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We are at an interesting moment in the world of premium products; brands have to be careful not to push back to the recent past too strongly and there's a real need for a new language to begin a new conversation.

There's something truly unique about this Welsh beer and beverage company "The Celt Experience" because it combines heritage/Celtic history and puts a premium twist on the concept.

There was certainly one way to play with Celtic heritage and bring it right back to the purest basics, or to do what's been done here which is to celebrate the aura and mystique around the concept.

Here's a description of the company behind it.

"The Celt Experience is a brewery inspired by Celtic history, to produce a range of organic ales, hand crafted lager and organic ‘pops’. The Celt Experience combines modern brewing equipment with ancient Celtic brewing methods, creating flavoursome and holistic beers."

Maybe were going to see more of this with with brands taking ancient, primitive and simple concepts and putting a premium twist on them. 

Via The Dieline


Posted by Ed Cotton The big challenge if your a marketer of domestic beer is your scale and ubiquity can be both a blessing and curse.

The downside of mass is that you lose your cool pretty fast. While domestics have experimented with more upscale/premium lines and a little bit of packaging innovation, they haven't really exploited the opportunities that exist with packaging. With the US design and art community often seen as being at the forefront of trends, it seems an obvious opportunity for the big domestics to work with these guys.

Heineken in Europe has done a lot of the work in this space, with the latest being a collaboration with Parisian packaging design legend Ora-Ito.



Of course, the other mass brand to do lots of cool stuff with graphic designers, was Coke.

Packaging seems like such an easy way for a mass brand to do something interesting and surgical to push into cooler spaces.


Posted by Ed Cotton The Monk's Kettle is one of San Francisco's finest beer haunts. They treat beer with a sacredness that's usually reserved only for wine. I was keen to learn more about the place and the inspiration behind it, so I sent an email to Nat Cutler (Managing Partner) and waited for a response.

It took some time, but it's worth it.

1.  What's the inspiration behind Monk's Kettle?

The inspiration was really the brainchild of Christian Albertson, my business partner. He was first introduced to the world of beer while working at a brewpub in Boulder, CO, called The Mountain Sun.   Then, while managing the Parish Café in Boston, MA, he discovered the city’s beer-focused places and learned about the industry as a whole.  When he moved out to San Francisco about 5 years ago, and noticed virtually no beer focused bars and restaurants (save Toronado of course) he saw a market waiting to be filled.  When we started talking about the concept, I was on board right away.  Being from Seattle, WA, a city with a huge beer culture, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  We soon began our work on the business plan and opened our doors a mere two or three years later.

2. Why do you think that beer has become elevated into more of a 
gourmet product?

Well, for hundreds of years beer has actually been just as complex, flavorful, unique and sophisticated as wine: in essence, gourmet.  It’s just that for the majority of the population, especially here in the U.S., there was no knowledge of that fact.  The only beer really available here was mass-produced by the brewing giants of Anheuser Busch, Coors and Miller.  Only over the last 20 years or so did the art of craft brewing make it into this country.  Slowly, over that time, it gained popularity and recognition with the help of some great educators on the subject.  A few breweries elevated their products, showing consumers the depth of the beer world (Sam Adams and Anchor are two domestics that come to mind), as well as expanded distribution which brought many previously unavailable brews to our shores.  There have also been a few beer writers who have done much in the way of education:  Garrett Oliver, the head brewer of Brooklyn Brewery has written on beer and food pairings, but by far the most significant writer is the late Michael Jackson whose writings are essential for learning about the world of beer.  All of these forces together have brought beer recently onto a scene that was once dominated by wine alone.

3. What do you feel about a Belgian brewer buying Bud?

I think it’s a shame.  Not so much because a ‘foreigner’ now owns the beer probably most associated with America, but because the brewing of beer is becoming so dominated by so few large corporations.  I think that any time, in any instance, you take a process that requires creativity and a more hands-on approach, and make it more stream-lined and capable of being mass-produced, you lose something.  Not to say that Bud is the most hands-on, creative and unique beer, but the principle is still the same.  You’re seeing that happening all over Europe with many of their best brew-houses, and its happening here in the U.S. too.  The more it happens, I think, the more the artisan beers will lose their character. 

4. What do you think is one of the most overlooked beer producing nations-who has surprised you?

There have been a few surprises abroad; though in the way of individual breweries rather than countries as a whole.  Most notable are Moa Brewing Co. from New Zealand, Hitachino from Japan, Cucapa Brewing Co. from Mexicali, Mexico, and Baladin from Italy. More surprising, however, has been the style of sour as the great frontier in beermaking today.  They have been around for a very long time, developed in the Lambeek region of Belgium, but have begun to really emerge as of late.  We at the Kettle have quite taken to this style, the reason we have been increasing our selections.  We always have a sour on tap, and a growing selection by the bottle.

5. How do you think San Francisco compares to NYC, when it comes to setting trends in food and drink?

There have been a few areas where San Francisco has set the trend in food and drinks (most notably the Slow Food Movement led by Chez Panisse, as well as speakeasy-like bars like Bourbon and Branch).  In general, however, it seems that New York often leads the way in this industry.  We at the Monk’s Kettle has seen this specifically with the gastropub trend that is fairly established in NYC, while only getting started here in the San Francisco.  When we arrived in San Francisco years ago, we were surprised to find that a place like the Monk’s Kettle did not yet exist.  San Francisco is interesting in that there are an awful lot of restaurants and bars, but it seems that the percentage of places that are truly unique and/or providing an excellent product is too low to be considered a leader in the industry nationwide.  But we could be wrong about that—we spend too much time at our own place to get out much elsewhere.



Posted by Ed Cotton Mcmenamins has spent the last 30 years building a local empire in Oregon.

Starting out with brew pubs and moving onto hotels, wineries and a distillery. The brand remains true to its roots and exhibits a wonderful, infectious and quirky character that helps it to stand way apart from the boring franchise chains.

You find character in the names of its beers- Terminator and Hammerhead, in the design of its pubs and hotels and in its graphic design and in hotel rooms named after and dedicated to local musicians. Even its events pack the same quirky feel, from UFO festivals to acoustic sets from local musicians played in an eight-seat capacity bar.

Great stuff.

Mcmenamins is a testament to what nurturing and sticking to your personal vision can create for a brand. It also shows that you can build a little empire without going national with VC cash and do it all in your own locale.

Thankfully, the brand hasn't taken a bucket load of cash from an international brewer to expand the concept globally because it would kill its charm. McMenamins remains Oregonian and in that lies its appeal.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to stay in the brand's Hotel Oregon, deep in the heat of wine country. I took some local quality pictures on my iPhone, which can be seen below.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Posted by Ed Cotton A well-known British actor gets his dream assignment, the chance to make a program about the perfect pint of beer.

Nice work if you can get it, but there's even more upside because the show is all about creating beer that actually makes it into production.

Apparently, leading grocery chain Sainsbury's is interested in carrying the new brand.

The integration here is fantastic, no bolt-on or add on association, but a deep education in the form of programing that becomes a three hour ad for a new brand.

Although, it will be tough for this fledgling brand to compete against the established players, the rich level of content and the emotional journey that the programming will take viewers on, will be so much deeper than any ad campaign from one of the leading brewers.

The challenge will be building and maintaining the momentum after the initial wave of coverage and PR.

However, it does show an opportunity for a new way to think about branded content.

What if Bud was to develop a new brew with a programming idea like this, rather than simply attach its name as a show sponsor or have featured product placement?

Obviously Anthony Bourdain, is the one guy who could do this in the US- let's see what he does next after the success of No Reservations.



Posted by Ed Cotton Most brewers focus their innovation around new taste, flavor and lightness profiles.

They focus on the beer itself, Heineken has done the same, but it's also created some interesting innovation in packaging and product delivery; the keg can and the draught keg are two breakthrough ideas.

In March of this year, the will launch take the delivery innovation a step further with the Beer Tender.


It's a home draught beer system developed in conjinction with Krups and others.

It's a great move on so many levels; it elevates the brand, it provides interesting interaction and engagement for the consumer, it has talk value and provides an entry point for dialog with the older segment of beer drinkers, who mainly drink beer at home.

It will be interesting to see how other brewers respond to this.


Posted by Ed Cotton