Have a Barley Hoppy Christmas!

The weather is getting cooler and holiday shopping is in full swing.  What could help with the sometimes overwhelming aspects of the holidays more than an ice cold brew?  I have a few favorite brews that go out during the holidays and I think everyone should give em a try!

I’m going to start my holiday brew tour out with a taste of Deschutes Brewing.  Deschutes is from, in my opinion, the craft beer brewing mecca of Oregon.  They constantly put out great tasting beers with their glorious mixes of hops and barley.  I like Deschutes obviously because of their great beer flavors, but also for what they stand for and over the holidays they are a perfect brewery to pay homage to.  On the Deschutes brewing website under the Discover Deschutes Tab they state “Deschutes believes every pint of beer worth brewing is worth sharing—with friends, family, and even the stranger you just met on the barstool next to you.”  What a great sentiment to have on the holidays.

They get the first holiday shout out!  Their great tasting Jubelale gives a great taste that’s good in every season, but best suited for the holidays.  This beer tends to go out in the fall and last through the winter which gives people plenty of time to enjoy the great taste.  Jubelale has a wonderful earthy flavor that a bit of citrus to it as well.  This brown ale is perfect for any occasion from dinner with friends to a beer to tailgate with.  I strongly recommend this beer and many other beers that Deschutes puts out, they do a great job.

Cheers everyone and have a hoppy holiday.  Drink Responsibly more brews on the way!!

Sex Sells

This is a familiar concept in our society.  Everyday we have advertisements thrown at us from every angle having to deal with sex.  Sometimes the advertisements don’t even make sense to the product being sold, yet the marketing teams continue to throw sex in our faces.

So far I’ve discussed sexualization of men and women as well as the effectiveness in placement of advertisements within programs.  Now, I am going to discuss whether or not sex sells the way we have all been taught it does.  Again, beer and alcohol are extremely good at utilizing the sex sells philosophy.

A study done by three people from Sam Houston University, Jessica Dawn Blair, Jason Duane Stevenson, and Kathy L. Hill and one person from Texas A&M University, John S. Green discusses sex being used to sell from an ethical stand point and reaffirms that sex does in fact sell.  “The study found that sexual appeals are used often in advertisements.  Sex does catch people’s attention in advertisements, but usually without much brand recognition.”(Ethics in Advertising: Sex Sells, but Should It)  The article continues on discussing how women have been traditionally used as a sexualized way of advertising, but recently men have been added to the sexualization.

So sex doesn’t necessarily sell, but it catches attention.  So if sex isn’t related to why sales are being increased then why are advertisers and marketers using sex to sell?  They are catching attention which, although doesn’t necessarily relate to the brand or product, they will remember the commercial tell friends and more people will watch the commercial.  This may not increase sells a lot, but it will relate to increased sales.  So sex does sell.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, and stay tuned.  With the holidays coming up, I will discuss a few of my favorite holiday brews!

Hoppy Holidays everyone!

Blair, J. D., Stephenson, J. D., Hill, K. L., & Green, J. S. (2006). Ethics in advertising: sex sells, but should it?. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 9(1/2), 109.

Does It Sell?

So I have shown how sexualized these advertisements can be.  By finding articles and just looking at pictures of ways beer and alcohol companies advertise it is extremely easy to see how they influence societies views on body image.  Beer advertising constantly showcases the “ideal male and female”.  They use pictures of men with six pack abs with no shirts and women with flat stomachs and barely any close depicting them as both sex symbols and objects.

Now  on to the next question, does it sell?  I wanted to take a look at this from a couple of different stances, one I wanted to see if the programming, like shows that portray a lot of sex, had an effect on how well the advertising worked, and the other just to study the idea of sex selling on its own.

I really wanted to find if advertisements were as effective regardless of what medium they used and when they used them.  I researched TV and commercials during shows, because that seemed to be he most common form of medium in today’s society.  Ellie Parker and Adrian Furnham discuss this and state that “There was a main effect of programme type, demonstrating that sexual programme content hindered recall of advertisements. However, there was no main effect of the type of advertisements seen (sexual or non-sexual) on recall, nor was there a negative effect on recall when programme and advertisement content were congruous. An interaction between advertisements and sex of participants showed that males recalled sexual advertisements better and females recalled non-sexual advertisements better.” (Parker, Furnham) This shows that the medium is important, but it also added a piece of information I didn’t even consider the sex of the viewer.  One question of sex selling down and one to go, stay tuned for the final episode of my #searchfortruth.

 

Parker, E., & Furnham, A. (2007). Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non‐sexual advertisements. Applied cognitive psychology, 21(9), 1217-1228.

 

 

 

 

C’mon Sam

Another example of how beer uses sex to sell its product is a contest that was used to promote Sam Adams beer. This campaign was called “Sex for Sam”. According to Jason Chambers this contests required couples to have sex in public places. The places and the amount of times the couples had sex in public helped acquire points which could win the contest. This campaign inevitably failed because a couple had sex in a Cathedral, but no blame was places on the Boston Brewing Company, but was rather put on the radio show host for promoting such an outrageous contest. Not only does this show how sexual advertising beer can be, but it also shows that the American public doesn’t realize who is really at fault here.

Sex sells seems to be a common theme for things in America.  At any given time you can turn on the TV and see Carl’s Jr. Commercial showing a woman in a bikini eating a cheeseburger, which apparently sells the burger not the idea of a sexualized woman.  Beer advertisements sell the same way.  This campaign launched by Sam Adams clearly shows that.

 

Chambers, J. (2006). Taste matters: Bikinis, twins, and catfights in sexually oriented beer advertising. Sex in consumer culture: The erotic content of media and marketing, 159-177.

Underwear and Underrepresented

Although men and women are both type casted and being advertised to in these beer commercials, women are underrepresented as well as way more sexualized. In the abstract for Women and “body-isms” in television beer commercials it states that: “Research on women in print advertisements has shown that pictures of women’s bodies and body parts (“body-isms”) appear more often than pictures of men’s bodies. Men’s faces (“face-isms”) are photographed more often than their bodies. This present study is the first to confirm this finding for television commercials. Results showed that men appear twice as often as women in beer commercials. The body-isms of women significantly outnumbered the body-isms of men. Women also appeared in swimwear more often than men, thus increasing the photo opportunities for body-isms. This study raises concerns about the dehumanizing influence of these images in beer commercials, and their association with alcohol use and the violence in the televised sporting events during which beer commercials are frequently aired.” (Christine C. Iijima Hall, Matthew J. Crum) This clearly shows that women are typically the sexualized aspect of commercials having to do with beer.

We have a problem in our society and the problem doesn’t seem like it is going to change.  Women are constantly objectified and underrepresented in media.  We need  change this narrative and we need to do it ASAP.

Hall, C. C. I., & Crum, M. J. (1994). Women and “body-isms” in television beer commercials. Sex Roles, 31(5-6), 329-337.

 

 

 

The Four Groups

I’m back, sorry it has been so long since I have blogged.  This blog has put a lot of information about beer into it so far, and I am going to change it up yet again.  It will still have to do with beer, but now I will discuss how men and women are portrayed in the advertisements.  We all know the idea of “Sex Sells” but do beer and liquor commercials also influence unwanted stereotypes?  I like drinking a tasty beer as much as the next person, but is that all we are doing when we indulge in the delicious beverages?  Or is there something more we are doing, are we allowing the unjust and unrealistic idea of sexualization to the point that we discriminate and stereotype everyone we see based on gender or appearance?  This is something I am determined to find out and these next few blog posts are going to discuss just that.

Grouping individuals based on characteristics isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  People basically create a file cabinet in their brains every time they see something based on some characteristic so they can remember it.  It’s when we decide that we need to treat people differently based on this grouping that there is a problem.  Beer, although a great party starter, helps with the grouping of people, and majority of people consuming their advertisements don’t even know it.  in Signs, Vol. 30, No. 3 on pp. 1879-1909 Michael A. Messner and Jeffrey Montez de Oca discuss four groups; Losers, Buddies, Hotties, and Bitches (please excuse the profanity):

1. Losers: Men are often portrayed as chumps, losers. Masculinity—especially for the lone man—is precarious. Individual men are always on the cusp of being publicly humiliated, either by their own stupidity, by other men, or worse, by a beautiful woman.
2. Buddies: The precariousness of individual men’s masculine status is offset by the safety of the male group. The solidity and primacy—and emotional safety—of male friendships are the emotional center of many of these ads.
3. Hotties: When women appear in these ads, it is usually as highly sexualized fantasy objects. These beautiful women serve as potential prizes for men’s victories and proper consumption choices. They sometimes serve to validate men’s masculinity, but their validating power also holds the potential to humiliate male losers.
4. Bitches: Wives, girlfriends, or other women to whom men are emotionally committed are mostly absent from these ads. However, when they do appear, it is primarily as emotional or sexual blackmailers who threaten to undermine individual men’s freedom to enjoy the erotic pleasure at the center of the male group

Being constantly reminded by advertisements that there are group and there is most definitely a difference between groups is most definitely going to change how people view specific groups.  This post hasn’t quite answered the questions dealing with men and women being sexualized that I had hoped, but it has definitely put me on the right track.  Be on the look out for more posts in my quest to understand if beer and liquor commercials influence unwanted stereotypes, and if body images depicted in beer commercials affect the sales of specific beers.

 

Messner, M. A., & De Oca, J. M. (2014). The male consumer as loser: Beer and liquor ads in mega sports media events. Signs, 40(1).

 

Hopping with the stout

Alright another post about a great beer. I recently stopped at a great place called liquid blues in Woodstock. If you’ve never been you need to go. Woodstock has a beautiful downtown area with a lot to do, being a beer man I had to hit a bar, and let me tell you there’s a few good ones.

Anyway back to the beer. Old Rasputin has a delicious flavor. It’s from the north coast brewing company and let me tell you as far as stouts they did it right. The flavor is outstanding. Very smooth on the first taste and great aroma. The beer hits the tongue and instantly gives you a small coffee flavor like most stouts but the finish is were it differs.

The finish is smooth and bold. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? It’s not at all the robust flavor makes it a good flavored drink and the smooth finish makes it so easy to drink. A great beer for an awesome weekend. Hoppy fourth all drink responsibly.

Economy of Hops

This is my last post on things I’ve read or seen for a little while, I promise I’ll get back to the hoppy posts on specific beers soon.  I came across this video and wanted to share it.  It’s an amazing video that talks about the importance of beer in the Economy of America.

The video discusses how the beer industry is booming, specifically the craft beer industry.  It begins talking about the increase in stock and how Boston Brewing, which holds Samuel Adams (Sam Adams is credited as being one of the starters of the craft beer revolution), is up a very high percentage.

After this The video discusses the importance of the craft beer industry currently in the United States.  There is a plethora of craft beer breweries and many of these are breweries/restaurants.  Since there are so many breweries and so many that are also restaurants, like Two Brothers, that is a lot of jobs.  Jobs ranging from bussers and dishwashers to brewers and people helping with the marketing for these companies.  In a time after one of the worst depressions in our nations history it is nice to see that an industry that brings so much happiness for people is also bringing so many jobs for people.

This is backed by an article I read on Cheatsheet.com called Why Craft Beers Are Actually Good For the Economy which states; “Taking a look at the numbers from the Brewers Association, craft brewing grew into a $33.9 billion industry in 2012, and also provided jobs for 360,000 Americans. These may be small brewers and businesses that we’re talking about, but that’s still a big impact.“The figure is derived from the total impact of beer brewed by craft brewers as it moves through the three-tier system (breweries, wholesalers and retailers), as well as all non-beer products like food and merchandise that brewpub restaurants and brewery taprooms sell,” a Brewers Association release says. “The industry also provided more than 360,000 jobs, with 108,440 jobs directly at breweries and brewpubs, including serving staff at brewpubs.” The economy here in America can use any leg up it can get, and I’m glad to see that something that has been around for thousands of years is a big part of us getting out of the hole we were in.

The article continues to discuss the economy of beer, but also touches on a question I have asked myself a few times, What about the big beer business?  Sam Becker does a great job of answering and elaborating on this question saying that “So, while big brewers sit perplexed as to how to handle craft breweries, those same small competitors are starting to make an incredible economic impact. By supplying the economy with 360,000 jobs, and satisfying a demand for more choice among drinkers, these brewers are finding themselves in a special place in the small business echelon — and attracting more customers by the day. It’s also a good sign for the economy as a whole, as people that are clearly willing to spend a little bit more on a more specialized product is an indication that there is a sense of confidence — and disposable income — among the population.”

Clearly beer and alcohol have been an important part of the world for many years.  Pharaohs were buried with clay pots that had beer or wine, public houses were places that politicians and revolutionaries held meetings while consuming their favorite beverages, and it’s a great thing to export.  For years people have enjoyed their own favorite beverages whether that a glass of wine or an ice cold beer, and I don’t think that is going to change.  I’m glad I could do some research on this topic that I enjoy so much, and am looking forward to continuing more research on this topic.  I will have more posts some with articles and some with just general feelings on specific beers, I have tried.  Thanks for reading.  Drink Responsibly as always and have a HOPPY DAY!!!

http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/drink-up-craft-beers-are-great-for-the-economy.html/?a=viewallArticle Why Craft Beers Are Actually Good For the EconomyWebsite The Cheat SheetPublication 2015-05-13

Feasting with hops

Feasting and partying were extremely important for politics in ancient societies.  These parties were ways that people could establish their social standings and make it possible for politicians to get money from people or just to get a helping word from another politician.

Drinking alcohol was extremely important during these parties and happened in excess.  Since alcohol was so important to showing possible political backers a good time people had to learn how to mass produce these beverages.  This article spoke a lot about the ways alcoholic beverages were made and consumed.

The thing I liked the most about this article was that it showed the processes used in creating these beverages, and also the difference in ingredients.  Also the organization with the article made it very easy to read.  The best part to me was the part of politicians and feast.  This shows that alcohol and beer have been an important part of social and economical standings.

Drinking Beer in a Blissful Mood. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2, 2015.

Important brew

“Brewing has been a human activity ever since the beginning of urbanization and civilization in the Neolithic period. Beer is a product valued by its physico-chemical properties (i.e. quality) as much as by its entanglement with religious, culinary

and ethnic distinctiveness (i.e. tradition). Accordingly, the history of beer brewing is not only one of scientific and technological advancement, but also the tale of people themselves: their governance, their economy, their rites and their daily life.

It encompasses grain markets as well as alchemy.”  Right from the beginning the article titled A Comprehensive History of Brewing, shows how important beer and brewing is.

The reason I liked this article so much was because it gave so much detail and charts.  It helped explain the importance of beer economically and socially.  A few charts I found interesting are:

Table 1.2

The three primary beer styles (about 1875 – 1914 [107 – 109] ).

Process Brown Bavarian lager Pale American lager British pale ale

Malt summer barley,

germination 4 – 10 days,

air – drying and subsequent

direct and indirect kilning,

close at 85 – 87 ° C

six – row barley malt, drying/

kilning for 26 – 30 h, close at

85 – 87 ° C

germination 10 – 15 days,

indirect kiln, air drying

for 3 – 4 days, close 5 h at

75 ° C; pale, excellent

solution

Mashing

process

decoction, two – or three –

mashing process

malt, corn, rice, syrups; ‘ double ’

mashing technology: unmalted

materials, mashed at 40 – 70 ° C,

boiled; malt doughed at 38 ° C,

boiled adjuncts added,

subsequently infusion mashing

at 67 ° C

infusion process, high

starting temperature

(64 – 69 ° C)

Main

fermentation

bottom fermentation, 6 – 12

days, 6 – 10 ° C, limited

attenuation

bottom fermentation, closed

tubs, CO

2

collected, one tub,

2 – 5 days, 8 – 12 ° C

top fermentation, two

tubs, 49 h, 17 – 22 ° C,

high degree of

attenuation

Microorganism slow – fermenting yeasts

S. uvarum

with uniform

genomes [110] ,

bottom – fermenting yeasts,

slight fl

occulation

fast – fermenting yeasts

(

S. cerevisiae

),

heterogeneous genomes,

several species

Second

fermentation,

storage

after saccharifi

cation for

6 – 8 days, storage up to

6 month

2 – 12 weeks at

≤

3 ° C; fi

ning

(chip tanks), carbonating

>

3 months

Beer (W: wort;

A: alcohol)

W: 11.0 – 13.5%;

A: 2.7 – 4.0%

W: 12 – 13%; A: 3.8% W: 13.5 – 14.0%;

A: 4.1 – 5.0%

34

1 A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing

Table 1.4

World beer production around 1900 and 2003 [113, 124, 125] .

Country Output (1000 hl)

1897 – 1901; 2004

Germany 69,000; 106,190

British Empire 64,000

United Kingdom 60,500; 58,911

Ireland 8,142

British Colonies 3,500

Australia 1600; 16,910

Canada 1100; 23,130

India 245; 7,000

Cape Province/South Africa 100; 25,000

United States 46,400; 233,300

Austria – Hungary 21,500

Austria 4,800; 8,670

Bohemia/Czech Republic 9,400; 18,753

Moravia/Slovakia 2,000; 4,218

Galicia/Poland 1,200; 27,700

Hungary 1,400; 6,872

Rest Austro – Hungarian Empire 2,700

Italy 13,125

Belgium 14,100; 17,409

France 9,600 16,801

Russia (Commonwealth of Independent States) 5,200 85,200

Sweden 3,300 3,788

Denmark 3,000 8,550

Switzerland 2,500 3,561

Netherlands 2,200 23,828

Middle and South America 1,500 233,626

Mexico 300 68,482

Chile 400 4,200

Argentina 290 12,800

Brazil 220 85,600

Peru 15 6,100

Norway 500

Japan 270 65,490

Smaller states of Europe 230 73,000

Serbia 70 6,000

Romania 65 14,000

China 291,000

Spain 30,677

I couldn’t figure out out to keep the formatting, sorry about that one, but you can see the charts and how the production of beer has changed and increased in volume.  This article was an excellent read although it was a bit on the long side.  Brewing has changed a lot over the years, but one thing has remained the same, alcohol is still important for an economy and also a society.

A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2, 2015.