ll even go so far as to stock products specifically for them. I personally did this with at least a dozen products. There’s nothing wrong with the guy who only drinks Bud Light. Not a fan, but I can appreciate that it’s a crowd pleaser. However, the customers I look forward to helping are the ones who not only want to know what’s new and what I’m excited about but also purchase products based on my recommendations as often as their livers allow.
4. Don’t Waste the Staff’s Time
This point runs off of my previous one: if you are going to ask for help, listen to what I have to say. Don’t waste my time by asking me a question and then immediately shutting off your brain. God gave you ears for a reason. It also helps to avoid having the same conversation with the same staff member every time you visit a shop. Oh, you like Cabernet Franc? I fucking know, Harvey! You’ve told me this every time I’ve seen you for the past 5 years. What’s that? You’re just going to get Bud Light even though I spent the last 20 minutes explaining to you the difference between every IPA we stock? Well, fuck you too, Susan! Don’t bother starting these conversations if you’re just going to ignore our advice and get the same shitty product you came in for in the first place? I don’t need to be there for you to pick out crap. I’ve got plenty of work to do without your dumb ass wasting my time telling me you just can’t seem to get as much head in Massachusetts as you did in Delaware (either pour more enthusiastically or talk to your wife, Bill).
Well, that’s enough complaining for me today. I’m getting near the end of my liquor store complaints, but still have a few left in the tank. Hopefully, Part IV will be out a little quicker than Part III. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy and employ these tips!
Grenga here back with another installment of Liquor Store Etiquette, and a handful of new Do’s & Don’ts to help you make it through your harrowing journey to the local packie. Last time I gave you a fair amount of my own background, so this time I’ll just dive right in.
1. Bring Your ID
Do. Bring your damn ID. I don’t care how old you are, bring your ID. You are buying alcohol. This should be pretty straightforward, but I can’t tell you how many people I’ve turned away because they look college age and don’t have an ID on them. I can understand how a person in their 50s with grey hair might get annoyed at this, but chances are that person won’t get ID’ed anyway. In case you do, don’t get offended. The people behind the counter are just doing their job, and it’s your job to have documentation that you can legally purchase what it is you are trying to take home. And please do not give me the “ugh, I’m 24” response. Bitch, you aren’t old. I’m not saying that you look 16 when I’m ID’ing you. I’m saying you look under 40…which you fucking are, so shut up. Also, if you’re with anyone who is underage, leave them in the car. There are things called “Party Laws” where everyone in the party needs an ID. Don’t have one? Keep out of sight so you don’t ruin it for your friends. That goes for teenage children with their family members too.
Right after the Patriots completed the insanity that was the greatest comeback ever in the Super Bowl against the Falcons, Geneo Grissom, his wife and two friends came into my store looking for a bottle of wine and a 6 pack to go with dinner at the BYOB place down the street from us. Three of them had ID’s, but Geneo’s wife, a tiny five-foot-nothing blonde who looked like a high school cheerleader, did not. Her response? “Uh, you can google me.” FUUUUCK you….I googled her anyway, and guess what? She was TWENTY-FUCKING-THREE. And the only thing google had to say about her then and now is that she is Geneo Grissom’s wife. Get that arrogance out of my damn face! I wasn’t about to turn away a Super Bowl Champ just because his wife sucked, but I did explain to them that the only reason I was doing so was because they just made the greatest comeback anyone will ever see. What should you take away from that story? Unless you’ve recently won a world championship in something, bring your fucking ID. Also, Mrs. Grissom is a jerk.
2. Store Workers Hate Trophy Hunters
Are you a trophy hunter when it comes to rare stouts, IPA’s, whiskeys and wines? Great! I don’t care. I couldn’t give any less shits about the number of bottles in your cabinet. Also, if you’re dumb enough to buy a bunch of expensive whiskeys, open them, and then never drink them again, guess what? Hard alcohol, like every other kind of alcohol, oxidizes and goes bad over time. It may take over a year to do so, but you don’t have forever. If you’re spending hundreds of dollars on rare products, make sure it’s not going to waste. Don’t brag to me about what you have in your cellar, because again, I do not give a shit, and you’re more likely to make yourself sound dumb than cool.
Another thing: if you’re going to be a trophy hunter, it’s a good idea to know at least a little about what you’re asking for and when it’s available. There are idiots everywhere who saunter into stores and expect people to have a bottle of Pappy, Yamazaki, Weller, etc just sitting around. Nobody does, and if you did even a little bit of research you’d be able to find that out on your own. If you are lucky enough to have found one of these online, don’t tell me how much you paid for it. Chances are you paid hundreds more than the initial retail price for a product that is comparable to plenty of stuff on the shelves if you know where to look. I once had a guy brag to me he bought a bottle of Pappy 10 for $500 (when in stock, we sold ours for $65).
If you do this, you’re lucky you don’t get laughed out of the store.
Many of these products only get released once a year. When they do the majority of stores either post online, raffle them off, have a waiting list or offer them to their best customers. They NEVER end up on the shelf. If you aren’t loyal to that store, you aren’t getting it. So fuck off.
3. Don’t Try to Out-do the Sales Associate
There’s a lot of people out there who like to sound special when talking about the products they drink. This point goes hand in hand with the points I made about trophy hunters. We don’t care what you’ve got in your basement or how long you waited in line to buy the beer in your fridge. If you want a recommendation on something like Treehouse or Trillium, of course I can help. But if all you drink is beer from those companies, don’t pontificate to me that you understand beer or have any idea about all of the other great beer that’s out there these days. Don’t get me wrong, those companies make excellent beer. However, when you consider you’re spending almost $25 per 4-pack, you wait in line for over an hour at a place that’s hours away, and you’re buying beers with the same hops you find everywhere else (Citra and Mosaic FTW), it’s really difficult for me to get excited for you. Now everyone should try beers from Treehouse and Trillium, among others, because they are great. Personally though, I think of them mainly as a reference point for the stuff you can actually buy at a retail store. Any respectable craft beer shop should have at least 5 beers in the same class. I personally stocked Fort Hill Jigsaw Jazz, 14th Star Tribute, Barnstable Brewing Examen, Two Roads Two Juicy, and IPA’s from Proclamation, Singlecut, Fiddlehead, and way more on a regular basis. All of these products (with the exception of Singlecut) are less than $20 a 4-pack and readily available. Add in the fact that Trillium has been at the center of several controversies, and there’s really no reason for me to get excited about that company.
4. Don’t be Afraid to Return Stuff That Seems Off
This is a tricky one. Unless you’ve had a lot of experience with corked wines or dirty tap lines, it can be hard to tell if a product is off. It can be a little easier if you’re out at a bar, because you can ask the staff what they think (assuming the staff is honest with you). If something tastes off or your cocktail is all ice, it’s okay to send it back and ask for a new beer. Just don’t be a dick about it and maybe try something else next time.
When it comes to returning stuff to a store, be open-minded. I’ve never personally enjoyed handling returned bottles of wine, because I am not an expert in all of the flaws that can arise in wine. TCA, or cork taint, is the probably the easiest of the bunch to identify. If you open a bottle and it smells like a musty basement or wet cardboard, that’s corked. A lot of people use the term to mean flawed, but that is a misnomer. TCA is a chemical that comes from natural corks and can eventually spread to the liquid. This kind of thing happens, so any store should replace this on the spot. This flaw only gets worse over time as well, so if you don’t bring it back immediately it shouldn’t be an issue. For more on wine flaws, check out this article from Wine Folly here.
On the other hand, if you get something that tastes off but aren’t sure, you can bring that back too. However, do so within a day or two of opening it otherwise the bottle will oxidize too much for the wine associate to be able to tell. It also helps to not be an asshole about it and act like they owe you something just because you brought it back. I’m a lot less willing to help someone or give them a refund if they insist that a product is flawed when it is not. If you tell me “something tastes off about this but I’m not sure what it is” then I can work with you to explain what it is you are tasting. If there isn’t a problem, I’ll switch it out for something more your speed. But if you are a dick and don’t want to listen to what I have to say, then you can shove that bottle where the sun don’t shine.
Very rarely do we have issues with beer, but often the problems we do see come from issues on the canning line. We’ll see cans that weren’t sealed properly and leak or cans that lack pressure, both of which leave a flat beer. We’ll also see cans that aren’t filled all the way. These are easy enough to identify right off the bat and can be avoided simply by checking the cans before purchasing them. If you squeeze them and the cans have a noticeable amount of give to them, then just grab the next 4-pack. As for a low fill, that’s pretty self-explanatory. A craft store with a reliable staff should be able to pick these out before they even hit the shelf, but they do get missed from time to time.
Welp, that’s it for round two of Liquor Store Etiquette. I’d love to hear what people think about these posts. If there are any questions regarding maximizing an alcohol-buying experience, or tips on how to avoid awkward confrontations, I’m your guy!
CCN – Last year, Heineken-owned Lagunitas slashed 12 percent of its total workforce, 17 months after it was acquired. At the time, Lagunitas had said the cuts were necessary for the company to adjust to the needs of a dynamic and significantly more challenging market.
To put that more bluntly: millennials just don’t drink beer like their parents did.
INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS! Companies run their business poorly, change nothing, and then blame their tanking sales on millennials, the modern day scapegoats. I love it.
Last month, Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes noted in an interview with CNBC that consumers are moving from beer to spirits and cocktails.
According to data released by the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group based in the United States, spirits (including vodka, rum, and gin) gained even more market share in the alcohol market for 2018, as compared to wine and beer.
Bullllllshit. There is no way millennials are drinking *more* booze than beer these days. I am a proud millennial and I am a proud rum and coke guy, but I cannot drink for shit anymore. The hangovers these days are absolutely brutal so I’ve basically transitioned entirely into a few IPAs on a good night.
LOL wut?
Millennials are just not into beer anymore, and this is quickly pushing many beer companies to the brink. Molson Coors saw sales slump in four straight quarters in 2018, and the volume of Heineken cases sold has decreased drastically – even while wine and spirits sales are on the rise.
Are these companies really just going to ignore the rise in craft beer and how breweries have popped up on every corner in major cities? From 2007 to 2018 the number of breweries in Massachusetts exploded form 34 to over 150! There are more than 6,000 breweries in the United States as of 2017 too.
Thats bananas.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not drinking that much less beer, I’m just not drinking Bud Light, Miller Lite etc. I’m drinking IPAs, Sours, Stouts and other craft beers that are owned predominantly by independent small brewers.
How does the major beer industry respond? By brewing nightmare fuel like this!
Pass.
Millennials just aren’t drinking the stuff our parents drank; well almost all of us.
Boston.com – In quite possibly the most New England beer collaboration ever, Maine-based retailer L.L. Bean has teamed up with five Maine breweries to create a limited-edition craft beer collection in celebration of its new collection of Small Batch Bean Boots.
This takes the cake. The quintessential “comfy but style-less” New England clothing company teaming up with a number of Maine CRAFT BEER companies. This is the most new England thing of all time. It makes you wonder who is coming for this throne. Maybe Cuffy’s will team up with Dunks? Mary Lou’s and the Black Dog? A heroin dealer and Reebok? This honestly could create a sort of apparel/refreshment collab turf war that no one saw coming.
Now I don’t pretend to be a craft beer expert but I was a bit ahead of the curve thanks to an older brother in-law that looks upon Bud Light as a sin of the flesh. I also have a few friends who are either in or have been in the craft beer business. So if you do make it up to South Canada to try one of these (unless they all are making the same thing) I’d go Mast Landing or Thresher. Both make a solid pop.
WCVB – Two Boston beverage powerhouses are joining forces to launch a new drink for fall. Dunkin’ and Harpoon Brewery combined Dunkin’s Espresso Blend Coffee and Harpoon beer to create Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter.
I think my rise to beer snob has been well documented on this blog. I was once a green college student jumping at the chance to buy as much beer as possible for as cheap as possible. That usually was a case of Busch Lattes, but one time I was at a liquor store in the Bronx and bought a case of tallboys of FAMOSA because it was like $5.
I’ve yet to ever see that brand of beer anywhere ever again because it was probably straight poison. But over the years I’ve grown into a sophisticated adult getting drunk on nothing but IPAs, DIPAs, Sours, Stouts and more.
So when this news story about Harpoon’s latest concoction came across my desk I had to address the situation.
Coffee flavored beer?! Ever heard of it? I have because my good friend Drew Carey came up with the idea way back in 1996 when he invented Buzz Beer TWENTY TWO YEARS AGO. Fuck, I’m old.
Now Harpoon and Dunkin Donuts are teaming up to swoop in and steal Drew’s idea? i won’t stand for it. Drew may be flush in all that Price is Right money, but all us fans of mediocre 90s sitcoms remember who the true innovator was here.
To be honest, I feel like Kramer when Calvin Klein stole his ocean scented cologne idea.
PS – I can’t do basic math for shit, but I can remember plot lines of TV sitcoms from 1996. Some kind of useless Snapple Facts trivia brain I have apparently.
For those of you who don’t know, former Red Sox stud Kevin Youkilis has dedicated his post-baseball life to an honorable and enviable pursuit; brewing delicious delicious beer.
Youk set up shop in southern Cali with his venture, Loma Brewery. I hope to one day crush some suds with the dirt dog himself out in Cali, but until then I’ll just have to hunt down a couple of his brews myself. I feared that would be a bigger challenge than my goal of collecting all the Ommegang Game of Thrones beers.
Not easy.
However, Youk recently partnered with local beer giant, Harpoon, to start distributing his craft creations this fall and I am stoked.
As we all know, a great beer is about 51% taste and 49% creative name. Look no further than 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon or Ruckus Brewing Company’s Hoptimus Prime.
Youk’s signature beer? Greek God of Hops.
To be honest, this beer could taste like paint and I would still buy it.
We had a huge guest this week as the co-founder of Reds Army, John Karalis, joined The 300s Podcast to discuss everything Boston Celtics, his entrepreneurial background, the state of digital media in 2018, and we even break down some of the best craft beers to enjoy during a game.
You’ve seen and heard John on FOX 5, 98.5 the Sports Hub, Boston.com, as well as the Locked On Celtics podcast. As one of the hardest working guys covering the NBA today, you can find John on twitter @RedsArmy_John as well as http://www.thesportsdaily.com/reds-army/ and his latest endeavor with Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/JohnKaralis
Yahoo – Remember the excitement you felt as a child when your parents brought you to Blockbuster to rent all of your favorite movies? Well, now you can tap into that feeling as an adult with a Blockbuster beer.
While the video-rental company is now down to its last store in Bend, Ore., it seems like people aren’t ready to completely let it go extinct. Instead, those behind the company have teamed up with 10 Barrel Brewing Co. to create a craft beer in its name — quite literally — dubbed the Last Blockbuster. And according to the brewing company’s co-founder Chris Cox, it’s made to pair well with your favorite movie theater snacks. “The Last Blockbuster beer pairs perfectly with buttery theater popcorn and your favorite movie-size chocolate, with a light body, smooth finish, and hints of nostalgia,” Cox told Business Insider.
Well if this isn’t the greatest marketing promotion of 2018 then I don’t know what is. Apparently, the only Blockbuster left in the country is in Bend, Oregon. They must be falling like dominoes because we actually wrote about one of the other last remaining Blockbusters recently. How this store stays in business is beyond me. After kicking it around with Big Z the only explanation we could come up with is that internet is shit out there so streaming Netflix isn’t a viable option.
Either way, a nearby brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., is honoring the last samurai of VHS rentals by brewing up a custom beer.
As a fan of all things obscure, nostalgic, and limited edition promotions, I am sitting at my desk just going back and forth between browsers looking at prices of flights to Oregon.
But, since we’re in the trust tree here I’ll just say it; Blockbuster is dead. They went from THE place to be on a Friday/Saturday night for everyone that grew up in the 90s to an afterthought. Netflix took them out behind the shed and put a bullet in them after Blockbuster failed to innovate and got passed by. In fact the Blockbuster CEO actually passed on the opportunity to buy Netflix for a measly $50 million when Reed Hastings approached him. Netflix is valued at over $150 BILLION today. Woof.
Its always risky to buy/sell a company in its infancy, but I am forever hesitant to ever sell any company I have any stake in solely because of the Justin Timberlake speech as Sean Parker in The Social Network.
ANYWAYS
The greatest thing about marketing is branding and Blockbuster seems to be throwing up a couple of Hail Marys with promos like this. They’ll obviously never be a billion dollar business renting out VHS tapes ever again, BUT if they can play on nostalgia and keep that BRAND alive then they could rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
I don’t know what that move is, but its been done before. Hell, Sears’ stock just went through the roof earlier this week after it was announced they had signed a deal with Amazon to offer a ship-to-store tire service. This is after we’ve heard nothing but bad news and how Sears is shuttering more and more locations. Its called pivoting and call me crazy, but I think Blockbuster could do it. Thats the power of branding. I haven’t been in a Blockbuster in 15 years, but goddamnit do I remember walking those blue and yellow aisles vividly to this day.
It’s too bad this is happening all the way out in Oregon because if it weren’t 2,900 miles away from Boston I would consider making the trek to the lone remaining Blockbuster to taste this fine brew. Its reasons like this we need to invest in a company credit card for The 300s.
The 300s 