2019 - Polk's Thoughts and Hopes

With 2018 starting it's fade to black, I return to my tradition and look forward to what the coming year may bring for Ontario Craft beer. I have no inside knowledge, nor am I by any means an expert on anything but my own palate and observations, I am just a guy who really loves the community and of course, the beer. 
  The following thoughts are perhaps best described as hopes, dreams and a little reality as the calendar surges forward and craft beer grows and matures along with us as consumers.
 Predictions, thoughts and a little look into the mirror as we begin 2019.
1. All beer is Local
  Well of course it is Polk, everything is local somewhere. While this is facetious but factual, the point I have come to make is that it will become even more hyper localised as we go forward. with the exception of the strong regional breweries (Great Lakes, Muskoka, Amsterdam, et all), the future of the smaller, nano and micro breweries will be in serving their communities and the surrounding environs with both liquid and social refreshment. Not a large economic concern but rather a smaller, more sensitive to the seasons and the ebb and flow of the population around them, these breweries will do well to serve as both touristy beer destinations and hubs of local activity. From hosting their own events to bringing in civic organizations for fundraising nights, these breweries will do well serving the immediate area around them, encompassing small town bars and restaurants with an eye to the bottom line as many will have to stay small to maximize profit but perhaps also provide a nice life for the owners/brewers and a dedicated staff.

2. It's in the Mail
  While a nice chunk, about 20%, of Ontario Craft brewers offer online sales and home delivery through Canada Post, the majority have yet to seize on this excellent resource for getting their beer into the hands of consumers far away. Part of the problem is the need to build the website to handle the ordering, which without an in-house option could be an expense not worth its creation. packaging and what to offer online are core questions as well as what the market will bear when it comes to the dreaded shipping charges. Minimum orders or even a lack of interest in the product outside of the immediate environs will also be deal breakers for many small brewers. As with the LCBO or Beer Store, the online sales provide a secondary revenue stream which can provide much needed income to an out of the way stop. The larger brewers who have extensive listings at the provincial level stay away from this, with a few exceptions like Sawdust City and my own hometown Collective Arts, simply because I imagine they just can't justify the need to add to an already heavy sales schedule. Perhaps I am reaching but I see a continuing rise of online sales with the most sought after and unique offerings driving those brewers profits higher and leading to an even larger footprint without the traditional sales plan.

3. Your Unique and I want You
  The rise of the Whale is always part of any expansion of great craft beer. Some magical genius with hops and barley hits the jackpot with their ability to create the next big thing and people all over are clamouring for it. Be it a far away location from the big urban centres, a small production or just the sheer purchasing of
a brewery's fans who scoop up every release in copious amounts whenever a new or returning favourite hits the fridge. While the envy will always be there for some, the larger population of craft beer drinkers nod their heads and then go to their local favourite for what they would tell you is great beer no one knows about. These highly regarded and much sought after beers come from all sizes of brewer and will make for special road trips and beer mail but at some point, if people can't get your beer, they will move on to what they can.

4. Craft Beer Stores
  The holy grail and be all, end all for enthusiasts is the belief that someday we will get "our own" beer stores filled with every imaginable release from all the best Ontario craft brewers. While someday this may be true and we can all rejoice at the prospect of knowledgeable staff selling beer at the proper temps with glassware and pairing advice, I wouldn't hold my breath. The best bet is a consortium, like the Ontario Craft Brewers association and their members getting a few licences to open boutique stores. These would most likely be located in already busy urban markets and despite a wish from some, the LCBO will continue to administer the sale of beer within the province. Cross selling or regional stores would be a little easier to fathom as most brewers have fairly friendly and close relationships with their close by neighbouring breweries and this could be a much more doable option. But for the near future, it is the Grocery store and LCBO which will continue to be the only outlets outside of the brewers walls where people can physically pick up the product.
  But still we dream and hope...soon.
5. The Haze Craze Continues or The Chronicles of Dank
  Every year I say it is going to be a resurgence of lagers and pilsners with low ABV beers coming in hard...and every year I am still surrounded by the love and search for big old juicy, hazy and tropical dank hop bombs. While the mass market still is dominated by Bud Lights and the like, most of the people I know who drink craft beer are either in search of the latest New England style IPA or something of the like. Hazy is a descriptor but it is the soft citrus pithy bitterness to go with that dank pine that brings the most joy to those who love them. The other side of that coin is my dark and slow sipping friends who pursue barley wines, bourbon, rum or cognac barrelled beauties to enjoy and warm the sub cockles of their hearts with. No doubt the market exists for crispy bois and clean pils but make no mistake that the ever growing craft beer world is still deep in the grips of all the hops.
  The Haze remains the same.
6. How deep is our love?
  With around 300 brick and mortar breweries operating in Ontario and even more in various stages of planning, this province of 10 million plus people is either under or over saturated depending on who you listen too. Peak Craft beer, to steal a phrase, is perhaps the biggest fear for anyone thinking of getting into the game and wondering if there is room at the tap handle. While I have already talked about the hyper-local focus of a lot of new brewers in Point 1 today, I see trouble for some places as the knowledge and sheer number of consumers rise. We have begun to see people turn from beer that isn't good, not well thought out or rushed to market. There will always be a segment that will never be critical of anything for fear of upsetting their local brewer, but if we are to continue to see expansion on par with what the last 3 years have seen we need to begin thinking and buying with an eye to supporting those who are making it worth our dollars.
7. A Larger Tent
  While this one probably needs a deeper look and is something I promise to do as the year moves on, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about why it is important for us to make a bigger door and be far more sensitive and inclusive when it comes to craft beer.
Just as we wish to be part of drinking something that is different and better than when we drank Coors or Molson Canadian, we must also look at how we welcome those who seek to make the world itself better. While I am not really qualified to talk about diversity or inclusivity, I feel like I have to continue to push the envelope and help or encourage those whose voices are being raised and need to be heard. We want craft beer to be a place where everyone feels like they belong and that begins with standing up for what is right and being an ally to those who seek that truth. I think 2019 will continue to see people try to open doors and make craft beer the truly special place we see it can be. But the work remains and vigilance will be needed to keep those who seek to muffle or silence criticism and serious conversation about change. Arm in arm we go forward and that will be our strength.
  A good place to start is with my friend Ren over at Beer.Diversity., the good ladies at The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies or even Hamilton's own Iron Beer Maidens. Look for local groups and breweries who are doing things right and support them with your dollars and your voice.
8. Buy-Outs, Sell-Outs
  For the most part, since Mill Street sold to Ab-Inbev in 2015, the Ontario Craft beer scene has been relatively quiet when it comes to "selling out". Whether it is a lack of options or just people standing firm on sub par offers, it has been a peaceful period when it comes to the mergers and acquisitions of our favourite breweries. With the exception of a few contract LCBO SKU buys made by Lost Craft, the odd purchase of Grand River by Magnotta and All or Nothing taking on Trafalgar, there has been little action. I am sure some sniffing around has been done and who knows, this year may see a shocking purchase but in my heart, I can't see it being anyone but the few "lifestyle" brands who always seem to be looking for a big payday anyway. Ace Hill continues to defy my predictions of being a perfect fit for Molson/Coors and perhaps it is the coming attempts at cannabis related beer that has the big boys focus.
  The craft beer portion of the market approaches somewhat of 10% and that has to have someone's attention but perhaps I'm still tilting at windmills here...
9. Do you like my #beerselfie?
  While I know I am often a social media tidal wave and live very much every day out in the open, there is a rising tide of new and more talented photographers, writers and video lovers out there who just need a little encouragement to join our cause. I continue to help push them forward and despite the fact that there are a few who wish they alone could be the "voice" of craft beer, the truth is many voices are needed to help raise the chorus and that in numbers we truly have strength.
  Every picture or story about craft beer helps to widen our reach and as more people join us, we can help craft the narrative. We can start to control the future and ensure that the vision of  a better world with craft beer leading the way happens. 
  Not everything of course is hunky-dory when it somes to social media and craft beer. Some still use sex to sell and achieve followers/likes, some try to court controversy for the sake of controversy and we all need to be aware of beer shaming our friends and family online and in real life.
The boobs, butts and muscle crowd will always exist in any form of media, so it is up to each person to decide what they feel is right for them.
Being an asshole about beer or anything only goes so far and while I too can fall into the trap of negative vibes, I will do my best to try to be more Beer Positive myself in 2019.
And finally, let us do what we can to help reduce beer shaming as the year goes on. Sure we want more of those around us to join us in enjoying the amazing things we are getting, but making fun of or calling them out for making poor choices when it comes to their beer only reduces the likelihood that they will ever feel comfortable trying something new. We all started somewhere and maybe we would do good to remember that. Be a guide and a friend, not a gatekeeper who sneers at those they feel are beneath them. Expand the love and make it easy for folks to feel comfortable joining the community and you will see us grow.


  There you go my friends, 9 things I think could happen or that we can work at to make better in the coming 365 days. I'll be doing my best to help spread the Gospel according to Craft and hope you will join me as we delve headlong into what is sure to another year of beautiful beer, new friends and experiences that will help shape the stories we tell when once again we gather to look back.

Cheers!
Polk

Shooting Videos with the Drunk Polkaroo

I've often said I have a face made for radio. The older I get, there are fewer people that get the joke. "What's radio?" they say, slowly back away from my ancient technology. But as I continue my Year of Beer, I want to try new ideas and expressions, so it with that in mind I am starting to make short beer review videos on the YouTubes. I know there is no "the" at the beginning or an "s" at the end, but that's how we tell us old timers apart from the rest of you.

When posting a photo and write up on Instagram or the blog, I have the ability to rewrite and polish my work. Sometimes I do edits later on if I notice something is just not working or spelled wrong. With video, that is a little harder. You can only open a beer one time and in the case of many of my brews, I only have one of them to drink anyway. But I like the rawness that video provides. It pushes me to focus on every aspect of what I do with the beer, from the opening of the bottle to the last drop in the glass. Yes. A glass. Every time. Come on guys, it's not hard, but please stop drinking out of the bottle. You are missing so much. I wrote about it twice, here and here.  Check them out. They both will explain why I always pour my beer into a glass. That subject is becoming like the 1993 Leafs for me, I just can't give it up.

Back to videos. I started with a few simple pour videos, using an old digital camera until I realised my phone has better resolution. I don't have a stand for it yet, so I made my own out of some scrap wood I had lying around in the basement.

A little crude, but it gets the job done.

I think it is time to step it up in the camera department and will venture forth to find an affordable but good webcam. That will make editing a little easier and probably improve the quality.

I use my Wall of Beer as the backdrop, but will eventually be filming all of my reviews and video blogs at my bar, which after 10 years I am actually going to build. For my "research". Man, beer is pretty awesome when it motivates you to get projects done. Just make sure you drink after you build or it might be a little lopsided.

That's a whole lot of fun on one wall.

I really want to capture all the sights and sounds of opening, pouring and tasting a beer, so playing with some different formats and techniques will be something we can do together. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, here, and follow along as I talk about beer and no doubt so much more. I can only promise that I will keep searching for the Perfect Beer and with that a better life. I am not going to lie, watching a video of myself is a little odd, but I do love all my Fat Guy shirts and am glad they are finally getting the exposure they deserve.

Happy Monday to you all and I'll see you later on the Internets.

(Again, I know there is no "s". Just testing.)





If you enjoy the blog, follow along on the Facebooks. 

(Now I'm just messing with you)

(But follow along, lots going on there too)

Thanks again for the support and Cheers!



Time to de-Christmas the house. Booooooo!

Christmas was over two weeks ago and the Polkaroo household still looks like we await St. Nick's arrival. I hate the thought of putting away all my decorations for another year, but realise if I don't act soon, it is going to seem like I am just lazy instead of festive.


It's drier than Nevada by now

Growing up, my mom always took down everything by New Year's day so we could have a fresh start. I really think it was because there were 4 kids in my house going back to school and my saint of a mother needed her house to resemble some kind of normal before the tornado of a new semester took over the place.

We grumbled and half heartedly helped take down our growing collection of Christmas baubles and went back to the dreary days of winter. I always thought I wanted to leave the decorations up longer to keep that happy spirit alive, but in reality, I was just putting off stuff that had to be done.

Putting aside my aversion to taking down what I put up only a month and a half ago, I begin the process of hauling the 30+ boxes of regular household knickknacks to replace the assorted holiday gee-gaws. Trudging up and down the stairs, I start to envision a future where we do a minimalist Christmas. Maybe a bauble or two and that would suffice.

Why do we need so many damn decorations?

We don't even have kids.

 This is ridiculous.

I really hate taking down my Christmas stuff.

When I start to wrap the breakables, it brings a smile to my face as I put away certain ones because they mean something a little more. A musical Santa Mom and Dad fixed for Grampa.

It still plays music too

 Mrs. Polkaroo's ever expanding Christmas village that is starting outgrow its spot.

The picture doesn't do it justice, it is growing quickly.

These things remind me of why I decorate for this holiday only. The act of doing it reminds me of the excitement of childhood and who wouldn't want to relive Christmas Eve and morning as a kid one more time. When I take it down, it helps to put those feelings away until next year when I get to do it again.

New this year!

The process of re-decorating and hanging our assorted picture frames, paintings and wall ornaments is a nice way to consider what we have and if it really is necessary. I know no one needs any of the stuff we have, but they contain memories and feelings from what they mean to each of us. I am forever deciding if this piece or that has had it time with us and needs a new home. It usually ends up that I donate some stuff to charity and make room for new memories that we will acquire in 2016.

I have always been the one who decorates, it is just something I enjoy and Kat doesn't seem to mind. I have made all the picture frames in our house (and there are a plethora of them) full of pics from our few and precious trips to the Caribbean.


Fun times with my best friend.

Nothing is better than as you trudge down the stairs mid-January than seeing the fun times we've had on the beaches of Jamaica or Cuba and the hope that we may do it again. 

Almost twelve years.

Wedding pictures of course are a fixture as well, not forgetting that youthful snap from our engagement.

Oh, the matching blues.



As the house slowly returns to normal, it cannot help but look barren. Nothing can generate the excitement and colour that Christmas does, so you learn to cope. I have no doubt that part of my "blahs" of February are caused by the sharp contrast between the sparkling promise of Christmas and the regular everyday gray of our lives.

This year I approach it from a much better place and look forward to doing a little redesigning of the main floor with maybe some classy beer bottles sneaking their way onto our built-in bookcases in the dining room. Just one or four, I promise.

So much room for my beer collection!

I have long felt the depression of this time of year, but it was only recently that I began to understand it and fight back. It takes a concerted effort and the support of my lovely wife, who never gives in to the darkest days I have, to remain on an even keel. I have a much better grip on what causes my sadness and with that in hand, I am confident taking away my Christmas until next November will not put me in a funk.

Plus this year has so much to look forward to. I am off to visit some new places tomorrow and despite the chill in the air, we have committed to start our walking regimen. New shoes from the store always made me feel like I could run faster as a kid and I still get a rush when I lace up my new high tops.

But for now it is the careful wrapping of breakables, the packing of the boxes and the unhanging of funny snowmen wreaths.

These guys always make me laugh.

I put them away not with sadness, but with a happiness that comes from recognizing what a wonderful life I have and how much joy this past season brought to me. I look forward to the chilly walks and explorations the rest of winter will bring and am excited for the warming of Spring and the sun shining on my face as I work in the gardens.

Bye-bye penguins, snowmen and Santa. You will be missed and I look forward to seeing you all again as soon as the clock turns on November 12th, 2016.

Cheers!



Get Up and Write Something

I like to get up early. 6 a.m. is a great time of the day. It's quiet, the day ahead filled with promise and I can write. One of the side effects of my not pounding beers and getting drunk all the time is that I find myself going to bed at a pretty reasonable hour, then waking up earlier than before with far more energy. Not having a hangover with a pounding headache and sore stomach is quite the joy. I woke up that way more days than not and how I thought it was normal is beyond me.

Getting my day started 2 hours or more before going to work means I have to do something with myself. I don't want to just veg out in front of the T.V. and watch something I PVR'd the night before. I suppose when the weather gets a little warmer, I could go for a walk. But that's something I can do to spend some time with my wife, so maybe I will wait for a stroll. I decided I should try to write something. Anything. Every day, for at least an hour. It might be nonsense, something serious or funny. But I want to write. It feels good to be able to put all the jumbled thoughts that run around my head into the laptop and read them later in the day. Sometimes I decide that what I wrote in the morning is on to something and work on it some more. Other times I see where I was headed and change directions. But I never dismiss my creativity anymore. If I wrote it, I keep it somewhere. I may find a use for it later and I don't want to waste any more time.

When I was young, I wrote all the time. I thought I would be a writer of big stories one day and loved creating something new all the time. Life took a different path when I was in my late teens and I took myself off the university bound path I had been on and started to work full time and party more. Not a wise move, but when you are 18, you know everything about life. Right? Man if I could do anything it would be to send a message to myself and try to make me see the light. I know it wouldn't work, mostly because I was a stubborn ass back then.

In the long run, life has tuned out pretty good. I am sure I will take some time as I go along to revisit my youthful indiscretions and share with you the lessons learned from a quarter century of following the path of least resistance.

But for now, I write. For you, my friends and family and for myself. If no one reads what I write it doesn't matter anymore, because I read it. When I go back over the last month, I see growth and want more. Will I ever get it right? I hope not, because the pursuit of the truth drives me forward and I don't want to stop. It is with great care that I scroll these words across the screen to help heal wounds open for far too long. There is a cathartic feeling in letting your feelings be exposed to a wider world and it is a vulnerable, open way to live. I have been closed off for so long, it feels like I have stories bursting out of my mind all day long.

I like to write about beer a lot as you may have noticed. That was the original intent of my blog, To chronicle my journey from drunken idiot to respectable craft beer guy. And I think that is still true for the most part. My choice to explore beer as a metaphor for my life is a good place to start my path. But so much more has come to me as I share my thoughts with people. I have had friends and family tell me how much they enjoy what I wrote and encourage me to keep going, I have reconnected with old friends through my words and it warms my heart that we may be able to break bread together soon.

I hope 2016 will be a good year. I want to experience new things and share them with you. Maybe we can do some of them together. That would be pretty cool. I know my struggle with depression and anxiety can sometimes cause me to shut off from the world, but I hope I can keep those demons at bay with a conscious effort to keep pushing forward. Writing helps because it makes me think about what I want to say, but also gives me the time alone to work it out. I don't want to miss anymore moments in life, big or small. With the help of all of you I think that is possible and this is a big step in the right direction.

Finally, I want to encourage you to do something you want to. Maybe it's writing a story, building something with your hands or trying to learn a new skill. Do it. The sooner you get started the better. I am proof that it is never too late to begin again. I believe that you have the capacity for greatness in your own life and I know you can do anything you want to.

Let's make this year the best one yet and share yourself with the universe. It gives great things back if you only try.

Cheers!