The busiest part of the festival was in the “Degusta Beer“, where the news of  Brazilian market were all there. Some breweries like Eisenbahn, Baden Baden, Colorado, Bamberg, Falke Bier, Bierland, Burgman, Klein, Dama Bier, Rasen, Fraga and much more are there, for the happiness of these beer maniacs!
Like  i said, were also present novelties like Amazon Beer, Basement, Gauden Beer, Rofer Brewery, Wensky Beer, Mondi Beer, Magnus Beer…
Some photos:

Basement Beer

with some friends: Armando (Vilã Beer), Luiz Felipe (DUM Brewery), me with my DUM Petroleum Beer (great beer!) and Fabian (Bebendo Bem - beer website)

Falke Bier from Minas Gerais state

Click here to watch the video:

Next festival:
Beer Experience 2011

The Beer Experience took place in August in Sao Paulo city, the first edition and was a great success.
Unlike Brasil Brau Festival, the focus of this event were beer drinkers, the great proof was the beer lovers in the place. Colorado Brewery, Way Brewery, Amazon Beer, Backer Brewery, Falke Bier, Walls Brewery were there!

Some photos:

Amazon Beer

Backer 3 Lobos

Click here to watch the video

Raphael Rodrigues
Beer Sommelier and beer writer
Have questions? Write me:
allbeersbr@gmail.com
All Beers (my beer blog in portuguese!)

First there was the attack of chairman Colin Valentine on people urging CAMRA to open its arms to ‘craft’ beers, joining the exclusive cask ales. This issue has been argued extensively elsewhere, so I will not go into this any further than agreeing with the idea that CAMRA has every right to set its own targets, and that my main stumbling stone with the whole issue was much more the condescending, personal way the chairman attacked his ‘opponents’, rather than with the crux of the matter.

Since then, there has been the GBBF, and thus the annual Champion Beer of Britain election. I must confess to have missed most of this matter, mostly, as I am not an avid reader of blogs  – the Zythophile blog from Martyn Connell being one of the very few exceptions – but What’s Brewing, the CAMRA magazine gave me insight as to what was being criticized.

First, let me get something straight. I am CAMRA-life member since a good 20 years, and have no intention of changing anything there. Being a member, however, does not hamper me in giving my opinion when I beg to differ with the official one.

What was on? It would seem that some people, bloggers and fora participants, criticized CAMRA for naming a mild as Champion Beer of Britain: first, they called it “typical” as coming from CAMRA, supposed to steer that kind of preferences, and second, that this would harm beer, because mild is seen as “old fashioned”.

What’s Brewing editorial effectively finished off the first criticism: in the end, it is not at all CAMRA that decides the winner, but a table of jurymembers, who do not know which beers are being served. This is a blind tasting, and the people invited are, I would dare to say, above suspicion.

WB did have a very valid point on the second item as well: the idea that mild, would be ‘old-fashioned’, is not an idea that ought to be carried by people pretending to love good beer. I wonder who thinks of mild as such might well be – and I fear it are people that have very little insight in beer as a whole.

And yet, I think CAMRA ought to rethink its CBoB competition, or at least its final. You see, my gutfeel tells me that it IS a bit silly to think that a mild, a beer of 3.7 % ABV, could be deemed ‘better’ than a Barley Wine, a Strong or Old ale, and more of such. Put them next to each other, and I wonder who would dare to maintain such drivel, given normal circumstances (on a sun-drenched terrace in a Mediterranean isle, the result might be slanted differently, I grant you).

Similarily, how do you compare an IPA with an Imperial Stout? How, for that matter, apples with pears?  I feel the CBoB competition is excellent in its preliminary rounds, but ends with a something akin to a farce.

But – I hear them, as yourself, protesting loudly – isn’t exactly that what we all do at Ratebeer? Well, we do, and we don’t.

If you will allow me, I’ll try to show parallels and differences by some of my own ratings.

My  highest average ratings by style, are for gueuze and lambic. Logical, since I like those beers best. In London, they are out of the picture entirely, thank goodness.

The highest rating for, let’s say, a double IPA, is 4.5 on 5. That’s for an 11.5% ABV beer.

The highest rated Kölsch gets 3.7 on 5. That’s a beer presenting 4.8% ABV. I’d say that getting 3.5+ on such a beer – let’s leave the lambic out of the pic, again – is a pretty good achievement! In fact, it probably equals 4.5 on 5 IN ITS STYLE.

As is often the case, the direct comparison of such extremes totally overlooks the simple fact, that alcohol, ethylalcohol to be precise, is a carrier of flavour. It supports the flavours that stand out in a beer, and balance, or even rounds off the overall mental flavourprofile.

Next to each other, the Kölsch doesn’t stand a chance compared to the overpoweringly flavourful IIPA. Seen from a brewers’ view, however, the Kölsch is a tour de force in dedication to excellence. The IIPA is more an affirmation of the application of a great brewer.

That is why I prefer the real international competitions: World Beer Cup, European Beer star, Mondial de la Bière. The CBoB is aequivalent, until this last, superfluous, twist of common sense. The others wisely stay away from that aberration. Somewhere, CAMRA realizes this, as they avoid bottled beers to interfere in the last round, whilst ciders and perries even can’t enter CBoB.

Sofar, Ratebeer seems to do the same. In the top 50, the DIPA, RIS, e tutti quanti will always prevail . However, we allow for in-style comparisons. Check the smaller, green part of the “score” frame. It gives an overal average in style. That will give you a fair idea how it compares to other, similar beers, away from the overwhelming top 50. Yes, I agree that CBoB also has this: the preliminary rounds.

Unfortunately, that very good strife gets smashed by the trumpetting of the one and only, when the “overall champion” is announced…

Not that I believe for a moment that my lament will have any effect. I just want to shake up people a bit, so they will reflect on what’s going on. And maybe, one day, only comparables will be compared. For the moment, I fear brewers have too much interest, as do CAMRA. For the press coverage, if you get my drift…

Joris Pattyn
September 2011

Whatever, I didn’t for one. Mind, the marks given (on Ratebeer, I mean), might show some variation, but in general, they were at the lower side. Certainly considering the status these beers enjoy, or at least, that their creators aspired for them. Not to mention the sometimes vertiginous price tags attached.

What is wrong then, with those beers, in my opinion? Did their brewers somehow forgot all their expertise, and were they just muddling on? Hard to believe, no, certainly with the stakes involved? Yet, they present a common mistake, one suggested by a century of indoctrination.

There is little doubt that international cuisine, and certainly haute cuisine is heavily influenced (for putting it mildly) by the rules, established by the French chefs, hailing all the way from Escoffier onwards. To be honest, I’ll be the last to renounce the delights of French cuisine, but there remain some things that I prefer to see my own way.

You certainly are familiar with one of those basic rules: the one concerning foodpairing; meaning, white dry wine for fish, red wine with meat, sweet white for dessert. UNLESS – unless you serve Champagne. Because if you do, you start pouring the bubbly bottles from the hors d’æuvres until the sweet end, barring maybe the pousse-café . Nice ‘n easy, isn’t it?

Well, think again. First of all, I’m not all that bowled over by Champagne. Admittedly, I still have to try the Rolls-Royce amongst them (Krug, for not giving unpaid advertisement), but still, I’ve had a couple in my life. In fact, I’m willing to state it’s probably the worlds’ most overrated drink. One that seems designed to please vintners, sommeliers and restaurant holders (not to forget pimps and F1-racers) all over the world, and make it an easier place – for them. In fact, I prefer a good Côte de Nuits with my steak and even a modest Muscadet with my Sole Normande. In short, I do not subscribe to the omniprevalence of the Reimser liquid.

But it would appear the brewers do. Now, that is pretty remarkable, as they agree wholeheartedly (the last decade, that is), with us beertasters and beerjournalists, that the broad spectrum of beer, in flavours, textures and characteristics, makes it so much more versatile than wine, when it comes to foodpairing.

Yet, what did all above brewers aspire to? To create a beer that does exactly the same ( and hence nothing more) than the bubbly. To create a beer that is so neutral, it will accommodate itself to all flavours. Put like that, admit that it sounds pretty silly, no?

Take, as a perfect example, the Voll-Damm Inedit. Aimed at the tables of El Bulli, the Number One in international innovative cuisine (until the fads decided for Noma), what did the combined forces of Ferran Adrià and Catalunya’s major brewery come up with? With a Belgian wit clone (in itself not exactly the top style in beer), that in its own genre isn’t even very good. I fear for the Noma one, but then again, maybe the insight of Mikkel Bergsø might save the day, sorry, the beer.

Serving Champagne is an easy solution, and a lucrative one. Creating a beer that must reflect this drink, is sheer folly. Beer isn’t Champagne, beer isn’t wine, beer is BEER. And thank the gods for that. I want variation, AND character. None of the above beers show a lot of either.

In the list I started with, there are some omissions. Oh, I might have forgotten some, or I might not know some, and there might even be a few that do show some punch. But there is one, obvious, deliberate omission. The same brewery that makes the Cuvée Royale, also makes a beer it calls Dark Brut. Bursting with chocolatey, fruity, woody, nutty flavours and alcoholic depth, it shines (darkly) above the pale rabble. Why? Because it has its own character, and makes no inroads to please the crowds. Pour one for my cheese platter, will you?

Joris Pattyn
July 2011

The Widmer American hefe really seems like the gold standard of American wheat beers. I think most people would associate Widmer with wheat beer. How did it happen that you would become synonymous with the American style hefe weizen?

Our family comes from Germanic ancestry and we brewed an alt style German beer and a filtered wheat beer early on. But in the mid 80′s  the alt style was ahead of its time. Too much, and too dry and roasty for most beer drinkers.  At that time, really the only beers available to the public were ‘light and dark’ beers. We couldn’t sell enough of our alt and knew we had to do something different. We decided to use our alt yeast on an unfiltered version of our wheat beer. Not having to filter the wheat was also financially beneficial at the time in terms of labor savings. Our two beers were served at the Dublin Pub in Portland where it became popular. We didn’t brew the traditional German hefe because we were concerned about cross contamination in the facility. Today, we still use that same strain of alt yeast to brew our American wheat.

What about the lemon wedge, how did that become the norm for the American wheat?

Friend and owner of the Dublin Pub in Portland who insisted on the proper glass for the style of beer being served, was the first to add a lemon wedge to the wheat beer for his customers. This was based on the common practice for some German styles of wheat.  I guess it was born there. I personally drink it with a fresh lemon, rubbed around the rim. We use cascade hops in that beer so I think the lemon does a good job of enhancing that flavor.

Do you have any advice to homebrewers who attempt to brew your hefe?

There’s no trick to brewing it, it’s pretty straight forward. I will say that we don’t re-use the yeast for many generations.

What happened to the original Alt?

Our alt is still our in-house beer.

So, what’s new for Widmer?

At Widmer, we’ve always brewed different styles of beer, but lately the use of the Nelson Sauvon hop allows us to be unique, giving us room to put out another IPA (the Nelson Imperial IPA) in a flooded market. We’re also using the Galaxy hop because of it’s difference. It has the flavor/aroma of juicy fruit. Our Drifter Pale Ale has Summit hops and the interesting thing about that beer is that even with the higher IBU’s it’s still not that bitter tasting. The Pitch Black IPA we’ve fooled with from its origins as our Cascadian Dark which we had entered in the GABF before there was even a name for the style.

I have to say that I was really impress with your Blonde Ale which you brew using the Citra hops. Now, the interest in sour beers seems to be the new thing these days. Do you have any intention of brewing a sour beer?

We’ve talked about it and I’m interested but again I’m concerned about cross contamination of yeast. Also, there is the question of what we would do different when there are so many good ones already out there.

Mark Taylor teaches and writes about homebrewing in California and Mexico and while determined to avoid becoming a beer snob, blogs about all things beer at Beer Diary…

Read Mark’s full recap of NHC over at Brewed For Thought.

The first edition of the South Beer Cup in Buenos Aires – Argentina took place earlier this month. The festival comes at exactly the time when several countries are beginning to show a great progress in the beer market like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and others.

Brazil was well represented and showed to be in front of the other countries of South America.
In total, Brazil received 14 medals, with a Special Mention to Baden Baden Brewery (Campos do Jordao – SP) and the brewery of the year award for Bamberg Brewery (Votorantim – SP).

What Brazilians think about the event?

“the educational part, with interesting lectures, good crowd and excellent dinners.
Congratulations to Argentina”
Alexandre Bazzo – Bamberg Brewery

“the event is a really important initiative for unity, fellowship and exchange of knowledge between the countries of South America I think this is the way we should go to help grow and craft beer in our country and continent”
Kathia Zanatta – Beer Sommelier

“a pleasant surprise I think it was Uruguay, which although it is still starting in the culture of microbreweries, is already doing well”
Marcelo Carneiro – Colorado Brewery

“something very positive was the presence of Doug Odell (Odell Brewing), Pete Slosberg and Stephen Beaumont”
Gilberto Tarantino – Tarantino Importer

“was very organized, very prestigious breweries in South America, all were present.
I drank a beer from Patagonia, wonderful”
Paula Lebbos – Backer Brewery

“we had great talks with brewing journey that came with great technical information for the brewers”
Amanda Reitenbach – Beer Sommelier

“the strongest point for me was the union of the Brazilian delegation. The representatives of the breweries were all together cheering for Brazil”
Alfredo Ferreira – Baden Baden Brewery / Brewmaster

“i think the event has much potential to happen every year”
Fabiana Arreguy – CBN Radio Station – “Pão e Cerveja Program” / Beer Sommelier

Check out the Brazilian awards:

Pilsen: Colorado Brewery (bronze)
Golden Ale / Blonde Ale: Eisenbahn Brewery (silver)
IPA: Backer Brewery (bronze)
Wheat: Baden Baden Brewery (silver) and Bier Hoff Brewery (bronze)
Dry Stout: Bodebrown Brewery (silver)
Rauchbier: Bamberg Brewery (silver)
Special: Baden Baden Brewery (gold)
Dunkel: Eisenbahn Brewery and Bamberg Brewery (silver)
Belgian Dark Ale: St. Seba Eisenbahn Brewery (bronze)
Munich: Bamberg Brewery (silver)
Scharwzbier: Bamberg Brewery (silver)
Old Ale: Bodebrown Brewery (silver)

Congratulations!

Raphael Rodrigues
Beer Sommelier and beer writer
Have questions? Write me:
allbeersbr@gmail.com
All Beers (my beer blog in portuguese!)

Whatever, I “managed” another festival this weekend. Not even a Zythos (*) festival, but one organized by, and cared for by students! Vilvordia, a High School students’ fraternity organized the fifteenth VBPF on the premises of the Erasmus/VUB campus, on the outskirts of Brussels. To tell it all, it’s a bout of nostalgia to me, as I used to study there as well, a lifetime ago, and even had lodgings some 250 meters from the festival location… I wish somebody had organized something similar in my days. Then again, that might have proven dangerous…

It is interesting to see that two worlds met: that of the students (on one hand, happy to drink, on the other hand all the same interested in the unusual), and that of the usual suspects one meets at every festival. Ach, the latter tend to flock together – we know one another too well. One might be tempted to suspect that the beerlist would not divert too much from that in a usual Belgian café with a good menu. Think again. The 81 beers-rich list featured some absolutely unique items, and even had surprises in petto – near every time I went to the counter in order to get me a beer, something hitherto unexpected appeared in the see-through fridges. Annoying for somebody trying to make a structured approach to alcohol indulgence, as me – joke.

The visitors weren’t deluded: in the short hours that I was able to spend there, I met with Brits, Dutch, Americans – and none of them students. If people from far and abroad will flock to such a modest event, the offering must be worthwhile. Want some examples? Let’s start with Aphis, a beer specially ordered by the students themselves, from the kettles of Marc Struyf, from Triest fame (pun intended). Or Toetëlèr (yes, that’s Flemish to you), from the brand-new brewery of the same name, made with elderflower. Brussels Calling, the new light beer by the stars from de la Senne – or the special German (!) bottling by h. ertie of the Straffe Winter. This definitely single German lambicblender, brings me to another item.

I have gone to this cosy festival before, and already two years ago, I encountered rare Italian, and other exotic brews, there. Knowing the Belgian chauvinistic approach to foreign brews, that is remarkable – certainly for young people. More of the same this year: Danish (Virklund), American (Anchor), Dutch (De Molen, but also La Trappe) or Scottish (inevitable BrewDog, ànd Harviestoun); beers for those wanting to look over the borders. In this, they remarkably got themselves in line with similar festivals by Zythos branches, that have seriously broadened their horizons, the last five years.

They had, however, another feature, that is not only unusual in festivals, but where it happens, is in average a fairly large festival: they had a side-tasting, guided by a lambicspecialist from the Bierpallieters’ branch, of three very unusual lambicbeers; draught Girardin lambic, a special blended gueuze from the same brewery, and a 20 year-old Sélection Lambic with De Neve origins. This guided tasting was repeated twice. No necessity to confirm they were well-attended, I suppose?

I had to leave fairly early, so I suspect the hall got filled up more afterwards. In any case, during my stay I seldom had to queue for long, and even when not all servers were obviously professionals, they were satisfyingly efficient. Maybe some of them might have had some more ample info on the beers they were pouring, but that is a minor criticism, as a very good deal of info could be found in the brochure (€ 1.20), to be had at the pay desk. And of course, Praesens Honoris causa, Steven Vermeylen (head culprit of this terrific tradition-in-spe), was walking around, helping out anybody with questions.

If Vilvordia goes on in the same vein, I predict that in a few years’ time, they will have outgrown the small Erasmus cantine. That is the ransom of success. Yet, I wish them growing success – for as long as they can manage the volunteers to keep the show going. If you’re in search for a cosy, interesting spring festival in this neck of the woods, I seriously suggest VBPF!

Vivat, crescat, floreat! in international students’ slang… If young people can organize this kind of event, there remains hope for the Flemish beerscene!

(*) Zythos is the Belgian beerconsumers’ organization, set up on regional branching. Most branches run a yearly festival or suchlike. Zythos is part of the European BeerConsumers’ Union.

Maxim Magazine in Brazil did their first award to choose the best beers in the country. It all happened on Melograno Bar in Sao Paulo city. The beers were divided between craft beer and commercial, for a total of 12 categories (Weiss, American lager, Red Ale, Commercial, Porter, Dunkel, Pale Ale, IPA, Golden Ale,  Stout and Rauchbier). It was also made an award of beers that are unique styles not often produced in Brazil.

The winner of the night was the Baden Baden Brewery that took 3 awards (Golden Ale, Red Ale and Weiss). The highlights goes to OPA Bier (best porter), the Kraemerfass  Brewery (best dunkel) and  Way Brewery (best pale ale).

The winners list:
Best American Lager: Bavaria Premium
Best Porter: OPA Bier
Best Red Ale: Baden Baden
Best Stout: La Brunette (Schmitt Brewery)
Best Golden Ale: Baden Baden
Best IPA: Colorado Indica
Best Weiss: Baden Baden
Best Rauchbier: Bamberg
Best Dunkel: Kraemerfass
Best Pale Ale: Way
Best Commercial: Petra
Best Unique Style: Wals

During the event, all gave their opinion, including me (click here to see the video)

Raphael Rodrigues
Beer Sommelier and beer writer
Have questions? Write me:
allbeersbr@gmail.com
All Beers (my beer blog in portuguese!)

In the online community of beer enthusiasts, fanatics, and geeks, there is an elephant in the room. eBay has become an increasingly popular market for rare beer. Just a few years ago, special beer releases were attended by a select few; they have now morphed into major events promoted over social media and the online beer community. The upside to this is more exposure for a small brewery with a coveted, rare, special-release beer. The downside is that now beer releases are packed with fans and entrepreneurs alike. The latter are willing to wait in line and go to great lengths to buy a beer at the normal price and then auction the bottle over the internet for, in some extreme instances, ten times the original price or more.

With very few exceptions, every rare beer that is released around the world, and even some that are never officially released to the public, makes its way onto eBay. This is because a growing number of people have found that there is profit to be made in this “gray” market for reselling rare beers at auction. Though selling alcohol for consumption on eBay is illegal[1], hundreds of transactions for alcohol are allowed to take place every day on the website thanks to an addendum that sellers are required to post for beer, wine, and liquor auctions:

1) The value of the item is the collectible container, not its contents.
2) The container has not been opened and any incidental contents are not intended for consumption.
3) The item is not available at any retail outlet, and the container has a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of alcohol in the container.
4) The seller will take all appropriate steps to ensure that the buyer is of lawful age in the buyer’s and seller’s jurisdiction (generally 21 years of age).
5) Buyers and sellers both ensure that the sale complies with all applicable laws and shipping regulations.

The gist of the addendum is that it serves as a loophole. Beer, wine, and liquor are sold under the guise of a “collectible bottle” that may happen to still be filled with alcohol, but the alcohol has insignificant value compared to the actual glass bottle and label. Whereas a beer’s value can be somewhat subjective and negotiable in the online trading market, thanks to this loophole, eBay auction prices assign hard value to certain rare beers. In other words, eBay serves as a conduit for determining gray market prices of rare beer, also allowing one to observe buyer/seller behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to assess if eBay’s loophole logic holds: do people value the rare beer bottle in and of itself, or the contents inside? The analysis will also explore how variables like vintage and rarity, as well as other people’s perceptions of a rare beer, can affect value.

II. Methods

Twice a week for thirteen months, eBay was scoured for rare beer auctions by searching for certain key words: lost abbey, bruery, cantillon, fonteinen, russian river, three floyds, alesmith, surly (brewing), bells (batch), hair of the dog, cigar city, and (portsmouth) kate the great, among others.

All beer auctions tabulated were “no reserve” (NR) true auctions. No “buy it now” (BIN) sales were tabulated since these are not auctions and usually the BIN prices are much higher than the normal auction prices. The true auctions that were tabulated included the following in the dataset:

• Name(s) of the beer(s) (and vintage(s) if applicable)
• Number of bids for the item
• The final gross auction price for the item
• The shipping cost for the item
• The date the auction ended
• Number of bottles in the auction
• Volume of the bottle(s) in mL
• The final gross auction price for the item by volume (12oz or 355mL was used as the standard)

Many auctions did not specify the exact liquid volume of the bottle in question. However, these beers are familiar to the author and there are only a handful of different bottle sizes for beer (330mL, 355mL, 375mL, 651mL, and 750mL being the most common). From looking at the auction pictures and description details, bottle sizes were entered into the dataset.

In many cases, auctions are for multiple bottles. Two bottles is fairly common, while sometimes an entire lot of beer is auctioned. These final prices are difficult to compare to the prices for beers in standalone auctions. Because lot auctions usually sell for a discount compared to bottles sold individually, it is difficult for coupled bottles to be “separated” from each other. Thus, in most cases, lot auctions are omitted from the analysis.

It would be wrong to say that every rare beer auction on eBay from February 2010 to February 2011 was captured in this dataset. And there is also the subjectivity of what constitutes “rare.” Many beer bottles were auctioned on eBay during this study period that were not considered “rare” by the author’s subjective viewpoint.

There are a few weaknesses in this analysis. First, eBay is not a perfect marketplace to gauge the value of rare beers since the bidders are presumably specialized collectors and enthusiasts. Also, auction markets create a stepped demand curve. Say there is a bottle of Cantillon Blåbær for sale right after the release and it sells for $250. Now the person willing to pay $250 has left the market, at least theoretically, and would not be bidding on another bottle. So the next bottle may sell for $220 because the first person with the highest willingness to pay (WTP) already has his or her coveted bottle. And this phenomenon progresses down the market in a stepwise fashion. It may seem like the value of Cantillon Blåbær is declining, but this would be a misnomer. The most extreme case of this drop was a small, 375mL bottle of Cantillon Don Quijote that sold at auction for $330. It was the first time the beer had ever been on eBay. The next time it showed up for auction, it sold for $326, but the bottle was 750mL. So the person with the highest WTP paid nearly double the subsequent person by volume.

There are also some apparent instances of information asymmetry in the rare beer market. If someone is willing to pay $330 for a bottle of Cantillon Don Quijote, it is unlikely they have ever had the beer before. Thus, bidders on eBay may be purchasing goods in which they can only speculate about the quality of the product. They likely have read reviews online and heard about the beer by word of mouth and beer community hype, but it is hard for them to gauge their own valuation of the beer having not tried it. Thus, the prices in this dataset may reflect specific collectors’ or enthusiasts’ perceived value of a certain bottle and not necessarily the actual market value.

III. Results

The dataset consisted of 887 different finalized rare beer auctions between February 1^st, 2010 and February 28^th, 2011. The average gross selling price was $122, or $137 with shipping included.[2] Final prices ranged from as little as $9.50 for a bottle of Bell’s Batch 7,000 to as high as $999 for a bottle of Midnight Sun M.[3] The average price by volume for the rare beers included in this analysis was $58 per 12oz (a standard beer bottle size in the US). Final prices by 12oz volume ranged from $7.57 for Cigar City Humidor Jai Alai to $545 for the aforementioned bottle of Midnight Sun M. Lot auctions comprised 87 of the total auctions tracked, or almost 10%.

From the sample of 887 auctions, 451 items (51%) sold for $100 or more without shipping included, while 128 items (14%) sold for at least $200. These included lot auctions. For total auction prices by 12oz volume, 105 items (12%) sold for over $100 while twenty-six auctions (3%) were for over $150. The five most expensive auctions by 12oz volume were:

1. Midnight Sun M: $544.77
2. Cantillon Don Quijote: $312.40
3. Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus 1992 Vintage: $284.00
4. Russian River Depuration: $265.07
5. Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell: $260.12

A handful of breweries make up a disproportionate amount of the auctions in the dataset: Lost Abbey/Port Brewing (n=182), The Bruery (n=120), Three Floyds (n=117), Russian River (n=81), Cantillon (n=50), Alesmith (n=37), Cigar City (n=35), and Surly (n=33). These eight breweries accounted for 74% of the auctions. All of these breweries are American save for Cantillon in Belgium.

There are also specific rare beers that are frequently found for auction on eBay. These include Three Floyds Dark Lord (n=103)[4], The Bruery Black Tuesday (n=55), Lost Abbey Isabelle Proximus (n=39), Russian River Beatification (n=32), and Surly Darkness (n=32). These five beers accounted for almost 30% of all rare beer auctions.

Just from observing the raw data, there is an obvious trend: selling beers in a lot will rarely command the same price as selling the beers individually. Looking at Figure 1, if one were to sell each vintage of Three Floyds Dark Lord separately, the total revenue from all auctions combined would reach $800, assuming each bottle sold for the average price. But when a vertical (or a complete set of a certain beer’s vintages) was auctioned, it sold for only about $650. Likewise, a lot of three 2010 vintage Black Tuesdays sold for $250 when one could expect each to sell for $103. A lot of six Isabelle Proximus sold for $824, when individually they sell for $157 on average ($942 for six).

Figure 1: Average Value of Three Floyds Dark Lord by Vintage (n=92)*

[*The sample size here is 92 instead of 103 as lot auctions were removed.]

From Figure 2, it is interesting to note that a spike of Dark Lord auctions on eBay takes place at the end of April and early May. This uptick likely coincides with the official beer release from the brewery. However, during the study period only one vintage of Dark Lord was released, the 2010 edition. Though there was certainly a flood of 2010 bottles into the marketplace in April/May from people who attended the release, there were also many auctions for just about every other vintage of Dark Lord. This may be because sellers assume that Dark Lord enthusiasts will be scouring eBay around this time for bottles. One would think that a massive amount of auctions at once would bring down the average market price because the market has been flooded with the good. But the final price of Dark Lord 2010 stood about constant throughout the year, implying demand remained strong despite the uptick in supply in April/May.

Figure 2: Value of Three Floyds Dark Lord by Vintage over Time

For Dark Lord (Figure 2), it is hard to make many conclusions by vintage except to say that the 2009 and 2010 had roughly the same value over time and that the value of the 2006 vintage appreciated the most over time. Auction price trends indicate that vintage of Dark Lord drives value, albeit to a lesser degree in recent vintages. This may be for a few reasons. First, Dark Lord 2009 was generally considered by the beer community to be inferior in quality and thus does not have a major difference in price to the more readily available, but still quite rare, 2010 vintage. But the value added was minimal for the 2007 and 2008 vintages, both considered very good batches. So it would seem that the vintages that had a major appreciation in value were the first three batches. This may be because of their relative rarity, as many of the older vintage bottles have already been consumed and the production count for these vintages was much lower than in recent years.

The same holds for The Bruery Black Tuesday, where in Figure 3 the older vintage is treated as an entirely different entity vs. the 2010 vintage by eBay bidders. The average selling price for a bottle of the 2009 first release was $147 while the second release was $103. The value of the 2009 vintage continued to increase even after the 2010 release and subsequent flooding of the marketplace with the newer vintage. Thus, there are apparent patterns in how people value different vintages of a beer.

Figure 3: Value of The Bruery Black Tuesday by Vintage over Time (n=55)

Figure 4 displays auction prices rather than vintages of what should be almost the exact same “collectible bottle” but with different liquid contents. On a random basis, Lost Abbey/Port Brewing in San Marcos, CA releases special experimental batches in very small numbers called the Veritas series. Though the bottles that contain them are the exact same save for a number written on the back in Sharpie marker, there is a clear difference in how people value the liquid contents. Using data from my makeshift model shown in Table 1, it is strange to find that Veritas 004 appears to be the least rare of the series (although this may not be the case). However, its average price is ranked at third. So the major factor in determining its value is not simply rarity, but perhaps how other people view the beer. Using online ratings from RateBeer and BeerAdvocate, 004 is assumed to be the second best of the Veritas series. In the opposite direction, Veritas 008 is technically the rarest by remaining bottle count after Veritas 005, but it carries the lowest market price. This is assumed to be a manifestation of poor reviews from other beer enthusiasts. By looking at the data, Veritas 008 is definitely an outlier with mediocre reviews compared to stellar for the rest of the series. In general, this small subset of data suggests that other peoples’ perceptions are a strong component of auction price.

Figure 4: Value of Lost Abbey Veritas Series over Time (n=55)

Table 1: Lost Abbey Veritas Series

Finally, probably the most obvious manifestation of people valuing the contents instead of the actual bottle comes from an auction of Lost Abbey Yellow Bus, a beer that was never officially released and never was given a label or artwork. This blank bottle, having no indication of its contents save for the seller’s description and a Lost Abbey cork and cage, sold for over $400. It is considered the best American sour ale of all time on RateBeer and has an A+ average on BeerAdvocate.

IV. Conclusion

eBay’s alcohol policy is clearly being abused. The “collectible bottle” loophole represents a very flawed piece of logic that has effectively allowed hundreds of alcohol transactions to occur each day on a site where selling alcohol is illegal. If an individual is willing to spend thousands on a bottle of rare Bordeaux for just the bottle and label, they could certainly buy a cheap bottle of red wine and apply a rare Bordeaux’s label from an empty container, which could be found for a fraction of the price. (Alternatively, the label could be used to create a counterfeit bottle as described above and sold for many times the value of the empty bottle with label.[5]) For display and collection purposes, this would essentially be the same thing. If one were to argue that the value of the collectible is having the actual rare alcoholic liquid inside the bottle even if the liquid is never to be consumed, then the high auction price is indeed for the alcoholic liquid and not the bottle!

eBay is obviously a popular marketplace for rare beer, but it is starting to alter the way rare beer exchange is conducted. Within days of The Bruery releasing one bottle of Chocolate Rain to its Reserve Society members, many of these bottles went on eBay selling for over $200 per bottle and some for over $350 (the entire Reserve Society membership costs $195). In many auctions, people offered up their Chocolate Rain allotment as well as the single bottle allotment of Sour in the Rye. Sometimes even their Reserve Society duffle bag was thrown in! In short, people signed up for the membership solely to make a profit on eBay with no intention of consuming the beer.

Though the eBay gray market for rare beer is large, it primarily affects a handful of specific breweries. The market for Dark Lord and other special beers is very large and continues to grow by word of mouth and by online reviews. But distribution of Dark Lord and other rarities are generally cyclical, small, and isolated. Trading beers was once the modus operandi for surpassing these barriers allowing people not privy to a special beer’s distribution to obtain a bottle. But more recently, eBay is giving the enthusiast the opportunity to use hard currency as an alternative to barter.

One consequence of this new monetization of beer collecting and trading is that certain traders or enthusiasts may increasingly leave the trading arena for the profits to be made on eBay. In fact, there have been blatant cases where instead of someone wanting to trade extremely rare beers within the online community, they were drawn towards the liquidated value of these beers. This takes many special beers supposedly out of the online trading circle and into oblivion. Another consequence is that traders may begin valuing their beers according to an eBay average. This could shift the value of specific beers for better or for worse. If a relatively unknown beer has a low trade value but sells for $150 on average on eBay, it is a logical conclusion that its trade value would be equal to any other beer that sells for $150. Now that there is large gray market to put hard prices on rare beer, trade values may start changing from subjective values to gray market average values.

V. Comments

• One of the most interesting things that came out of this research is not beer related whatsoever but pure auction theory. If a Russian River Deviation was put up for $300 BIN, it would remain unsold for many weeks or would never sell. But if the same beer was truly auctioned with no reserve, it would frequently surpass the $300 mark. This may be because a potential buyer has decided they have a WTP of $200 for the bottle. But as they get into a bidding war, the buyer’s WTP somehow increases in an irrational fashion to simply win the auction regardless. There could be an “ego” variable in this person’s demand function. It may also be a function again of information asymmetry. The potential buyer has heard of Russian River Deviation, knows it has excellent reviews and is quite rare, but still is unsure of how good the beer is and how few bottles remain. The potential buyer may originally have a WTP of $200. But as they see four or five other buyers willing to spend above $200 for the bottle, they may reevaluate their WTP.

• There are a few tricks eBay sellers use to mislead beer collectors and enthusiasts who may not be in the loop on beer current events. For example, a few auctions for The Bruery Black Tuesday claimed the beer was “never going to be made again.” This is simply false. This marketing technique worked since that particular bottle of Black Tuesday sold for over $50 more than the average price. In the opposite direction, one seller misspelled Drie Fonteinen making their auction harder to locate using eBay search. The final auction price of that Drie Fonteinen J&J Blauw was about $100 less than the average price.

• Though the exact eBay feedback number was not tallied for the seller in every auction, the vast majority of auctions were from users with low feedback numbers (less than 50 eBay transactions). In fact, many brand new accounts were created exclusively to auction off certain beers or a good portion of a person’s beer cellar. These all point to new people entering a market to profit from the demand for rare beer. And unfortunately, the auction prices show that there is plenty of room for new entrants in the market for rare beer, and entry will continue as long as sellers can collect “economic rent.” In other words, there are excess profits that sellers are making thanks to having a rare good for sale in an undersupplied market. Specifically, this is called “scarcity rent.”

• It is certainly worth noting that those who sell rare bottles of beer on eBay are not so far removed from the beer sites of RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. There is a surprising amount of overlap. This constitutes an area ripe for arbitrage. For instance, a crafty eBay seller and beer trader knows that he can sell a Black Tuesday 2010 for around $100. But this crafty fellow knows on the beer trading forums they can trade a Black Tuesday 2010 for a Dark Lord 2006. They may also know the Dark Lord 2006 will sell for around $150 on eBay. One could trade and then auction and pocket the difference. Thus, there is money to be made by people exploiting the different ways eBay bidders and beer traders value certain beers. (This is known as “rent seeking” when someone profits from asymmetry.) In fact, there are even arbitrage possibilities between RateBeer and BeerAdvocate since certain beers have extremely different relative values between the two trading communities of each website. Whether or not this arbitrage exists in any large form has yet to be seen as it involves quite a bit of time and can yield possibly mild financial gains. It may also yield severe stigma from the online beer trading community and deter potential arbitragers.

• Almost all beers in the dataset are one of four beer styles: imperial stout, barleywine, traditional Belgian lambic sour ale, or American sour ale. These styles are generally regarded as the most difficult (and/or time consuming) to produce (especially sour ales) and create the highest financial burdens for breweries. Thus, they are commonly special releases with lower bottle counts.

• As far as average prices for specific beers, a complete listing is omitted from this study because of the potential arbitrage possibilities described above. In other words, the raw data from this study is very ripe for abuse.

[1] See “eBay Alcohol Policy” at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/alcohol.html.

[2] Shipping costs on eBay are almost always at $15 per beer auction (regardless of bottle size), with an average of $14.85 for the entire dataset. They are omitted from the rest of the paper.

[3] The most expensive item sold during the study period was actually a $12,800 bottle of Dark Lord 2010 that was put up for auction before the beer’s official release. Since this bottle was purportedly taken out of the brewery without the brewer’s permission, the auction was attacked by multiple bidders who bid the price up to an astronomical amount and then presumably did not pay for the item.

[4] It is important to note that so many bottles of Dark Lord are sold on eBay around April/May that a fairly good amount were tracked but not every single auction was tabulated since they were typically homogenous: 2010 vintage and selling for ~$50 each.

[5] Wine counterfeiting is a growing industry, as detailed in this 2007 article from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_keefe?currentPage=all

[6] Reviews from both RateBeer and BeerAdvocate were tallied only for reviews written before February 2010. Thus the hypothetical bottles remaining is an imputed estimate of the bottles remaining at the beginning of February 2010. This is used as a surrogate for rarity. It would be crude to assume that every bottle consumed was rated by someone on these sites, but there is no other way to know how many bottles have been consumed except by this measure. Unfortunately, many reviews come from the same bottle being shared, so there is no surefire way to know exactly how many bottles remain. Since rarity cannot be tabulated with empirical data, this measure provides one way to estimate rarity, but is not robust enough for critical analysis.

[7] This is the average of user reviews on a 5 point scale (5 being perfect) from the beer’s BeerAdvocate simple mean and RateBeer weighted average (Veritas 005 has too few reviews on RateBeer for the weighted average to be useful, so a simple mean is used). This combined score is used as a surrogate for quality.

[8] This is calculated using the average final auction price on eBay from February 2010 through February 2011. Veritas 001, 002, and 005 only had one auction each so their values may be far from the true mean.

[9] Bottle count data comes from http://www.lostabbey.com/about/faqs/ assuming 12 750mL bottles per case.

[10] This bottle count comes from http://beernews.org/2010/10/the-lost-abbey-update-veritas-008-4th-annual-barrel-night-cuvee-de-tomme/.

Yet, this rosy picture hides a Hydra of truth, with many ugly heads. For every ten associations that appear, eight or nine will experience a split, and often in scant few years of existence. Often one (or two) of the split parts will disappear again, but that is not the point. The point is that, as another saying goes, there are as many opinions as there are people. The saying is rather overweening, as it goes against the opposite tendency: that of people wanting to belong to a group (or association…). One might disagree with me here – lots of people will do so, no doubt – but I think this is one of humanity’s worst traits: the one that has led to religions (and Holy Wars), to ideologies (and persecution), to sports teams (and hooliganism) – you get the drift. Associations can go far. But, of course, an association can be something very noble indeed – certainly at its point of origin. Such as the preservation of traditions, culture, or (aha!) good beer.

In the mean time, we have established that the need to associate isn’t strictly Belgian at all, albeit it very intense in this country. In Europe, not less than 12 countries count an association – associated (!) to EBCU, the European Beer Consumers’ Organization – and there have been more in the past. In time, France and Germany had to abdicate. In both those countries, rival associations have been quarreling about the right to be the only and true one! Something similar is going on in Italy at the moment. In my own country, the current organization, Zythos, is actually not the original one – OBP, one of the founding members of EBCU, floundered on disagreements between the people running the organization and people in the field, as well as because of regional differences. True, Zythos has been firmly established on the fundaments that OBP lay, but all the same – it would seem that EBCU makes a perfect example of what I started to relate.

In itself, the splitting, and even the quarrelling would be no such big deal, if it weren’t for the lasting rivalry, even wrath and hate that can result from such confrontations. People, at the beginning imbued by the same ideals, will be at each other’s throats for the rest of their existence, often because of some dispute that might seem pretty trivial for a third party, acting as objective observer. Beer is supposed to be a smoothener of relationships, of social interaction. That defenders of that noble vessel would turn into bitter rivals is a sobering thought indeed.

I have used EBCU as an example, but I could have stayed closer at home, too. I reckon that many of the people reading this will have heard about a certain animosity between two internet groups – RB and BA, for not naming them – haven’t you? Another internet group I participate in rather actively, had to forego its original openness, turning into registered members only, just because of one or two people warring a feud on others in the group, spoiling all the fun for the innocent bystanders. And I could go on, presenting examples. Still, in all those cases, if people from all sides would be asked, they all would have vouched to strive for the good of – what they deem to be – good beer. Funny, isn’t it?

Funny – and tragic. A little more understanding or even simply more patience might have solved a lot, before things went out of hand. It’s not always easy – and certainly not when money is involved. Loss of face, another ugly head, can be an impossible hurdle too. If you’re in for the greater good, then try to see other views as well, I’d say. Now, it’s easy for me to preach the gospel. But I’ve been in the eye of the storm as well. Usually, when I see it turning bad, I tend to shake the dust off my shoes, and walk away. It prevents bad words, but sociologists will certainly maintain that isn’t a good solution either – in fact, it’s no solution, seen that the conflict remains.

To make a point, I’ll repeat what some “adversary” threw to my feet recently: “It’s only beer!” And right he was, too… after making quite some fuss. OK, there I go again. Let’s try something: next turn, we’ll have a glass of (good) beer before we answer. Deal?

Joris Pattyn

April 2011

Rupprecht Loeffler (93 years old), the oldest brewer in Brazil, was admitted to the Santa Cruz Hospital and died on the last day of February. His father founded Canoinhense Brewery in Canoinhas City in 1908, known today as the only brewery in Brazil to preserve the same characteristics as ever.

Canoinhas Brewery produces craft beer with family recipes that are five generations old, following the Reinheitsgebot – German purity law. The oak barrels they use were brought from Germany for more than a century.

The production is about 1,500 bottles a month. Their main brands are Nó de Pinho (schwarzbier), Jahu (blond ale), Malzbier and Mocinha (American amber ale). Near the factory is the bar that is as old as the brewery, all decorated with stuffed animals. It works only by day.

Last year, Loeffler was featured on a postal stamp and was honored by the City Council with the title of honorary citizen canoinhense.

He became nationally known from the Cerveja Falada documentary (Exato Segundo), directed by Demetrius Panarotto, Luiz Henrique Cudo and Guto Lima. The production shows the daily brew master working at the Canoinhense Brewery.

Rest in peace, Mr. Loeffler! Thanks for everything!

Raphael Rodrigues
Beer Sommelier and beer writer
Have questions? Write me:
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All Beers (my beer blog in portuguese!)