The People's Beer

[Kai]

Well if they did then it's to their own detriment. Isn't there something about me-too bias in focus groups in basic marketing textbooks?

 

[Screwtop]

Me Too Skew, who cares, so long as the spec is met, there's always a phone call to the MM to ask what outcome they are looking to achieve. Meeting desired outcomes assures future contracts.

 

[AlphaOne]

VB, whilst not great on the flavour front IS a 10x better thirst quencher then something like a LCPA or JSAA...

More queching than LCPA?? sweeter and less bitter = more quenching? 10x more quenching??
I disagree heartily there.

It's hard to take the common attitude amongst beer drinkers, but hey, things are getting better.

 

[Adamt]

Beer? Refreshing? Get me a damned powerade and a shower, then I'll sit down and have a tasty beverage.

 

[Jase71]

I can only speculate on the undercurrent of the meeting, but the premise genuinly was about this draft advert. Personally, I thought it was of a topical nature that isn't going to resonate anytime soon in the public domain, and I'm sure they have dome many such groups around Australia to gather opinion from a select group. I would be VERY surprised if this one ever saw the light of day.

It really wasn't about gathering feedback on the perception of the beer - there was too much direction towards the feeling of the draft advert.

That said, I have no doubt that 'the people upstairs' were taking notes on every bloke's thought on the brand of beer - and ultimately they would walk away with nothing more than the obvious fact that it's No. 1 in market share for that demographic (ie 25-40 year old articulate guys). That's what the mole was in there for !

 

[bowie in space]

As a test, who here knows about great bands like Wilco or 78Saab, or Angus And Julia Stone, or even Amy Winehouse?

78Saab are a fine australian band. Nearly the most underrated band in this country's history. I don't mind Wilco, but forget the other two.
Hey Jakechan, perhaps you should change Animals to Picture a hum, can't hear a sound! Give me the Go Betweens anyday. Or the Saints, Bad Seeds, Birdman, etc. I could go on forever about more obscure australian bands but probably OFF TOPIC. And don't wanna sound like a know it all.

Bowie

 

[caleb]

Great post Jase71.

My opinions about marketing and market research are unprintable here... and I have seen "behind the curtain" a bit too.

Just remember - most people are Very Boring. They also have Very Bad taste. If you accept this, things will make a lot more sense. I'm not just talking about beer here either.

 

[schooey]

Angus & Julai Stone are great! I have all their stuff, and I even paid for it.... She has an amazing voice

 

[zebba]

More queching than LCPA?? sweeter and less bitter = more quenching? 10x more quenching??
I disagree heartily there.

LCPA is a fine drop, far finer then VB, but I stand by my statement.


And this all reminds me of an article on Australias most awesomest news page roll: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24983...5007146,00.html

It appeared an innocent enough admission to make in Sport Confidential but when Roosters tough nut and Origin heavy Craig Fitzgibbon revealed his favourite drink was Fiji Water and Pale Ale I wasn't the only one reaching for the rosary beads.

What has the world come to when this brutal Blues star is willing to go public with his penchant for imported H2O and worse, boutique bloody beer?

My first thought on reading this excerpt (well, second actually, after the water) was what the bloody hell is considered "boutique" now? I can only assume that they are talking about Coopers pale ale here and IMO Coopers is becoming as bogan main stream as any CUB, Tooheys, etc. If you can buy a drink at ANY bar in Australia, how the fk is it boutique?

 

[MarkBastard]

The truth of the matter is that all beers taste a certain way and get you a certain amount of drunk.

Everything else is just irrelevant bullshit that makes you feel better about your choice. I would go as far as saying that the people that are so anti-megaswill are just as bad as the people that have never thought to try anything other than Tooheys New / VB / XXXX.

I wonder if there's a soft drink forum out there somewhere where some enlightened dickwads give crap to people for drinking coke and pepsi.

Me personally, I often eat at expensive restaurants and have a good time and appreciate fine dining, but I'll also get a kebab from down the street sometimes too. They both do their job and both have their place, just like megaswill and craft beer. The taste of megaswill doesn't really appeal to me much these days but I'd never turn my back on something that I've had so much fun drinking with my mates etc, and that got me into beer in the first place.

I remember when me and my mates were like 15 and started drinking beer, we'd get someones older brother to buy a carton of tooheys red, and we'd go halves in it. The cartons were about 20 bucks then and were the cheapest. When I was 18 and could start drinking in pubs everyone was drinking tooheys new. I got a coopers because I wanted to try it to see what it tasted like, and one friend gave me shit for it, particularly because it wasn't clear and filtered like Tooheys. I thought he was a bit of a wanker for not trying new things, but I equally think beer snobs are wankers too.

It's just a drink, you put it in your mouth and like the taste or don't. No point taking it any further than that in my opinion.

 

[MarkBastard]

A little OT: The one thing that gets me is everyone drinks low carb thinking they are doing themselves a favour. Then continue to munch kebabs, pizza, 3 servings at a bbq or whatever else is on hand. Like having a large big mac meal and subbing the coke for a diet coke.

I find personally that low carb beers make you less bloated and are easier to drink with food, and in particular easier to drink as a session beer. Well that's at least true with Hahn Super Dry (the only low carb beer I've drunk more than the odd carton of).

I drink coke zero because I find the normal coke too sweet these days. Also having a diet coke with a large big mac meal is a low effort way to reduce the KJ amounts significantly compared to having a normal coke. If someones gunna eat junk anyway they're doing a great thing by not having cups of sugar to wash it down!

Take Hahn super dry, thin beer, yet crisp and well hopped.

Yeah agreed, it's a good eski beer. Can drink a lot of it.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

The truth of the matter is that all beers taste a certain way and get you a certain amount of drunk....

....It's just a drink, you put it in your mouth and like the taste or don't. No point taking it any further than that in my opinion.

Mark, I agree with you but your arguments are wasted here cos too many beer snob yuppies on this thread simply decide to ridicule the truth. Beer is beer. Choice is choice. Preference is preference. To have a choice of beer is good, to have your preferred tipple is great but not essential. I'm quite fed up with people deriding any brew with garbage statements like "I hate VB, Tooheys, XXXX (insert your least favourite brew)". Personally I don't give a cuss what beer someone here likes or dislikes. I wish some of you blokes would post your anti anything rants somewhere else and concentrate more on home brewing and craft brewing matters.

All beer is good. Now go and grow up you whinging snobs.

 

[MarkBastard]

I actually can't stand Tooheys New, VB, and XXXX, but that's just because I don't like the taste of them. I used to really like Tooheys Pils, I still like Tooheys old on tap, I'll drink Calrton Draught on tap if there's nothing better available, and I drink XXXX at the footy because there's nothing else.

If I was at a pub with old mates I hadn't seen in a while and the pub only had VB on tap I'd drink it without question, and I'd focus more on the company than sabotaging myself with some petty elitist crap!

Only beer I would literally refuse is that version of tooheys extra dry that's higher alcohol. Had that once and it tasted seriously vile.

 

[reviled]

I'd never turn my back on something that I've had so much fun drinking with my mates etc, and that got me into beer in the first place.

You say that now, but time will tell mate.. The masses can be converted, it just needs to be done in the right way... I too was a mega swill drinker, then when I first started brewing, I was happy to go and buy some swill to drink alongside my own brews, but now, theres no fu*king way in hell that any of it will pass my lips now, reason being, my beer surpassed the beer I can buy at the shop, and now it wont satisfy me in the way that it used to, especially when I know I can make something better for a fraction of the price...

So can I really be a beer snob when I spent years drinking crap just like everyone else?

 

[Fatgodzilla]

So can I really be a beer snob when I spent years drinking crap just like everyone else?

Yes. :icon_cheers:

 

[staggalee]

:lol:

 

[jonocarroll]

I managed to get in on a similar thing a few years ago - a certain beverage group hired 12 uni students and tradies, 18-25 year olds, and apparently they jumped at the thought of a theoretical physicist who ran the local beer appreciation club in the mix. Go figure.

As a megaswill drinker at the time (with the notion that something was missing from tap beer that I had yet to find) it was a blast - 10 months of 'research' involved paid monthly meetings with all-you-can-drink (their products of course) which entailed yapping on about 'what we think about drink X's reputation' or 'what does the shape of drink Y's bottle say about me?' Also included a couple of 6-packs of new releases to take home and give to friends (extended research), visits to certain pubs, etc. Not too shabby considering it was a cab-charge to and from, and open bar afterwards. Everyone ended up so trashed - we ploughed through 3 months budget in a night.

It was eye-opening. The appeal that certain 'high-class' beers have among that demographic was real. Apparently one beer that is known as a 'premium' beer wasn't even aimed as such, but if people want to call it such, marketing will surely help out. It was also interesting to watch the night progress - of course we were all hammered by the end of the meeting, but they didn't hide the fact that the entire ordeal was on camera. 'Meetings' were held in various function rooms, and we had a full display fridge that was self-serve. Most guys started out on 'premium' beers, perhaps tried a beer they haven't before, but sure enough, given time and the fact that they weren't actually 'out in public' they would give the lolly-waters a go.

In the end we had our contracts cancelled early - we were getting too drunk, and after all the free stuff we go, we were apparently 'biased' ... pfft.

 

[Jakechan]

QB, where do I sign up!

 

[jonocarroll]

QB, where do I sign up!

When the contract was cancelled they got us to pick suitable replacements from our mates. Cheap recruitment exercise methinks. Anyhoo - I was a particularly popular guy for quite a while. From what I recall, they gave up on SA after us, and none of my mates got the gig.

 

[mattcarty]

Give me the Go Betweens anyday. Or the Saints, Bad Seeds, Birdman, etc. I could go on forever about more obscure australian bands

just a point that kind of relates.

you call these obscure bands but to me and most of my music nerd mates these are not obscure at all just general listening (for adelaide folk, my fav radio statio is 3D Radio by the way!), i have been shocked in the past when i talk about the saints and get blank stares from people i thought had good taste in punk (real punk not that top 40 pop punk crap) and australian music but then drop the name AC/DC or Cold Chisel even people who have absolutely no interest in music would be hard pressed not to have heard one of there songs.

it relates to the comment earlier about talking of little creatures or whatever other well known beer amongst people like us at AHB, for us its common knowledge and not obscure at all but for the mega swillers its a whole other scary unventured world.

some people are more than happy to chuck on Triple M and bop away to top 40 crap but for me it just doesnt cut it, i have non mainstream taste, not because im a music snob just because i know there is so much more than what the mass consumer products can offer.

just like most people are happy to walk into the pub and drink pint after pint of west end, vb or whatever but if one of us walked in and saw only those beers on tap our hearts would sink and we would want at least a squires or a creatures but the more 'obscure' the beer the better not because we are seeking non conformity or to be snobs just beacuse, for me anyway it is the constant search for something new to try and enjoy and explore new flavours etc etc wank wank wank

i like this thread its rant friendly

Cheers
Carty