Schlafly Documentary
August 25, 2008 8:07 am Beer NewsI was originally going to just include this in the Friday Round-Up, but this documentary is too good to shove away in a little blurb. Give this a look and give the guy some feedback on what you think.
Schlafly Beer - Documentary from Adrian B on Vimeo.
Tags: documentary, schlafly
Dave :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 9:05 am
Fun watch until that last snippet about Schlafly being the largest independent brewer in Missouri. Did I miss someone buying Boulevard? They’re over 100k barrels last I looked.
cubby_swans :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 9:16 am
Well, I bet somehow they probably can qualify that with something like square footage or number of employees between the Tap Room and Bottleworks. Boulevard only employs 76 people.
Dave :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 9:25 am
Or they could just change it to St. Louis. Or delete it.
How many people actually work in the brewery side of things for Schlafly? Defining “largest” in terms of number of employees seems pretty convoluted. And lumping in cooks, wait staff, bartenders, etc. would make it even less meaningful.
I clicked through to the site where the video is posted, and noticed Mike already made that comment to the filmmaker. Seems he did not fact check that statement, but just assumed Schlafly was now the largest.
Here’s the link to the latest list from the Brewer’s Association: http://beertown.org/pr/pdf/2007Top50Release.pdf
cubby_swans :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 10:04 am
I’m not justifying it. I was just speculating that they might have some obscure way to qualify that statement.
But now that I see the filmmaker didn’t fact check… I no longer have to speculate.
Adrian_B :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Hey guys, the stat will be corrected by this evening. I upped it after I turned it in for class, but not before I did my final detail work. My apologies.
Thanks for checking it out.
Ericstl6 :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
All in all I thought it was a pretty well made piece.
Derek Bean :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
(As previously pointed out, and since corrected; but, still, I have to be a smart-ass. So, please humor me!)
Wow, I hope someone notified the 130,000+ barrel Boulevard that the 25,000 barrel Schlafly became the largest “independent” Missouri brewer in July of 2008!
I mean, just what defines “independent” anyway? I’m sure both Schlafly and Boulevard owe lots of money to banks/ investors, etc. So, are they really independent?
It’s kinda like when you say that you’re a “homeowner”, but really the bank owns your home for usually 30 years, sometimes 15 years!
Bob Griesedieck :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
Not only that, but I’m sure both Boulevard and Schlafly also rely upon a third party for their raw materials.
If a brewery is independent, shouldn’t they not only be debt-free but grow their own hops, barley, etc? Do they have to produce their own bottles and packaging? Can it be publicly owned but have no bank debt?
What if the brewery contracts some/all of its production? Pabst contracts out all its production and Boston Beer fishes out a good chunk.
The truth is in the eye of the beholder.
Mike :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
ehhhhh, I don’t think you’d find almost a single “independent” company if you play by some of those rules. There are very few companies that produce all of their own raw materials.
Derek Bean :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
Well, I dunno Mike, it’s kinda like the argument I heard on here a while back that local breweries aren’t actually “local” because we don’t grow our own barley and hops!
Mike :
Date: August 25, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
Touché
cubby_swans :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 7:41 am
Come on! Who thinks you have to grow your own ingredients? Using that logic, there are no local restaurants or bars either, as I’m sure none of them grow the food they serve or distill the spirits. Also, we don’t have a local newspaper unless they make their own paper and ink.
scottyp :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 8:17 am
i thought the video was pretty rad.
BMock :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 8:19 am
I’m with cubby. Let’s not be so over the top.
Adrian_B :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 10:08 am
As much as many people value the idea of local business, there will always be something within that company, a telephone, a computer, a glass mug, that came from out of town. I don’t think that lessens the importance of supporting local your local economy.
scottyp: Glad you enjoyed the video. It was a fun project.
Bob Griesedieck :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
On a serious note, if you want the technical answer of what “independent” means, head on over to the Brewers Association website (http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/statistics.html)
Their definition of independent is:
“Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer.”
Ryan Russell :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Similarly, by default, how Boston Beer Company/Sam Adams CEO is now the new “American” King of Beers:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/07/magazines/fortune/beer_koch.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008080814
Derek Bean :
Date: August 26, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
Dear Cubby, Bill, et all, I don’t recall which thread it was exactly, but right here on our favorite blog, just a couple of months ago, I was aghast when some of the regular contributors and none other than our lovely host contended that local breweries like O’Fallon & Schlafly weren’t actually local because the only local ingredient we use is the water! (Sorry to throw you under the bus here Mike, but just responding here to their points.) At the time, I was so astounded by what I was reading, that I simply chose to not respond and move on. But, this thread reminded me of that preposterous earlier thread, so I brought it up (in jest, and under the influence of some Belgian beers!!!). I’m sure Mike could pull a link to the aforementioned thread.
Leah :
Date: August 27, 2008 @ 7:00 am
Wow! What a fab documentary…anyone who sees this and doesn’t already drink Schlafly will now!
Brennan Greene :
Date: August 27, 2008 @ 7:50 am
What makes a company local, is the fact that they pay their city, county and state taxes to a local entity that will in turn spend that money on the community who supported the local company in the first place. If you buy an AB product now, and inbev makes a profit this year, their taxes go to Brazil and Belgium, not nearly as much goes to St Louis. That is why buying local is so importqant.