{"id":17136,"date":"2015-08-12T00:38:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T12:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=17136"},"modified":"2015-08-12T02:33:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T14:33:41","slug":"beervana-absences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2015\/08\/12\/beervana-absences\/","title":{"rendered":"Beervana 2015 \u2015 upcoming absences and presences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Er,<\/a>
My first beer of Beervana 2014\u00a0\u2015\u00a0and Wellington through a filthy stadium window<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the list of Beervana-attending breweries<\/a> came out a little while ago, I stayed up late and made a spreadsheet comparing the attendees over the last few years against\u00a0the Brewers Guild membership and the list of standholders at this year’s Great Kiwi Beer Festival. Obviously<\/em>. And while it’s definitely true that there’s a whole pile of interesting stuff on offer this year, it was initially the\u00a0absences<\/em> that grabbed me.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t been uncommon to hear\u00a0\u2015\u00a0over what we might come to call the Stadium Years\u00a0\u2015\u00a0that Beervana has\u00a0gone mainstream<\/em>, or something to that effect, often\u00a0uttered to explain why individual drinkers feel like “moving on” to other\u00a0(more niche) festivals. I’m sympathetic, here:\u00a0I’m all for people doing whatever they like, and hugely fond of\u00a0smaller-and-more-focussed events,\u00a0and<\/em> a big fan of “mainstream” \u2015 or at least stream-spanning, less pejoratively \u2015 ones as well.\u00a0It’s a rich ecosystem we have,<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and we’re all better off for that. My point here, though, is simply that the data doesn’t bear out diagnosing Beervana with the dreaded\u00a0mainstreaming<\/em> \u2015 or at least: to the extent that there was a flare-up, it quickly reversed itself.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, The Many Faces Of Asahi,<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> who are completely absent: there’s no Boundary Road, no Founders, no Sam Adams, and BrewDog (formerly distributed by them<\/a>) will only be present via their\u00a0new<\/em> importer, Beertique. That’s a fairly stark contrast to 2013, when the company had four separate bars, out of a total of 31. Likewise, D.B. have retreated somewhat: they’ve abandoned the idea of Monteith’s and Old Mout Cider bars and are instead concentrating on their Black Dog brand. Even Lion (longtime suppliers of infrastructure to the festival) have pulled back a little, leaving behind both their nonsense Potemkin brand, Crafty Beggars<\/a>, and gateway Australian offering, James Squires.<\/p>\n

\"Something<\/a>
My second beer of Beervana 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If I had to categorise the breweries who aren’t<\/i> featured this year \u2015 and from what I’ve told you of how my brain works, you know that I do \u2015 I’d divide them into\u00a0minnows<\/em> too new and\/or small-scale for an appearance to have much reward,<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0regionals<\/em> who have some special focus on an area that isn’t Wellington,<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and\u00a0bargains<\/em> who put most of their attention in the price-sensitive corners of the supermarket trade and for whom marketing budgets are tight and\/or the demographic of a wide-appeal festival isn’t their best fit. Awkwardly, in the process of throwing names into those three buckets, I think it’s fairest to say that Stoke \/ McCashin’s and Moa<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> both fit into the\u00a0latter<\/em>; they’d protest otherwise, I’m sure, but I suspect they’re only fooling themselves.<\/p>\n

So yes, the event\u00a0is changing. Every non-dead thing does, and it’ll change even more next year when its new owners<\/a> have more time to properly ponder a course correction. But it’s not<\/em> a linear watering-down.\u00a0Drinkers and festival-goers are also\u00a0themselves<\/em> forever changing, so what we probably have here is a multi-variate version of the familiar perception threshold shift that sends people chasing more intense versions of a thing (be it\u00a0hoppy beer, sour beer, spicy chili, gnarly mountain bike tracks, or crunchy sci-fi epics) to recapture the strength of the original thrill\u00a0\u2015\u00a0and also\u00a0handicaps their ability to judge how much of a perceived change comes from within, and how much is actually attributable to the world.<\/p>\n

\"Interrobang<\/a>
Interrobadge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway,\u00a0lots<\/em> of interesting things will be pouring at the stadium this weekend. I’ll be there,<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and\u00a0will attempt to track down some gems upon which to report back. I’m also going to be loitering in the seminar room<\/a> (as I’m prone to do at these things) and helping present a Quiz on the Friday and my own User’s Guide To Beer on Saturday. If you’re around, keep an eye out for a nerd with a notebook and an interrobang badge; odds are that’s me.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

(And yes, I am<\/i> trialling a new footnote system with this post. If it’s a huge improvement, or a giant leap backwards, do let me know. I suspect the answer might depend on your thing-reading-thing, too, so any details as to your experience\u00a0per device<\/em> would be appreciated.)<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the list of Beervana-attending breweries came out a little while ago, I stayed up late and made a spreadsheet comparing the attendees over the last few years against\u00a0the Brewers Guild membership and the list of standholders at this year’s Great Kiwi Beer Festival. Obviously. And while it’s definitely true that there’s a whole pile … Continue reading Beervana 2015 \u2015 upcoming absences and presences<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17254,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2015\/08\/14\/beervana-2014-podcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":0},"title":"Beervana 2014 \u2015 the lost live podcasts","author":"Phil","date":"August 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Just in time for those missing out on\u00a0this year's Beervana, a blast from the past. During the 2014 festival, George and I \u2015 plus an excellent suite of special guests \u2015 recorded two episodes in the seminar room, and brought sufficient quantities for the Beer(s) Of The Week to share\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17268,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2015\/08\/19\/beervana-2015-litany\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":1},"title":"Beervana 2015 \u2014 a litany of gratitude","author":"Phil","date":"August 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a very happy beerperson.\u00a0That was a huge festival season \u2014 the run-up to Beervana last weekend was filled with plenty of other more-or-less-related Things To Do\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and now it's over but for the mopping up and the inevitable retrospectives. I feel like I was a little close to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Metablogging"","block_context":{"text":"Metablogging","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/meta\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Garage Project bar (Beervana, 15 August 2015)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beervana-2015-Garage-Project-bar-wide.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beervana-2015-Garage-Project-bar-wide.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beervana-2015-Garage-Project-bar-wide.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beervana-2015-Garage-Project-bar-wide.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18356,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2016\/08\/29\/yall\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":2},"title":"A festival for the rest of y’all","author":"Phil","date":"August 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So that was the week that was. The week that was a while ago, now. How time flies when you're quietly recuperating. Weirdly, given the work I gravitate towards, I'm a natural introvert and crowds of lovely beer nerds are still, you know, crowds. I think exhaustixhilirated just about covers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Observations"","block_context":{"text":"Observations","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Light-up signage at Beervana 2016 (Wellington Stadium, 12 August 2016)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blow-your-bulbs-at-Beervana.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blow-your-bulbs-at-Beervana.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blow-your-bulbs-at-Beervana.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blow-your-bulbs-at-Beervana.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6079,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2013\/10\/26\/beer-diary-podcast-s03e05\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":3},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s03e05: Licensing wrangles and Beervana afterthoughts","author":"Phil","date":"October 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Requiring more We Do Not Here Represent Our Day Jobs than usual, George and I recently had a little ramble about a few potentially-controversial topics in the Beer Business: the ongoing shitfight-with-a-side-order-of-handwringing that is the Licensing Laws Debate, and the continuing evolution of the nation's most-senior beer festival, Beervana. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Isle's Rosetta Stone label","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Black-Isle-Rosetta-Stone-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7417,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2014\/08\/16\/beer-diary-podcast-s04e02\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":4},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s04e02: Dry July","author":"Phil","date":"August 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"An episode with no beer. Well, none were\u00a0consumed \u2014 out of a vague nod to Dry July, but more a result of us both being in losing phases of the age-old battle of Monkey v Microbe. We ponder Dry July, as a charitable enterprise (we're unconvinced) and (much better) a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5913,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2013\/09\/11\/beer-diary-podcast-s03e04\/","url_meta":{"origin":17136,"position":5},"title":"Beer Diary Podcast s03e04: (Postponed) pre-Beervana Hostful","author":"Phil","date":"September 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"And we're back. Though we're not quite as back as we intended. This happens to us, sometimes. George has been abnormally busy, post-holiday \u2014 though often with new-puppy-related duties about which he's not remotely about to complain \u2014 and I was diverted, in the actual around-Beervana-itself days, by ingloriously falling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Boundary Road 'Cantainer'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Boundary-Road-Cantainer-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17136"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17242,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17136\/revisions\/17242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}