Saturday, September 15, 2007
Selling Out to the Tanning Salon Girls
I don't mean to be a dick about this, and I sure don't mean to come off half-cocked. But this has been bothering me for some time now, and I think it's high time I made mention of it:
What the Fuck has Happened to Leinenkugels?
I went to school a few miles from the brewery, so please believe me when I state I mean no disrespect. I've had more Leinies than the great majority of people walking the earth. I remember my first, sitting on the porch of the green house. I remember the discontinuation of their Ice beer, and realizing how this was a good thing -- this was a family brewery ditching the trends and coming back to its own. I remember touring the store, buying my Red shirt. I remember one of the greatest beers I ever tasted -- then called "Leinies Limited" -- at a friend's house after a hard race. I remember the great seasonals they put out throughout the year. This was a hometown brewery to be proud of.
In those days, my bread and butter included:
Original
Red
Honey Weiss
Northwoods
Autumn Gold (autumn seasonal only)
Winter Lager (winter seasonal only)
Creamy Dark (came a little later, but still a staple)
Auburn Ale
Maple Brown Lager (may have been just an autumn seasonal, not sure)
Bock (think it was just a spring seasonal, but I could be wrong)
Big Butt (spring seasonal only)
Of all those great beers (OK, 'Original' is average at best, I grant you), here is what is still available today:
Original
Red
Honey Weiss
Creamy Dark
Big Butt
They've pillaged their own stock. When you go to the Leinies website, they have an FAQ section in which they 'explain' why all those great beers are gone:
"We constantly look at our family of brews to determine the best mix to satisfy our loyal Leinie fans. We know that everybody has a favorite beer. (The challenge is how many different styles can the physical brewery brew in a given amount of time to quench the taste preferences of the market.) Sometimes we have to make a tough choice to discontinue a certain brew in order to be able to keep up with the demands of some of our most popular beers like Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss, Berry Weiss, Sunset Wheat, and Red Lager. Don't worry, we'll still continue to come up with new brews like our upcoming summer seasonal to be introduced in April 2007."
I realize that a lack of sales undoubtedly is to blame. But it's still a damn shame.
Northwoods - there's no good reason why this nector of beauty is gone, but that schlock of crap, Berry Weiss, is brewed year-round.
Autumn Gold - this was a real sleeper. It always seemed to be available for just a month or two. Nice, rich flavor.
Winter Lager - this, to me, was the flagship. This was a dark to fly a flag by. This was a pride beer. A beer like this could only be brewed by a small-town brewery. Or so I thought.
Auburn Ale - another sleeper with some surprising flavor. Real interesting character.
Maple Brown Lager - I heard Jake L. on the radio ripping this beer as kind of a bad experiment. That was too bad. Sure, it wasn't a beer-after-beer lager, but it was good. Had a sweetness that wasn't too obvious.
Bock - admittedly, the lesser bock when compared to the Big Butt. But that's no reason to kill it. I alway thought it was cool that such a small brewery could put out two kick-you-in-the-pants bock beers.
At some point in time, Leinies was bought by Miller. I don't really know if that's good or bad. From a distributing standpoint, it should be good, right? The thing is . . . I look at their offering right now . . . and I can't escape the conclusion that they're catering to the non-beer drinkers now. I humbly submit my evidence below. Aside from the five stalwarts -- Original, Red, Creamy Dark, Big Butt, Honey Weiss (with which I have no complaint) -- here's the lineup:
Berry Weiss - This one's been around a while, and they've finally created enough groundswell among the wine cooler crowd that it's no longer a seasonal. I guess I just always assumed that Honey Weiss was the chick beer. I don't know how anyone can handle any more than six ounces of this thing. Why not just melt a couple popsicles in a cup with some booze?
Light - This has been around a while. Never had one. What's the point?
Sunset Wheat - This is pretty good. But it's a ripoff of the Blue Moon Belgian White. It's a blatant, uncreative attempt to cash in on someone else's good beer.
Summer Shandy - Again, a pretty good beer. A real burst of lemon. Very drinkable. So much so, that this feels like another target. This smacks of playing to the wine cooler crowd. "Let's brew another beer that college girls will drink!" I guess I'm being pretty hard on Leinies here, because I genuinely enjoy this beer. But is this really the same company that brewed Winter Lager?
Apple Spice - They fucking did it again. Another obvious beer. Above I mentioned the Blue Moon company. They were bought by Coors, and changed all their beer names to kitschy marketing-friendly titles, such as "Havest Moon" or "Rising Moon" or "Full Moon". The ultimate triumph of the label over the brew. Well, Apple Spice isn't that different to me. This is yet another beer that's so overdone, so over-the-top with fruit flavor, that it's not even a beer anymore. It's a fancy label that girls fresh out of the tanning salon will pick up on their way home. Whatever happened to subtlety?
Oktoberfest - And this is the kicker. They did it -- they tried to jump on the Oktoberfest bandwagon. Pathetic. Who do they think they are, brewing an Oktoberfest beer? I thought Oktoberfest beers were supposed to have more alcohol and more flavor. This has a slight bit more alcohol than the typical Leinies, but flavor?
I can no longer ignore the fact that Leinies has been leapfrogged by brands such as Lakefront or Berghoff. I think only two or three of the current Leinies lineup are worthy of mention alongside a whole host of Berghoffs: Lager, Red, Dark, Solstice Wit, Bock, Pale, and Hazelnut Winter. It's difficult when the brewery you loved has abandoned its base and shot for the Zima market. But I have hope they will rebound. They are in God's country, up there in Chippewa Falls, so anything could happen.
What the Fuck has Happened to Leinenkugels?
I went to school a few miles from the brewery, so please believe me when I state I mean no disrespect. I've had more Leinies than the great majority of people walking the earth. I remember my first, sitting on the porch of the green house. I remember the discontinuation of their Ice beer, and realizing how this was a good thing -- this was a family brewery ditching the trends and coming back to its own. I remember touring the store, buying my Red shirt. I remember one of the greatest beers I ever tasted -- then called "Leinies Limited" -- at a friend's house after a hard race. I remember the great seasonals they put out throughout the year. This was a hometown brewery to be proud of.
In those days, my bread and butter included:
Original
Red
Honey Weiss
Northwoods
Autumn Gold (autumn seasonal only)
Winter Lager (winter seasonal only)
Creamy Dark (came a little later, but still a staple)
Auburn Ale
Maple Brown Lager (may have been just an autumn seasonal, not sure)
Bock (think it was just a spring seasonal, but I could be wrong)
Big Butt (spring seasonal only)
Of all those great beers (OK, 'Original' is average at best, I grant you), here is what is still available today:
Original
Red
Honey Weiss
Creamy Dark
Big Butt
They've pillaged their own stock. When you go to the Leinies website, they have an FAQ section in which they 'explain' why all those great beers are gone:
"We constantly look at our family of brews to determine the best mix to satisfy our loyal Leinie fans. We know that everybody has a favorite beer. (The challenge is how many different styles can the physical brewery brew in a given amount of time to quench the taste preferences of the market.) Sometimes we have to make a tough choice to discontinue a certain brew in order to be able to keep up with the demands of some of our most popular beers like Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss, Berry Weiss, Sunset Wheat, and Red Lager. Don't worry, we'll still continue to come up with new brews like our upcoming summer seasonal to be introduced in April 2007."
I realize that a lack of sales undoubtedly is to blame. But it's still a damn shame.
Northwoods - there's no good reason why this nector of beauty is gone, but that schlock of crap, Berry Weiss, is brewed year-round.
Autumn Gold - this was a real sleeper. It always seemed to be available for just a month or two. Nice, rich flavor.
Winter Lager - this, to me, was the flagship. This was a dark to fly a flag by. This was a pride beer. A beer like this could only be brewed by a small-town brewery. Or so I thought.
Auburn Ale - another sleeper with some surprising flavor. Real interesting character.
Maple Brown Lager - I heard Jake L. on the radio ripping this beer as kind of a bad experiment. That was too bad. Sure, it wasn't a beer-after-beer lager, but it was good. Had a sweetness that wasn't too obvious.
Bock - admittedly, the lesser bock when compared to the Big Butt. But that's no reason to kill it. I alway thought it was cool that such a small brewery could put out two kick-you-in-the-pants bock beers.
At some point in time, Leinies was bought by Miller. I don't really know if that's good or bad. From a distributing standpoint, it should be good, right? The thing is . . . I look at their offering right now . . . and I can't escape the conclusion that they're catering to the non-beer drinkers now. I humbly submit my evidence below. Aside from the five stalwarts -- Original, Red, Creamy Dark, Big Butt, Honey Weiss (with which I have no complaint) -- here's the lineup:
Berry Weiss - This one's been around a while, and they've finally created enough groundswell among the wine cooler crowd that it's no longer a seasonal. I guess I just always assumed that Honey Weiss was the chick beer. I don't know how anyone can handle any more than six ounces of this thing. Why not just melt a couple popsicles in a cup with some booze?
Light - This has been around a while. Never had one. What's the point?
Sunset Wheat - This is pretty good. But it's a ripoff of the Blue Moon Belgian White. It's a blatant, uncreative attempt to cash in on someone else's good beer.
Summer Shandy - Again, a pretty good beer. A real burst of lemon. Very drinkable. So much so, that this feels like another target. This smacks of playing to the wine cooler crowd. "Let's brew another beer that college girls will drink!" I guess I'm being pretty hard on Leinies here, because I genuinely enjoy this beer. But is this really the same company that brewed Winter Lager?
Apple Spice - They fucking did it again. Another obvious beer. Above I mentioned the Blue Moon company. They were bought by Coors, and changed all their beer names to kitschy marketing-friendly titles, such as "Havest Moon" or "Rising Moon" or "Full Moon". The ultimate triumph of the label over the brew. Well, Apple Spice isn't that different to me. This is yet another beer that's so overdone, so over-the-top with fruit flavor, that it's not even a beer anymore. It's a fancy label that girls fresh out of the tanning salon will pick up on their way home. Whatever happened to subtlety?
Oktoberfest - And this is the kicker. They did it -- they tried to jump on the Oktoberfest bandwagon. Pathetic. Who do they think they are, brewing an Oktoberfest beer? I thought Oktoberfest beers were supposed to have more alcohol and more flavor. This has a slight bit more alcohol than the typical Leinies, but flavor?
I can no longer ignore the fact that Leinies has been leapfrogged by brands such as Lakefront or Berghoff. I think only two or three of the current Leinies lineup are worthy of mention alongside a whole host of Berghoffs: Lager, Red, Dark, Solstice Wit, Bock, Pale, and Hazelnut Winter. It's difficult when the brewery you loved has abandoned its base and shot for the Zima market. But I have hope they will rebound. They are in God's country, up there in Chippewa Falls, so anything could happen.
