I’ve written briefly about my localist of local
micro-breweries before – the Millstone Brewery, Mossley. I have ranked them in
my top 3 favourite breweries for nearly 7 years and have enjoyed their great
beers, mainly locally, without deeper thought in all this time.
But, something changed the other day. I was in Stalybridge
Buffet Bar and had a pint of Millstone’s famed Tiger Rut and it was, as they
say, on terrific form. Light but full of flavour, a fresh melon-like aroma, a
great hoppy hit with a satisfyingly bitter aftertaste, everything I’ve grown
accustomed to in the years past. The only difference was my natural reaction to
this delicious beer was to reach for my phone. Why? Well any users of Twitter
probably know.
There’s nothing wrong with Twitter. I love Twitter. I love
having a little beery community to share my thoughts/rants with about beer,
rather than drilling into the brain cells of my lager obsessed Gump friends.
And I’ve certainly no problem with breweries using social media as an
advertising tool. Brewing is business after all. But when did this become my
natural reaction to drinking beer?
There are some newish breweries who have played the social
media game well. Without resorting to slander, I’ll just say that certain beer
makers have certainly become over-hyped amongst certain beer folk simply
because they have a highly active Twitter account. They’ve used it to great
advantage, knowing that conversing with their followers, and even giving them
that committed follow back, will helpfully increase their beer sales as people
scramble to be the first to sup their brews and practically scream out “RETWEET
ME! RETWEET ME!”
I still maintain that the hunt for beer is part of the
enjoyment and it is part of the reason why I don’t make orders directly from
breweries. Dare I ask, what’s the point? When a brewery, who’s beers I love,
tweet the world to announce they’ve a great new beer out my reaction is “Brilliant,
I’ll keep a look out for it,” and then I get that great thrill upon finding it
and trying it. And preferably this will happen IN A PUB, seeing as that is who
we are supposed to be supporting. My
reaction is never “Great, I’ll order some from your online shop, then I know I
get to try it, in front of my fireplace, and can tweet you all about it.” This
is why Twitter has created a playground effect in some areas. This idea that “Oh
haven’t you tried that beer yet? I tried it the day it came out,” as if I’m
from the family who couldn’t afford Kickers so had to have US Brass shoes
instead.
Millstone Brewery doesn’t have a Twitter account and, on the
aforementioned day, I was disappointed that I couldn’t tell them how much I was
enjoying their Tiger Rut. But Millstone is, with the greatest of respect, an
unambitious company. They explained, at a recent Meet the Brewer event, that
they have no plans to expand, despite showing terrific sales in the
establishments they do provide to and are returning to more traditional brews,
despite the fact that they have been consistently making very hoppy and
delicious beers that some of these newbie brewers could only dream of.
Their seeming lack of ambition frustrates me. I’d love to
become their marketing executive and I’m sure I could double sales overnight if
I was. But they are clearly happy with the position they are in, and my hat
comes clear from my head to that, even with slight reservation. They’ve done
fine without the aid of the World Wide Web so why should that change now? Maybe
next time I enjoy a beer I’ll keep my phone firmly in my pocket. And maybe next
time I write a shared blog, and then advertise it through Twitter, it won’t be
filled with such blatant hypocrisy.
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