millstreambrewing.com

Good news. If you check our front page you will see the press release about this. I’m amazed that the Craft sector grew that much in 2004. People must finally be getting tired of drinking beer in green bottles!

My quote that it is “no surprise” is also true though, because lately we have been getting a surprising number of people calling us, asking how they can get our products. Just last week, we had the Mcbride Station in Solon call us, and we also had calls from both the Java House and Super-Target. Its great to be on the recieving end, I know that we have done plenty of cold calling ourselves in the last five years. If we keep up the consistency of our product, perhaps we soon be getting calls from those great restaurants that I dream of someday soon.

I think the growth is coming from a consisent message from Craft brewers. We are saying, we love beer, beer is good and natural, and you should enjoy it too. I don’t know about you, but when I think about going out to dinner, I consciously consider which places I can go that have a decent beer selection. I’m sure most people don’t make their eating and grocery shopping decisions based on beer (though they should!), but i’m sure some do on a unconscious level. People are ‘trading up’ from a ‘regular’ beer to a tasty Craft brewed one. Too bad for the “King and Queen” of beer. The ‘big three’ plus imports have done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot with their negative advertising slamming each other. Meanwhile craft beer is growing by a silent word of mouth, which is the kind of buzz that the big marketing campaigns only wish they could simulate.

While i’m on the subject, I hearby nominate the “tastes great-less filling” as the worst long-term advertising campaign ever concieved. It succeed in the short term at selling light beer, but in the long term it made beer look cheap, like something to be drank while wearing a filthy white t-shirt. The industry may never recover from the damage of light beer. If it does, the ‘big three’ will have to thank us and the imports for making beer a respectable beverage again. Something you would want to be seen consuming while at a five star restaurant. I know people are drinking our beer there, because nearly every good restaurant around here has Millstream on tap or in bottles! Heck the last time I went to the Taste on Melrose I finished off the keg of Schokolade Bock… Poor me, I only got a half glass!

Oh, and going with the five star theme, here is an excellent article showing off how well beer goes with high end cheeses!