Hopinions: “Just” Beer

Every other Thursday, Brewed for Thought and BetterBeerBlog are teaming up for a piece called Hopinions. We will alternate who picks the topic and trade emails on the subject, two apiece. This week it’s my turn and I chose to talk about a little experiment Pete and I undertook at the Boonville Beer Festival.

From Mario at Brewed For Thought:

Pete,

Had fun drinking beers with you this weekend in Boonville.  We shared a ride to Boonville and back, and I thank you for the lift.  We also collaborated on a bit of an experiment, and I thought it only fitting to recap the results of that experiment in our little bi-weekly chat.

To set the scene for the readers, a week ago, you got a chance to try a beer from Mayfield which piqued my interest.  I did some research, and got in touch with the brewer to arrange some bottles to make it to Boonville.  I then passed the baton to my running mate and you met with him, picked up the bottles, and brought them with us.

We got a chance to try all three of the beers in their Iconoclast series:

• Aurora – Zinfandel and Cabernet aged Altbier
• Eclat – Zinfandel and Cabernet aged IPA
• Nocturna – Petit Syrah aged Imperial Stout

I’ll blame the poor weather for keeping my notepad in my pocket, so you won’t get any detailed tasting notes from me, but I was able to come away with a general impression of the beers.  I found the beers to be complex, yet not exceptional.  Having read your initial review of the Eclat, I agreed that there was no hop presence at all, but found the beer to be fine without the knowledge that it was intended to be an IPA.  The Altbier didn’t appeal to me at all and I found the Imprial Stout to be the best of the bunch.

A beer is a beer though, right?  Why should I be so critical, or hold this beer to a higher standard than other beers?  Well, that’s why this whole discussion and experiment started.  The bottles of Mayfield retail for $43 apiece at Palo Alto Whole Foods locations.

So the question goes to you, is it worth $43 for these beers?  With established barrel-aged conosieur level beers from Russian River and Allagash (to only name a couple) already setting a high water mark with near $20 prices, can a beer be worth $43?

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog:

Mario,

The big question of the day is: are their beers worth $43? In my honest opinion, I don’t think they are worth the $43 you’d have to pay at Whole Foods. I do believe that they are worth the $30 you would have to pay if you were to buy them directly from Mayfield Brewing Company though.

But why the high price tag? I’m sure that’s the question that is on everybody’s mind. It all comes down to basic business. Mayfield Brewing Company currently only produces 3 kinds of beer. That’s it. All of them barrel aged. John Alderete, brewmaster of Mayfield Brewing Company, brews all of the beer himself at Devils Canyon Brewing Company in Burlingame. In fact, he’s a one man show. He bottles the beers, labels them, corks them, caps them and applies the wax seal as well. In addition, he’s the sales force and distribution arm. John is Mayfield Brewing Company. These beers are as artisanal, as craft, as they get. That still doesn’t explain the high, price point though, does it?

Simply put, John brews in much smaller volumes than most brewers. As a result, he doesn’t get the price breaks many of the other breweries get. For comparison’s sake, I can say that your typical beer will be ready in about 4 weeks time, or about a month, if not sooner. When you add barrel aging into the equation, you take a complicated process and make it even more complicated. There is no set time for when a barrel aged beer will be ready. It’s done when it’s done. According to the experiementation John’s done with the barrels he’s supplied with, he ages his beers for 10 months, if not longer. You can’t rush this sort of thing. So while XYZ brewing company is already serving beer 5 weeks into opening, John is still waiting to see how things turn out. I’m hoping you are seeing why the cost of doing business for a boutique brewery such as Mayfield Brewing Company is so high. If he could afford to sell his beers at a lower price point, I’m sure he’d do it.

You mention other breweries such as Russian River and Allagash which have barrel aged programs that sell their offerings upwards of $20/bottle. Not only are they bigger than Mayfield (and can get those volume breaks in pricing), they also have other lines of beer that aren’t barrel aged that not only support the brewery but probably subsidize the barrel aged program as well. Barrel aging is not only an expensive endeavor, it can be unpredictable as well.

Your ask another question: can beer be worth $43? Obviously, yes it can. My question to you is: why not?

Instead of saying, “Well, it’s just beer”, let’s remove the “just”. You never hear anyone say, “It’s just wine” or “It’s just a 17 year old single malt whisky”, do you? It’s about time we stop trying to dismiss beer as an inferior drink, it’s time beer got the recognition it deserves and shakes free of it’s often juvenile image and second-class citizenship in the culinary world. This is not just beer, it is beer (and I speak of all craft beer, not just Mayfield beers). Mayfield is trying to change the perception of what beer is and I am 100% behind that cause. It only says, “Elevating the Status of Beer” on my website.

Speaking of beer, I haven’t yet taken the time to give my general feedback of the Mayfield beers. Out of the three, I am a big fan of the Nocturna stout. There is a complex and interesting mix of wood, deep roasted malts, wine undertones with a noticeable level of tartness in the end. These qualities are also repeated in the flavor. While the tartness surprised me some, I actually really enjoyed it. Despite my scathing review of the Éclat IPA, this was number 2 on my list. I really enjoyed the complex aroma of the beer and had I not known it was supposed to be an IPA, I would’ve thought this to be a very interesting beer. Sadly I felt the Aurora altbier was the worst of the bunch. While I found the aroma to be very pleasant and complex, the flavor seemed one-dimensional to me. John has told me that there are only 18 cases of the Nocturna Stout left from that batch and I will be looking to pick up a bottle or two.

It was a pleasure to have you join us at Boonville this weekend as well. I don’t think we would’ve been able to navigate that Santa Rosa traffic without your local knowledge. It was a fun time and I’m hoping to be back again next year.

Props to you for taking the initiative to call up John from Mayfield Brewing Company and setting up samples for us to take to Boonville. I was able to drive to Palo Alto on Thursday night and pick up the samples from Mayfield Brewing Company owner John Alderete. He was kind enough to invite me into his home where we “talked shop” for a almost 2 hours. In that time I was able to fully understand where he was coming from and what his brewing philosophies were.

From Mario at Brewed For Thought:

I think you’re missing what I was saying.  I never said “just” beer.  At the same time, I think there needs to be more in the bottle than just a high price tag to elevate beer beyond “just beer.”  I’ve gladly spent extra money for a bottle of beer I considered special, but there was something special about that beer that dictated the price.

On the topic of the economy scale, I understand how that works, but it still doesn’t justify the price.  Mayfield is not operating in a vacuum, and whether they feel the need to compare themselves to those other beers, the fact is, the consumer will do that.  At Whole Foods here in Santa Rosa you can find bottle of Consecration for $25.  Could Mayfield survive side by side with beers of this caliber?  What about when alongside Belgian bottles such as Chimay?  Cost doesn’t drive all our decisions, but if you’re planning a dinner, can you say one bottle of Mayfield is equal to a pair of Chimays and Consecration?

As far as small batch is concerned, (if I had the talent) I could build a car by hand in my back yard, machining all the parts myself.  This could take years and the cost would be considerable.  I may even quit my job to do his, and put those lost wages on the price of the car.  In the end I’d build a fine automobile, maybe as good as a Mercedes, but I’d charge half a million dollars per car.  Sure, my craft comes with a cost, but even the people who appreciate that craft might not feel the need to buy my car, because they’d rather have a couple cars, and some cases better cars, than my one model.

This brings me to another concern.  Barrel-aging can cover flaws in beers.  While John may not want to spend time selling an Alt, IPA and Imperial Stout before they’ve had time to soak up the flavors of the barrel, it would change my perception of the brews if I knew about the quality of the beers.  Even if these bottles were sold at the same places and similarly elevated price point (maybe not $43), it would give me a chance to know that I’m paying for a top notch product.

Finally, you mentioned that John bottles, corks, caps and wax dips each bottle.  A suggestion is that John skip one of these steps.  I had a hell of a time opening those bottles, and I doubt a lower Blood-Alcohol level and fair weather conditions would have helped.  They say things are better when you have to work for them, but that was a bit excessive.

In all, I think Mayfield makes a fine beer but the price continues to be my final point of contention.  To elevate beer to a proper place at the dinner table, I think a full flight of equally (if not better) beers could accomplish the job better than one bottle from Mayfield.  I can say that at $43 a bottle, even $30 if I drive to Palo Alto, I probably won’t be buying any bottles of Mayfield, not because it’s bad, or not because it’s “just” beer, but because it’s “just” not worthy of the price.

From: Peter at BetterBeerBlog:

Mario,

I don’t think I was at all missing what you are saying, if anything, I think you missed the entire point of my lengthy initial post. Since price is a huge point of contention, which I went to some considerable lengths to explain, there’s nothing I more I can say. The prices for Mayfield beers are not inflated, it’s not like the California housing market where folks are bidding and driving up the cost of the product. Were John to charge any less than the $30 a bottle, he would be running in the red, making negative money. The $43 cost you bring up is the cost Whole Foods charges because they have to make their margins as well. But if you still feel that that 1+1= -3 is a business model everyone should adopt, I just have to sit here and scratch my head.

Using your own analogy about the car, Mayfield Brewing Company is that guy in the backyard, building his car up one piece at a time. There is no doubt in my mind that there are comparable beers that are being brewed more cheaply, or taste “better” (How “good” a beer tastes is purely subjective. There’s just no quantitive way to measure this, there isn’t so don’t even try). But you know what? There is a market out there, no matter how niche, that can appreciate a beer that has this level of craftsmanship.

You are absolutely correct when you say that barrel aging a beer can cover up flaws in the base beer. I don’t think you fully understand the complexity or increased level of difficulty there is for making a barrel aged beer though. The brewer can only go so far with their base beers before introducing the beer to a barrel. Once introduced to the barrel, there is a myriad number of things happen to the beer that are out of the brewers hands. Wine barrels do different things to a beer than whiskey barrels. Dry barrels have a different effect than fresh barrels.

That being said, why would how the initial beers change your perception of the final product? I’ll argue with you that intention is as important to a beer as anything else. With most breweries, beer straight from a tap located on their brewery premesis is as good as the beer is going to get. This is when the beer is as fresh as it’s ever going to get; this is the most honest a beer is going to be with its flavors and aromas. It is John’s intent that we drink his beers the way he releases them, the final product a result of the barrel aging process, to be enjoyed out of the bottle.

Without naming names, you and I both know which world-class brewery and brewer messed up a batch of beer and threw it into a barrel to try and salvage a product. Even the great ones mess up once in a while but I don’t see you applying the same level of scrutiny to that particular brewery or beer as you are to Mayfield. I don’t see you demanding to see what the original beer tasted like before it was put into barrels. Ask this particular brewer if he would still charge the same amount for their barrel aged beers if that’s all they did. I’d be surprised if he said yes. Just call it like it is, Mayfield beers don’t fit into your preconceptions as to what a “good” beer should taste like and you are insulted to have to pay a premium for beers you don’t like. I don’t even know why you would be insulted with the price as we got these bottles for free.

At the end of the day, what counts is inside of the bottle. Consumers don’t care about how complicated the process was to make this beer or how time-consuming it was to bottle the thing, they only care if it tastes good to them. That being said, I personally wouldn’t pay $43 a bottle at Whole Foods for a Mayfield beer but I would pay $30 directly from Mayfield though. If Mayfield continues to grow in size and scale and scope then the consumers have proved both of us wrong and this entire post is a moot point. If you’ve read this far, then you’re a champ. I encourage you to leave a comment on either my blog or Mario’s blog. I’m curious to read what our readers have to say.

This is kind of cheating given our format, but I wanted to add my final thought here.  Also, there is some discussion on that post that readers of this post may also want to contribute to.