'Beer's Black Market'

The estimable Washington Post has shone its investigative light on the sordid secondary market for spooge beer. Read the whole thing here. Woodward and Bernstein would be proud.

Of course, readers of my own estimable (?) e-organ would have picked up on this dark and unseemly activity in posts past. The Post's article is interesting in including views from such tickerific brewers as Lost Abbey, The Bruery and Stone. Greg Koch offers an interesting view, which I tend to agree with, that it isn't necessarily drinkability that drives this market, it's rarity. Hence RRBC's Framboise For The Cure going at $400 a bottle, and not a penny of that profit finding its way to the charity intended to benefit from its sale. Yet, if RRBC had offered it at double its original $12 price, they'd have been slaughtered by the same tickers for hyping the price.

I've been monstered for criticising the beer fanboy websites which offer trading forums driving some of this secondary market. Many of their members believe that it would all stop if these brewers bucked their ideas up and geared up to meet all demand. It doesn't seem to occur to them that not all brewers are in it for reasons other than global market domination. They simply can't accept they might miss a beer, and move on. I've been there and, trust me, it's not a happy place.

It will be interesting to see how ebay responds to this. Will they stop sales of 'collectible containers' (wink wink)? Police the listings looking for newly-released beers? I imagine their present ambivalence is partly driven by the easy money they rake off from this spooge. I expect the traders will find other ways to knock their spooge out - I believe Craigslist is used for this market, including to recruit mules for people who can't get to launch events. I'll be watching the reaction to this with interest...

(By the way, anybody interested in a 2005 Dark Lord?)

"Real Brewers Don't Sue Each Other..."

Thus spake Brendan Moylan, owner of the eponymous brewery and restaurant in Novato, California, following the news that fellow CA brewer Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey based in San Marcos, had filed suit contending breach of copyright over Moylan's use of a stylised Celtic Cross as a bar tap handle. Lost Abbey claims the design is too close to their own, and since they share markets, could cause confusion. Moylan says he has been using the design for some 15 years, and that "...first use is first use, and arrogance is arrogance."

Spot the difference? The tap handle in the middle is actually an ancient Celtic cross uncovered in the churchyard of St. Teath's parish church in Cornwall, in the late 19th century. Maybe the parish council should be suing Lost Abbey... (NB: I 'borrowed' the tap handle pics from beernews.org)

Tomme Arthur is a brewer who doesn't get much love among craft brewing fans, with a reputation as an arsey and difficult customer who loves himself a bit too much. His beers are usually regarded as tickerific, however, and can be found in the UK these days. He also popped up at the last Wetherspoon's Beer Fest, but has baggage for releasing under-conditioned and poor quality beers, and then not taking remedial action to resolve complaints. All of this has been exhumed on the ticker sites as drinkers queue up to take sides. Some wags have asked if he intends to sue any brewer who releases flat beer, while Moylan's legal team have noted that the Celtic Cross has been used for many hundreds of years.

Seems to me that if you were in a pub with both, you wouldn't order by tap handle, you'd speak to the bartender or check the board before ordering, so it all sounds a bit pointless. Arthur says that their handle is "iconic", and that it's a focal point as they don't spend on advertising. Seems to me a lawsuit is one way to get your name out there for free...