Brewdog join our gang!

Fantastic news! The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has been honoured by Brewdog. "Welcome aboard" we say.

It's a pity that  James Watt chose to mark the event by saying BD were

"not fans of SIBA…especially the Scottish branch. In fact we pretty much detest everything they stand for and their close-minded clique mentality"*

BD also go on to make clear that they've joined mainly to get access to the Direct Delivery Scheme - which allows SIBA members to sell to some pubco outlets while preserving the pubco mark-up (and subject to pubco control).

We're SIBA members, but we don't bother with DDS. Why not?  Well, there aren't really enough outlets near us for it to generate a lot of business.  Getting further afield would make it difficult to fulfill orders in the required time. But mainly, we believe deals like this are papering over the cracks in the pubco model:  The pubco still gets to charge their mark-up, SIBA takes a (small) cut also. The pubco (rather than the tenant) still gets to choose which beers will be available (i.e. membership of the DDS doesn't guarantee that your beer will be listed). DDS creates an illusion of choice for the tenant (and pubgoer) and the illusion of market access for the brewer.

Oh, by the way boys, dissing the trade organisation that you've just joined (as a probationer) is a bit rude, and stupid - unless of course you're hoping that they'll (threaten to) throw you out, generating a bit of publicity.

What do you think?


*http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=68595&c=1

Ooh, I love Christmas, me.

We've pretty much sorted out our Christmas plans.
1. Make and sell a spice beer.
I have a small but "pongy" pile of cardamom, mace, cinnamon and ginger in the office right now.
2. Go to California for a fortnight.
This will be my first holiday for 3 years. Becky says it shows.

Seriously, do they think we're stupid?

...the government will get behind schemes to encourage children to walk to school. The white paper will flag one that rewards schoolchildren with points that can be exchanged for shopping tokens or cinema tickets. Each child will have a plastic card that they must swipe on each of a series of card-readers on their way to school, attached to lamp-posts or other fixed points.

From here.

I mean:
1. That's so unfair! We live literally across the road from school, so unless the boy does an idiotic detour he won't get his free cinema tickets.

2. When we were kids we were (a) smart and (b) nasty. Hence: "Oi, you, fat kid, give us your dinner money, and while you're at it, take my card and swipe it for me."

3. How long are we supposed to think these child monitoring stations will remain attached to lamp-posts?

4. Are they on crack, or what?