April | 2020 | TheBeerProfessor

One of my favorite shows on Netflx is Still Game; a sitcom, set in the fictitious suburb of Craiglang, which is located just outside the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The show follows the everyday lives of two old-age pensioners, Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade. Jack and Victor have been friends since childhood, live in flats right across the hall from each other, and are widowers. Craiglang is not a particularly nice suburb. In fact, on several occasions Jack and Victor refer to Craiglang as a shitehole. Much of Jack and Victor’s social lives center around the local pub – the Clansman. Jack and Victor can be found there most evenings, having a couple of pints of lager and hanging out with Craiglang’s other retirees; these include Tam (a tightwad), Isa (the local gossip), and Winston (a former shipyard worker always looking to beat the system in search of extra money). The Clansman is what urban sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, would call a Third Place – a place where friends gather and enjoy each other’s company; a place where conversation and humor are prized. It is Craiglang’s equivalent of Cheers.

Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade – Still Game’s two main characters (Source: https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/when-will-season-8-of-still-game-be-on-netflix/).

Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist, has studied the social and mental health benefits of going to a pub. Numerous studies conducted by Dunbar has led him to conclude that “there are social and wellbeing benefits to be derived directly from drinking alcohol, especially in relaxed social environments”. According to Dunbar, hanging out with friends in a bar, drinking beer, telling jokes, exchanging gossip, etc. releases endorphins in the brain. These endorphins “generate a positive feeling in a person, similar to that of morphine. So we feel good. And crucially, alcohol also activates the endorphin system, which in itself will enhance social bonds among those who indulge together.” Dunbar also cites research that shows that the probability of still being alive twelve months after a heart attacks was higher for people with vibrant social networks. To quote Dunbar, yet again, “our social networks play a central role in our ability to survive the worst traumas that life can throw at us. And those networks are very clearly enhanced by the use of alcohol”.

Going to the pub and meeting friends for a drink also helps to combat loneliness. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg cite research which finds that “loneliness takes a physical toll, and is as closely linked to early mortality as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day or consuming more than six alcoholic drinks a day. Loneliness is even worse for longevity than being obese or physically inactive.” In 2018, The Economist called loneliness a serious public health problem. Today, single person households comprise 28% of all American households. Many of these single person households comprise elderly people.

As I write this blog entry, the world is in the grip of the global Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. President Trump had declared a national emergency, while Governors all across the country have declared states of emergency in their states. Citizens are being asked to practice social distancing. To facilitate social distancing, bars and restaurants (as well as many other businesses) have been closed, and restricted to home delivery or curbside pick-up. “Stay-at-Home” orders, or their equivalent, have been imposed across most of the United States. Such orders make it difficult to get together with friends for a beer. And, it exacerbates loneliness., and all its attendant challenges. As astutely observed by Mike Pomranz, in a recent piece on FoodandWine.com, “the coronavirus has stripped beer of half its powers”. For while it can still intoxicate, the inability to gather with friends means that it cannot “socially lubricate”.

A few days after bars and restaurants in Ohio were closed, my wife suggested to me that we contact our oldest daughter who lives in Cincinnati, OH to see if she and her boyfriend would be interested in having a virtual “Happy Hour”. Our daughter is a nurse at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. She normally works in the heart failure unit. But with Covid-19 she has been temporarily transferred to the cardiac ICU unit to provide extra support for the staff there. While she is not working directly with Covid-19 patients, we still worry about her during this challenging period. Having a virtual Happy Hour would, we thought, be a great way to catch up with her and, as anxious parents, check in with her. She and her boyfriend are also craft beer aficionados so, for me, it would be an opportunity to us to enjoy a few craft beers “together”.

Virtual Happy Hour with our daughter, her boyfriend, and cat

Being a nurse, my daughter does not have a normal 9-5 workday. She does twelve shifts that start at 7am in the morning. She sometimes works weekends and holidays. Despite her schedule, so far, we have been able to get together with her (and her boyfriend and cat) on either a Friday or Saturday evening. We connect via FaceTime. These have turned out to be fun and enjoyable times together. Our happy hours have all lasted well beyond an hour, even creeping close to the four-hour mark on several occasions. They are happy occasions, during which we simply engage in conversation. I am not sure whether we will continue to have them once the the threat of Covid-19 has gone. I suspect we might not – our Friday and Saturday evenings will be filled with other activities, such as visiting friends, and doing our part to support the local restaurant and bar scene. But if, indeed, we do not resume our virtual Happy Hours that will be ok – because it will mean that life is back to normal (or whatever the transitional new normal is like). I am sure that none of us will forget the year 2020. There have been so many negative aspects of the the Covid-19 pandemic. But there have been some positive ones as well – and our Friday/Saturday evening virtual Happy Hours with our daughter, her boyfriend, and Nelson the cat have been delightful and a bright ray of sunshine during these difficult days. The social distancing necessitated by Covid-19 gives me an enhanced appreciation of modern-day communications technology. In an e-mail exchange I had earlier this week with one of our department’s doctoral students we were discussing the use of FaceTime to connect with those from whom we were socially distanced. She made the comment that she was glad that all of this was happening in 2020 and not 1996.

Nelson the cat has been an important participant in our Friday/Saturday evening virtual Happy Hours

We were not the only ones to participate in a virtual Happy Hour as a way to connect with family. Writing in the Grand Fork Herald, Nichole Philips, tells the heartwarming story of Andy Smallman, whose ageing parents live in a retirement community just outside of Seattle, WA. Mr. Smallman created an event which he called “Beer with Grandad“. Using Zoom, Mr. Smallman was able to simultaneously bring together twenty members of his extended family one Saturday evening. The importance of this virtual family reunion to his 80+ year old parents was immeasurable. When they emerge out of the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am quite certain that the Smallman family will look back with joy and happiness on these virtual get-togethers. I know that my wife and I will.

Further Reading:

Dunbar, Robin I. M., Jacques Launay, Rafael Wlodarski, Cole Robertson, Eiluned Pearce, James Carney, and Pádraig MacCarron. 2017. Functional benefits of (modest) alcohol consumption. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, Volume 3, pp. 118–133.

Oldenburg, Ray. 1996-97. Our vanishing “third places”. Planning Commissions Journal, Number 25, pp. 6-10.

Craft brewers and the breweries they represent have a reputation for creativity. As craft beer drinkers we see this manifest in the creation of new beer styles (or derivatives of existing styles) such as New England IPAs, West Coast IPAs, and Pastry Stouts. When it comes to creativity, craft breweries are facing a new challenge – that of selling their beer while the world is in the grips of the Covid19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. In attempts to mitigate the impact of the Covid19 (the so called “flattening the curve”) many Governors have ordered the closing of bars and restaurants for an indefinite period. This includes my own state of Ohio. In most cases, the restrictions do allow bars and restaurants to deliver food and drink to customers, as well as for curbside pick-up.

In some states home delivery and curbside pick-up of beer was, until Covid-19, illegal. Recognizing that craft breweries (and restaurants) need every bit of help they can get, many of these states have relaxed, albeit temporarily, these restrictions. In Tennessee, for example, craft breweries who have on-premise beer permits can request a temporary “on- and off-premise” permit that allows them to deliver beer to customers’ homes. The $250 permit application fee has been waived.

In Cincinnati, OH MadTree Brewing started sending what they called “adult ice cream trucks” into city neighborhoods. Instead of ice cream, however the trucks were selling Mad Tree beer and Catch-a-Fire pizza. After a couple days, however, MadTree suspended this initiative, as the trucks were attracting crowds that were “uncomfortably big”. In other words, social distancing, was being compromised. In Syracuse, NY, Now and Later Bottle Shop and Taproom had a similar idea, and are taking their delivery truck from neighborhood to neighborhood. Like MadTree in Cincinnati, Now and Later’s owner, Jason Purdy likens his beer delivery truck to an old fashioned ice cream truck. Other breweries, such as Stone Brewing in Escondido, CA and Karl Strauss Brewing Company in San Diego, CA are using couriers such as DoorDash to get beer to customers. In Memphis, TN, Matt Wilson, owner of three Swanky’s Taco Shops in metropolitan Memphis is going the extra mile to help craft breweries. Although his restaurants sell beers such as Budweiser, only locally brewed canned beer will be available for curbside pick-up.

In Ohio, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association (OCBA) maintain a list of breweries that are offer carry-out and delivery of beer. The list, available on the OCBA website, includes the hours the breweries are open for carry-out, whether they accept online orders, offer food for sale, and accept gift cards. At the time of writing 173 of OCBA’s operating brewery members are offering curbside pick-up. One Ohio brewery in particular is pulling out all the stops to encourage beer drinkers to utilize their curbside pick-up service. With store shelves empty of toilet paper, Black Frog Brewery of Holland, OH were offering a free roll of toilet paper with the purchase of a Howler or Growler of their beer.

Black Frog Brewery of Holland, OH were offering a free roll of toilet paper with the purchase of a Howler or Growler of their beer

States are also helping craft breweries by postponing sales tax collection. This will facilitate cash flow during this difficult period. Some private sector companies are also stepping in to help. Codi Manufacturing of Golden, CO are a mobile canning company. Realizing that some Colorado breweries have never canned their beer before, Codi offered their canning services for free. Breweries still have to pay for the cans, but not having to pay for use of the mobile canning system is a significant help. With taprooms closed, being able to offer their customers canned beer is critical to craft breweries. Closed taprooms, bars, and restaurants means that kegs have become almost obsolete (the exception is customers stopping by a brewery to get their growler refilled). As a result many breweries are scrambling to transfer kegged beers to cans. That can be a time-consuming process. For example, it took staff at Chicago’s Dovetail Brewery 13 hours to transfer (by hand) 50 kegs of beer into 5,000 sixteen ounce cans.

Despite all of these efforts, the slow down in business resulting from Covid-19, will have have an economic impact that is negative and significant. A survey by the Brewers Association paints a sobering picture. Ninety-five percent of craft brewers who responded to the survey expect year-over-year sales, for the first month of the closure period, to be down. On average, breweries expect a 59.5% drop in sales.

In the midst of these economic challenges, however, craft breweries have neither forgotten or abandoned their commitment to their local communities. As hand sanitizer is hoarded, and becomes a near-impossible product to find on the shelves of local retailers, many breweries (and distilleries) have stepped up and utilized their production capacity to produce this increasingly hard-to-get product. Craft breweries from New Orleans to Tampa Bay are producing hand sanitizer. And, in many cases, they are giving it away for free. Maumee Bay Brewing Company in my home city, Toledo, OH is one such brewery. Anyone can drop by the brewery and pick some up, for free. Last Thursday, I dropped by the brewery to pick-up some dinner and get a growler refill. While there, one of the brewery’s staff members offered a bottle of hand sanitizer to everyone in line. In addition to the general public, their ‘customers’ also include health care workers, many of whom are working with the disabled and elderly members of the northwest Ohio community. In Boulder, CO, Avery Brewing Company is giving away 4,000 cases of beer (96,000 beers) to workers at the frontline of fighting Covid-19 – healthcare, police, fire, grocery store workers etc. That craft breweries would step up and support their community at a time when they themselves are hurting may surprise some people; but to those of us who understand the industry realize that supporting their community is quite simply part of the industry’s DNA.

TheBeerProfessor

Monthly Archives: April 2020

Covid-19: Craft Breweries Responding to the Challenge

Musings on Beer