Sierra Nevada Beer Tasting

Sierra Nevada Beer Tasting
featuring Limb or Life & Chico Estate Harvest Ale
Host: Louisville Beer Store
Type: Party - Cocktail Party
Network: Global
Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: 746 East Market Street

DescriptionJason Schuster from River City Distribution will be hosting a Sierra Nevada Beer Tasting, featuring the following beers:

Celebration Ale:
The long, cold nights of winter are a little brighter with Celebration Ale. Wonderfully robust and rich, Celebration Ale is dry-hopped for a lively, intense aroma. Brewed especially for the holidays, it is perfect for a festive gathering or for a quiet evening at home.

Kellerweis:
Kellerweis is one of the only American Hefeweizens made using the traditional Bavarian style of open fermentation. This difficult and labor-intensive technique adds uncommon depth and flavor complexity. Our hazy-golden hefeweizen is deeply flavorful, refreshing and perfect for a sunny day. To serve, pour two-thirds into a glass, swirl and pour the rest.

Chico Estate Harvest Ale:
Estate Ale is one of the world’s only estate-made beers, brewed with 100% all-natural, hops and barley grown on-site at the brewery in Chico, CA.

Limb or Life:
A collaborative effort between Dogfish Head Craft Brewery & Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. This living ale is naturally carbonated to enhance complexity, refinement, and to encourage aging. Syrup from birch and maple trees give this dark ale a unique flavor.

Free
Sunday, November 15th
2pm

If you can't make the tasting, Limb or Life and Chico Estate Harvest Ale will be on tap at LBS for tastings, pours, and to go.

Cheers!

The Louisville Beer Store
p: 502.569.BEER
746 East Market Street
Louisville, KY 40202

Any idea if any of the Life or Limb will make it to the Louisville Market?

Any idea if any of the Life or Limb will make it to the Louisville Market?

See this:

If you can't make the tasting, Limb or Life and Chico Estate Harvest Ale will be on tap at LBS for tastings, pours, and to go.

For full disclosure I work for River City. That aside, this event sounds great. I have not had a chance to try the Limb and Life yet and I'm certainly not going to miss this.

Any idea if any of the Life or Limb will make it to the Louisville Market?

Yes. Life and Limb will probably be here in a few weeks.
Both of these beers are extremely limited. Limb and life (the one being poured on Sunday) is draft only and is made from the second runnings of Life and Limb. Louisville is one of very few places outside of the major markets where this beer will even materialize. There are only 20 gallons of this beer for the entire state. If you get a chance to try it, don't hesitate it won't be around long.

Life and limb will be available both on draft and in 24oz bottles. I'm not sure how much of either form will be available but I'd be shocked if more than 20 cases come in.

And for those who haven't had a chance to try it, Sierra's Estate Ale is great. I really think it is one of the better beers I've had in a long time. This is the first year it has been available outside Chico and it's really worth the wait. The description listed above doesn't really capture what it is all about. It's wonderfully balanced with a soft and creamy mouthfeel, some nice toast and caramel notes and classic citrus hop character throughout. Highly recommended.

Thought this was a nice event, but had one big complaint. I did enjoy the beers. I picked up a few beers to take home and noticed I was also charged 8 bucks for the tasting. I did enjoy the beers and I certainly don't mind paying for a beer tasting when I know up front. I just thought it was misleading to promote something as a free event and then charge. Maybe my mistake was actually making a purchase and not just leaving the store as the majority of attendees seemed to be.

I agree Sarah, advertising an event as FREE and then charging is just plain wrong.
I've been wondering about how they were circumventing the laws regarding beer tastings in Louisville; but apparently they're not circumventing the law, they're just misleading the customers.

shawn

I've been wondering about how they were circumventing the laws regarding beer tastings in Louisville

What do you mean? Are beer tastings illegal in Louisville?

I've been wondering about how they were circumventing the laws regarding beer tastings in Louisville

What do you mean? Are beer tastings illegal in Louisville?

No beer can be sold for less than cost in KY, hence no free BEER tastings. Wine and spirits are apparently okay. It is also illegal to advertise "free" anything that relates to alcohol.

I've been wondering about how they were circumventing the laws regarding beer tastings in Louisville

What do you mean? Are beer tastings illegal in Louisville?

No beer can be sold for less than cost in KY, hence no free BEER tastings. Wine and spirits are apparently okay. It is also illegal to advertise "free" anything that relates to alcohol.

Interesting. What if the beer doesn't cost anything; given to the retailer from wholesaler or brewer? Just a thought.

Interesting. What if the beer doesn't cost anything; given to the retailer from wholesaler or brewer? Just a thought.

Commonly asked question. Short answer; There is no free beer. Maybe Ryan B can chime in here as to why.

[Robin Garr]

Interesting. What if the beer doesn't cost anything; given to the retailer from wholesaler or brewer? Just a thought.

Bear in mind that alcoholic-beverage regs around the US tend to be bizarre and to have little connection with pragmatic reality. This is particularly true in states like Kentucky, where "dry," "Bible belt" regions have representation in the legislature.

By and large, any given alcoholic beverage law will represent some compromise worked out between anti-alcohol representative and representatives "motivated" by contributions and lobbying from the beer distributors and the wine-and-liquor distributors, which are separate and don't always have common interests; the restaurant industry and other interest groups. Individual citizens - and common sense - tend to come last.

In general, rules against free tastings were only relaxed for wine a few years ago, and even then, in-store tastings are subject to considerable regulation; tastings must be approved in advance. The legislature historically has been averse to any legislation that will "encourage alcoholism" and, by extention, that will even encourage consumption. I assume the exception for wine came about because the wine tasting is a widely recognized experience. I doubt that most Kentucky legislators are aware that quality beers can be enjoyed in a moderate tasting setting akin to wine; and if I had to guess, I would imagine that the mega-brewery producers who dominate the distribution market don't see the likelihood of Miller Lite tastings and aren't especially interested in helping pass a law that benefits the artisanal beer business, perceived as a competitor, even if a small one.

Roger, Dave, Todd, Shawn, beer geeks ... am I on the right track here?

Roger, Dave, Todd, Shawn, beer geeks ... am I on the right track here?

We need an emoticon that has the face pointing to its nose, because you are right on the nose there. It's all politics. We were fortunate in Indiana a few years ago when they approved tastings for us. They allowed free tastings for all products with set limits for each type (x ounces for wine and beer, and much less for alcohol), so we did not have to fight for good beer to get included.

In every beer tasting that I have attended in Kentucky, you had to pay for the sample at the time you received the sample, not as a charge at the end of the night. That is the only head scratcher for me as to why they did not do it that way. They are new at this game at the LBS, so I give them some levity, but I'm in the business, so I understand what they are going through as a start up. Leaving a bad taste in a customer's mouth is a different story. I'm sure they'll iron this out for the next event.

I stopped into the FV Liquor Barn on Saturday to make a purchase. The tasting that day included Winter/Christmas Ales. I was excited for the opportunity to participate, but passed when I found out there was a (very minimal) cost associated. My passing had less to do with being cheap and more to do with the fact that I had two pieces of plastic in my pocket and nothing more.

I didn't give much thought to the reason or necessity for the charge, so I appreciate the information shared in this thread. I'll make sure I have a few small bills next time I visit there on a weekend.

This is one of those subjects that has been confusing for a lot of people including many of those in the industry.

What do you mean? Are beer tastings illegal in Louisville?

Short answer - free samplings are illegal in the eyes of the ABC. As we were reminded by the ABC a while back, the Kentucky statutes "provides no provisions for the sample" of malt products. As Robin mentioned, there are detailed provisions for the sample of wine and, not surprisingly, liquor. Beer isn't mentioned at all.

Interesting. What if the beer doesn't cost anything; given to the retailer from wholesaler or brewer? Just a thought.

Commonly asked question. Short answer; There is no free beer. Maybe Ryan B can chime in here as to why.

Distributors are not allowed to provide "anything of value" to a retailer. Beer would obviously fall in the "value" category. The intent of this law is to avoid unduly influencing a retailer into carrying certain products (or not carrying others). The intent is to preserve the independence of the retailer and insure a level playing field for all licensees.

...and if I had to guess, I would imagine that the mega-brewery producers who dominate the distribution market don't see the likelihood of Miller Lite tastings and aren't especially interested in helping pass a law that benefits the artisanal beer business, perceived as a competitor, even if a small one.

Roger, Dave, Todd, Shawn, beer geeks ... am I on the right track here?

Actually, just the opposite. AB would love to the legislation changed so that they can give free beer to consumers for "sampling". While most smaller breweries can compete on the taste of their products, I don't think that they can fairly compete in the spending category. I'm pretty sure the boys in St. Louis/Leuven understand this.

One big difference between Beer and Wine/Liquor tastings has to do with the individual licenses. There are separate Liquor and Wine licenses for on and off premise in Kentucky. For Beer though, there is only one license. Flanagan's has the same beer license that Old Town has. This is good in that at places like LBS and Whole Foods and Liquor Barn (and very soon ValuMarket) that offer draft beer, you can actually buy a pint of beer and drink it while you shop. Technically, you could buy a bottle of beer at Kroger and drink it while you shop (although I believe the beer must paid for before being consumed. This could be handled by starting a tab as well. I know that Liquor Barn, when they do their tastings, has a tab system in place). But, this also means that all beer must be paid for by the consumer. When I do tastings, it usually comes out to about $0.25 a taste. The law requires it to be sold for at least a penny above cost. Roughly $1 bottle cost, 2-3 oz taste, and everything is good.
Now, because Wine and Liquor have a separate license, they are required to have tasting permits. Retailers don't have to charge for the tasting, but there is a limit put on the pour size, and there are fairly strict timelines put in place (you get, I believe, a 4 hour window to have the tasting). Where beer tasting don't need pre-set times for tastings and the consumer can have as much as they want, as long as they pay for it.
This isn't usually a problem, until you have a Beer tasting where there is also a Wine/Liquor tasting going on. Then, people wonder why they have to pay for beer when they just got samples of Wine or Liquor free.
Is this law strange? Absolutely. But, maybe, if you get enough people on board, the law could be changed. The only problem would be places like LBS and all the aforementioned places could potentially have to start limiting pour sizes. That wouldn't be good for anyone involved. So, it is what it is. It can be a bummer sometimes, but for the most part people seem to understand that our laws are pretty screwed up.