Before I get started I should state that the first ever beer week in Canada, Vancouver Craft Beer Week, saw many forms of promotion, not just social media. That said, the amazing success of VCBW would have not been possible without a strong following generated via Twitter, Facebook, and a ton of honest hard work. None of the media partners, newspapers articles, blog posts, radio coverage, and sponsors would have shown interest in VCBW without showing strong social media numbers in the early going. After establishing VCBW through these channels we were able to leverage all forms of marketing as a final push; however, at that time over half of the ticketed events were already sold out and the week could have been considered a success even without these tools. In the end VCBW was a staggering success, accomplishing in its first year what many events of it size take upwards of five years to achieve.

Let’s rewind a bit and I’ll take you back to the initial planning for VCBW. I am a marketing freelancer and passionate craft beer junkie. I maintain a beer blog in my spare time, although that spare time disappeared the second VCBW planning took on a life of its own. In early October 2009 I was approached by a local leader in the craft beer community about putting on Canada’s first ever craft beer week. Given the look of the team he appeared to have assembled, I though it had a reasonable chance at success and that I would have a well defined roll in the process. Although planning began in October of 2009, the reality is not much got done until after the 2010 Winter Olympics were over as no venues or brewers wished to discuss anything until after that point. This made our timeline roughly two months to plan and execute over 30 events. The timeline also made it very difficult to prove our market, attract sponsors, and generate media buzz. This is where social media changed the game.

Initially Facebook and Twitter were chosen as the two main social media outlets we needed to focus on. Accounts were created, branded, and content added. These accounts preceded the VCBW website, outside of a landing page with brand, dates, and links to the social media accounts. This made social media the only way to gain information about VCBW at the time. All the organizing committee members pressed their friends and family to follow and like these accounts, giving us a baseline which we could leverage. From there we provided incentive, such as random giveaways of free tickets to high profile events, to our fans in order to get them to spread the word and boost our numbers. Although not every person driven to the VCBW social media accounts were qualified, resulting in artificial numbers at times, those people soon faded leaving a strong core to work with. This provided us with the numbers we needed to prove the concept, attract venues, sponsors, and media attention.

Allowing social media to be the proof of concept resulted in a dog-pile of interested parties. Soon we found those who ignored us previously quickly changed their tune and were chasing us down. The more we worked on our overall marketing the more the social media accounts grew with qualified supporters. These accounts then became an extremely important communication channel, not only that, but our de-facto customer relationship management tool. Although anyone could email us and receive a response in under 24 hours, many people chose to use social media as their main way of getting in touch with organizers as they saw responses to any and all those who chose to get in touch.

In the end social media provided everything VBCW needed in order to make it a success. At first it proved the market for such an event existed. From there it attracted brewers, venues, sponsors and media interest. Once those fell into place it allowed us to keep in touch with our customer base in order to make sure they were taken care of to the best of our ability. Marketing, sales, and customer relationship management were all taken care of using social media. As the traditional marketing efforts blossomed the more the social media following for VCBW grew. Most importantly, this lays the groundwork for years to come. Unlike many events that don’t use social media to its utmost, VCBW now has a communication engine to remain in front of its most loyal supporters all year round. Providing information and conversation that will allow for sustained momentum year to year, eliminating the need to reestablish the attention of it’s core market every single year.

Hard Numbers:

• Non Ticketed Events or Specials: 11 (most running all week long)
• Ticketed Events: 23
• Event Tickets Sold: 1500
• Craft Beer Business Growth Over May 2009: 5% average increase in sales for restaurants, breweries, and stores participating in Vancouver Craft Beer Week.

For more information on Vancouver Craft Beer Week check out these links:

• VCBW Website
• VCBW Facebook Page
• VCBW Twitter

As many of you know I have been missing in action for a while. The main reason for this is because I was named the Marketing Director for Vancouver Craft Beer Week. It’s a rather important position that I can not take lightly. As part of the VCBW marketing efforts we put together a promotional video, I am a Canadian Craft Brewer:

This video would have not been possible without Soren Johnstone, an independent filmmaker who recently completed his second feature length film, Play With Fire. Make sure to check out his website and keep your eyes peeled for his more of his projects.

The Vancouver Craft Beer Week organizing committee is proud to announce the first ever BC Beer Awards by Brewery Creek. On Monday, March 22nd, an expert judging panel will review over 150 beers from all across British Columbia at an undisclosed location.

The only blind judged beer competition in British Columbia, the BC Beer Awards judging panel boasts such beer experts as:

• Don Tse – A BJCP Certified beer judge, freelance beer writer and consultant, Don has been writing professionally about beer for seven years. His articles have appeared in beer publications such as All About Beer, Ale Street News and Beers of the World.
• Abram Goldman-Armstrong – A beer writer in Portland, Oregon, Abram has been a BJCP National Rank Judge since the age of 21, judging at competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival, the Okanagan Fest-of-Ales, and Portland’s Spring Beer and Wine Fest. He co-organizes the North American Organic Brewers Festival, the world’s largest organic beer festival.
• Megan Flynn – The publisher of Beer Northwest, a quarterly magazine covering beer, food, and lifestyle in the Pacific Northwest, Megan travels North America in search of the best beer and beer personalities, continuing to develop her pallet into one of the most diverse on the continent.
• James Nevison – Columnist for The Province newspaper, where his “Wine Guy” column appears weekly each Thursday. He is the co-author of five bestselling wine books, the latest is Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2010 under $20, $25, and $30. Recently James was named a “Top 40 Foodie Under 40” by Western Living magazine.

Winners will be announced at the BC Beer Awards by Brewery Creek award show on Friday, May 14th, one of Vancouver Craft Beer Week’s signature events. For further information please contact:

Email | VancouverCraftBeerWeek.com | Twitter

In one of the most embarrassing craft beer related lawsuits since the Vermonster debacle, our friends down at Bear Republic Brewery have filed a trademark infringement order against Central City Brewing, who are located here in British Columbia. Before getting into my dissection of this lawsuit I do wish to fully disclose that I know the people behind Central City Brewing, and am a fan of their beers. For a detailed breakdown of the lawsuit you can download the filed document here.

Above is a picture of both trademarkst. It’s true that arguments about both fonts and naming can be made. However, when using standard fonts found on almost any computer you can easily make the counter argument of coincidence. As for the names, it’s a stretch to assume Red Racer and Racer 5 have any significant relationship when compared to most craft beers. The sheer number of breweries using colors as denominators for their products is daunting, and the term Racer is vague; so much so one could argue AlesSmith’s Speedway Stout could also fall into this lawsuit if that were the case. Aside from this there is the blatant copyright infringement Bear Republic has done on their own part, creating a brand based off of the Speed Racer cartoon and its ever so famous car the Mach 5.

In the end, no matter how you feel about the lawsuit, I think we can all agree no good is going to come out of this. Until now, the craft beer community has been known to work together for the greater good. Companies like Avery Brewing and Russian River have figured out collaboration not litigation is the answer to a situation like this. I too believe the best thing these two breweries can do is work together to develop a collaboration ale. Ideally this would be released by both breweries, one in cans and the other in bottles. If you agree with me, please, email both companies and suggest this solution. We can not become a craft community divided if we are to survive.

CAMRA President Rick Green (left) & Dockside Brewing Brewmaster Daniel Knibbs (right)

On January 17th, the CAMRA Vancouver Annual General Meeting took place at the Alibi Room. If you have ever been to an annual general meeting for any sort of organization, then you know that it’s not always the most exciting thing in the world. In order to get the conversation flowing, R&B Brewing graciously donated a keg of their award winning Auld Nick winter warmer. Along with the free beer also came free food from our good hosts at the Alibi Room, making everyone feel appreciated as an organization and ready to dive into the business at hand.

Certified Cicerone Chester Carey (left) & CAMRA Vice President Lundy Dale (right)

The first order of business was to review the mission statement of the organization and what we as a group have accomplished in the last 365 days. Without drowning you in details, the year was a great success in many ways. Membership numbers grew, corporate sponsorships grew, and taking into account refundable deposits the financial surplus grew. With that the focus of the AGM shifted, moving towards the 2010 executive positions. At this point a mild bit of drama occurred when Canada’s first certified Cicerone, Chester Carey, was nominated to take over the Vice President role from incumbent Lundy Dale. After all ballots were cast and votes tallied, Lundy won the challenge to her executive position by the slightest of margins. The rest of the positions were either retained by incumbents or filled by unchallenged nominees.  The election positions are as follows:

Returning Incumbent Executives Monica Frost (left) & Rodney Gitzel (right)

CAMRA 2010 Executives

President: Rick Green

Vice-President: Lundy Dale

Corporate Liaison: Monica Frost

Treasurer: Jack Pajak

Secretary: Amanda Barry

Membership Secretary: Rodney Gitzel

CAMRA Executive Newcomers Amanda Barry (left) & Jack Pajak (right)

Post executive elections, focus turned to the coming year. After a quick reminder that the first major event of 2010 will be a screening of the documentary Beer Wars on January 31st, the floor was left open for event suggestions. Many event ideas were proposed, including a Haiti Relief Fundraiser, bus trips to out of town events, and a CAMRA summit with our brethren from Vancouver Island, CAMRA Victoria. All ideas were noted and will be reviewed for inclusion in the 2010 event calendar. With proposals out of the way, a big buzz was generated by the official announcement of Vancouver Craft Beer Week. Although rumors circulated of the possibility a VCBF, the official announcement came as a surprise to many who were excited to find out a small group of organizers have formed and have been working on plans for well over a month. Needless to say the CAMRA AGM was a fruitful event and gave the Vancouver craft beer faithful many things to look forward too.

Thanks to Mike Victory for the use of his photos

]]> http://truecask.com/2010/01/camra-vancouver-agm/feed/ 2 http://truecask.com/2010/01/pretty-things-arrives-in-bc/ http://truecask.com/2010/01/pretty-things-arrives-in-bc/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:13:40 +0000 cbjerrisgaard http://truecask.com/?p=1266
Many people outside of the eastern United States have yet to hear about the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. If it were not for RainCity Brands, British Columbia’s newest craft beer distributor, I too would have no idea Pretty Things existed. Luckily for me, on a trip to the Alibi Room for a pre-holiday pint, [...]]]>

Many people outside of the eastern United States have yet to hear about the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project. If it were not for RainCity Brands, British Columbia’s newest craft beer distributor, I too would have no idea Pretty Things existed. Luckily for me, on a trip to the Alibi Room for a pre-holiday pint, I ran into the man behind RainCity Brands. It was there I was treated to a sample of Babayaga, a Pretty Things’ winter seasonal, and the story behind the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project.

Babayaga, a name that triggered a memory of an obscure Sam Rockwell movie called Lawn Dogs, is what can best be described as an American stout. If you are looking for a style guide definition beer, I highly suggest you look elsewhere as you’ll find none of that here. What you will find is a mix of chocolate, coffee, and tobacco flavors spread across a base flavor of campfire. The mouth feel is a little lighter than most stouts and has a bit of an oily character to it. That said, it is an absolutely outstanding beer and I look forward to enjoying many more over the cold winter months.

One thing is for certain, Pretty Things is far from your average beer brand. They don’t own a brewery, nor do they contract brew their beers. Instead of the two standard situations they opt to rent a brewery and have the staff of that brewery ‘babysit’ the beer while they are not there. The result is a business model that is as creative as the brews they are selling. Thanks to RainCity Brands, Pretty Things will be appearing in select stores across the lower mainland this week, and I have no doubt will continue to expand thanks to the passion and hard work driving the project.

Throughout December I posted The Beer Drinker’s Holiday Gift Guide Parts 1 & 2, focusing on books, novelty items, and big ticket presents. With Christmas mere days away Part 3 is going to focus on those last minute gifts that you grab on the way to a Christmas Party, your family’s house, or as you step out to ‘run an errand’ Christmas Eve. So ladies and gents, when you’re pressed for time and all out of ideas the best present for a beer drinker what do you buy? Beer of course! But, the question remains, what beer?

When I think of the holiday season three main beer styles come to mind. Any one of these styles are welcome during fireside gatherings, and better yet some can be cellared as a keepsake if the gift receiver so desires. With this in mind, the truecask.com three best beers to give as gifts during the holidays:

1.) Winter Warmer – Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of winter warmers. All to often they miss the mark and end up tasting like a cup of christmas spices. That said, when the are on, they are fantastic. As this is the lightest beer in this category some versions may or may not be worthy of cellaring. A good rule of thumb is anything over 8% ABV is good for cellaring, anything under not so much. Click the title link for Beer Advocate’s list of the best winter warmers.

2.) Imperial Stout – Of the three styles listed here, this one has to be my favorite. Russian Imperial Stouts are dry, with big burnt malt and chocolate flavors. Some compare the experience of drinking an imperial stout to that of drinking a fine whiskey. As the Russian Imperial Stout goes from 8% ABV to upwards of 20%+ in extreme cases they are perfect for cellaring. Click the title link for Beer Advocate’s list of the best imperial stouts.

3.) Barleywine – Except for the most extreme imperial stouts, Barleywines are the grandaddy of high-alcohol beers. Although they have no relation to wine itself, the strength and complexity of barleywines helped spawn their name. If any beer was designed to be cellared like wine, this is it. Click the title link for Beer Advocate’s list of the best barleywines.

That’s it for the truecask.com holiday gift guide. I look forward to picking up 2010 where 2009 left off. Have yourself a fantastic holiday season, I wish you and yours all the best!

A couple of weeks ago I posted The Beer Drinker’s Holiday Gift Guide Part 1, breaking down the best books to buy the hop-head in your life. With Christmas fast approaching, I figured it best to post part two in order to avoid this becoming a Valentines Day gift guide.  In this part, I break down a couple of big ticket items as well as a couple of cheaper, yet still well thought-out gifts.

Organization Membership: Often beer lovers wish to explore their passion, yet they lack a group of like minded-people to share experiences with. With that in mind, I feel one of the best gifts you can give to a beer lover is a membership to a local beer club, group, or organization. Locally, we have CAMRA Vancouver; abroad there are many other organizations such as the Craft Brewers Association, and CAMRA UK.

Beer Education: One of the greatest assets I’ve had in my exploration of beer was my Beer School education. It can not be understated how important knowing what you’re talking about is when in the company of beer geeks. Not only that, but it should help you find out what exactly you do and don’t like when it comes to beer. The ability to sample all kinds of beer is the true selling point of this education; otherwise, who is to say you aren’t a lager lover and have to immediately take a trip to Germany for Oktoberfest? Speaking of Oktoberfest, that would make a great gift, but probably out of most people’s price range.

Glassware: I’ve covered glassware before. That said, variety is the spice of life and there is no such thing as having too many beer glasses. If the person you’re buying for already has beer glasses, then I suggest finding out if their favorite brewer has a line of glasses and buying them some of those. Most brewers tend to have a line of beer glasses that suit their beer, so you’re more than likely going to come across them easily. If they lack beer glasses, then I suggest you refer to my A Note On Glassware post and see what I think is the best all around beer glass on the market.

Bottle Opener: Most people will scoff at this idea, as it is a little cliché. However, I have found a bottle-opener that is far from cliché; in fact, it is possibly one of the best bottle-openers I have ever seen. The Ring Thing is a stainless steel ring with a bottle opener on the bottom. Although rather simple, I know many people who wish they had a bottle opener on them at all times and now they have no excuse not to. Additionally, it is actually quite low-key and no one will know you’re packing a beer accessory at all times. Add in the party trick factor of being able to open a bottle with your hand and no visible tool and you’ve got a winner.

Next week I’ll get into those last minute gifts we all know you’ll need suggestions on!

This past Saturday at 11:30am people began lining up to sample the best the BC craft beer scene has to offer. With breweries from all across the province descending onto DIX BBQ & Brewery, the air was full of anticipation as we hardcore craft heads mingled and tried to stay warm on the crisp, sunny December morning. After a short wait, we were called into the brewery in order to start the festivities by CAMRA president Rick Green.

Upon entering the venue, many of us quickly surveyed the landscape, identifying what casks to hit first and what ones we would need to build up to. Trust me when I say that if you were one of the few who approached Gary Lohin’s Double Roach Imperial IPA first, you were not enjoying the flavors of the other beers for the next couple of hours as it was a pure pallet wrecker.

After deciding on what to try first, I handed over my first ticket and took a long hard sniff of the Storm Brewing Mole Pale Ale. Smelling like deep chocolate, and looking like orange swamp water, I knew that if nothing else the beer would be an experience. What I got was an unsweetened chocolate flavor upfront and a spicy finish. Although by no means the best beer at Caskival, I would say it was one of the most experimental and needed to be mentioned. From there I enjoyed a variety of beers, all of which were rather big, resulting in my memory fading as the afternoon went on. To give you an idea of the potency, the average beer came in at around 8% ABV, with the weakest brew clocking in at around 5.4% ABV.

In the end, Taylors Crossing walked away with the brewers award for it’s Christmas Cake beer, an amber ale flavoured with molasses, spices, and brandied fruit. R&B Brewing took home the people’s choice award for its Auld Nick Winter Ale; fairly fitting considering it’s one of BC’s best winter warmers and this was after all a winter themed cask event. I personally thought the Double Roach from Central City Brewing was the best of the bunch, but then again I am one who loves imperial IPA’s above all. One final thing to note was the event sold out within an hour of the doors opening and that this could very well be the last time it is held at DIX BBQ & Brewery. Although sad in some respects, it’s always nice to see the scene grow and require more space to breathe. I hope you all manage to head out to the next one, but if you can’t make sure to check out one of the local cask nights to tide you over.

Thanks to Mike Victory for the use of his photos

Earlier this week I posted information about two events, the first of which is the Alibi Room’s 100th tap rotation happening tonight at 5:00pm. If you are on the fence about this event, just take a look at the beer list that was leaked by an unnamed CAMRA member:

• Driftwoord Brewery – Sartori Harvest Fresh Hop IPA (Cask!)
• Steamworks Brewing Co – Blitzen
• Yaletown Brewing Co – Le Nez Rouge
• Dix BBQ & Brewery – Imperial Stout
• Barley Station Brew Pub Restaurant – Mild & Smoked Porter
• Longwood Brew Pub & Restaurant – Doppelbock
• Swans Buckerfields Brewery – Scotch Ale & 2008 Legacy Ale
• Central City Brewing Co – Imperial IPA & Winter Ale
• Crannóg Ales – Old Puddin’ Head
• Granville Island Brewing – Jolly Abbott
• R&B Brewing Co – Auld Nick
• Storm Brewing - Lambic

In addition, Nigel will be releasing all of his cellared beers for sale. Between the rarities and cellared selections this is shaping up to be one hell of a night for the hardcore craft fans here in Vancouver. I consider this to be the ultimate primer for Saturday’s Winter Xtreme Caskival at DIX BBQ & Brewery and an event that can’t be missed!