The Bar Towel

Rubaiyat wrote:indeed. i wince and cringe just the same. but ... no -- margins are all the same, relatively speaking -- it's just that basically each of those eastern lightweights are "guaranteed" a reasonable level of sales within their ethnic groups many of which are swelling or rising in the ranks these days and that's about it. i don't think any of those are particularly aimed at the conoisseur. but you know what -- they still outsell some real classics many times over and at the end of the day ... that's what counts.

Soooo are you saying the marketing/buying strategy is done by an "ethnic" chimp with a magic '8' ball instead of a domestic chimp?

And I thought there may be enough ethnics to support some better German bocks, Marzens, Kolsh, Alts, dunkles, helles, viennas, etc.
If we pick these welfare lagers for a certain demographic where's the market stats that say Spaten, Andecher, Ayinger or other top flight German beers won't be supported by their demographic?

Can't buy it Paul....I still cling to the "chimp" theory until better evidence is available to disprove it.

pootz wrote:And I thought there may be enough ethnics to support some better German bocks, Marzens, Kolsh, Alts, dunkles, helles, viennas, etc.
If we pick these welfare lagers for a certain demographic where's the market stats that say Spaten, Andecher, Ayinger or other top flight German beers won't be supported by their demographic?

I wonder if they give a hoot as long as Holsten Maibock is keeping enough germans here happy. That's the same "quality demographic" as mid-level polish pilseners isnt it?

If a lot of mid-level German brands are already taking up shelf space, where are they going to put Ayinger and Andechser? All the cheap new Eastern lagers now crowding the beer cooler make total sense from a profit standpoint, whereas better German brands do not. Even Staropramen, Kozel and Budvar represent a much cheaper cost to LCBO I'm sure.

Back to the original topic - I had my first Jenlain Ginger. It's a drain pour for me. Ugh! Those flavours just don't mix well on my palate. Very curious choice by the boffins at LCBO, but that's another topic.