Rick Bayless brews up new beer for Corona marketer

Celebrity chef Rick Bayless is adding some suds to his Mexican food empire

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... a-marketer

I was hoping the salsa flavored beer craze was going to be shorter lived. Corona is a little late to the table. Apologies to Mr. Bayless and his league of admirers, but I just know this beer is going to suck.

The optimist in me is reminded that Bayless' tortilla chips are a huge improvement over most mass-market brands.

But the remaining 90% of me can't get past this line: "The Chicago restaurateur and PBS cooking-show star will partner with the nation's largest beer importer to create a craft beer that will hit stores next year." (Emphasis mine.)

Darren72 wrote:The optimist in me is reminded that Bayless' tortilla chips are a huge improvement over most mass-market brands.

But even Bayless (at least on a couple of the TV shows) uses El Milagro chips at home. I thought that was pretty cool since the show is sponsored by Frontera Foods. He could have done some gratuitous hyping, instead he opted for the clearly superior local product.

Darren72 wrote:The optimist in me is reminded that Bayless' tortilla chips are a huge improvement over most mass-market brands.

But the remaining 90% of me can't get past this line: "The Chicago restaurateur and PBS cooking-show star will partner with the nation's largest beer importer to create a craft beer that will hit stores next year." (Emphasis mine.)

Hey, he survived the Burger King debacle, didn't he? (or was it Burger King that survived the Bayless debacle? )

=R=

He did help with the recipe for Goose Island Marisol, which is pretty fantastic. However, I still don't hold out a lot of hope for this venture.

jfibro wrote:He did help with the recipe for Goose Island Marisol, which is pretty fantastic. However, I still don't hold out a lot of hope for this venture.

The Marisol was fairly restrained and stuck to spicing that tasted close to traditional spiced Belgian Ales. Most of all, the citrusy flavor combined well with the hops. I have a feeling that Corona's beer won't show the same restraint and will be some abomination like a chipoltle lager. Who knows, we might be surprised.

Does anyone know where this will be brewed? If it's for the distributor, that implies it might not be in one of Grupo Modelo's breweries.

Darren72 wrote:But the remaining 90% of me can't get past this line: "The Chicago restaurateur and PBS cooking-show star will partner with the nation's largest beer importer to create a craft beer that will hit stores next year." (Emphasis mine.)

I don't see the issue with this; maybe someone can explain it to me. My understanding is that there's a legal definition of "craft" beer that pertains to the volume produced. So regardless of how big the importer is--the importer's in the import/export business, not the beer-making business--whether or not it is a craft beer depends only on the production volume for this particular product. Or am I wrong?

There is no legal definition of craft beer. If I'm wrong, please show me the regulation from TTB.gov.

Darren72 wrote:There is no legal definition of craft beer. If I'm wrong, please show me the regulation from TTB.gov.

The Brewers Association, a craft beer trade group, has their own definition of a craft brewer, but they have never tried to solidify a definition of craft beer.

http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages ... er-defined

Darren72 wrote:There is no legal definition of craft beer. If I'm wrong, please show me the regulation from TTB.gov.

jfibro wrote: The Brewers Association, a craft beer trade group, has their own definition of a craft brewer, but they have never tried to solidify a definition of craft beer.
http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages ... er-defined

There is no good definition of "craft beer". It is a political definition which leaves a number of solid breweries outside the Brewers Association's adjudgment.
Goose Island, Redhook, and Pyramid are (according to the BA) not craft breweries.

August Schell, which has been brewing the same beer since 1862, is not a craft brewer. Search for its response when the BA sent out its now-notorious "Craft or Crafty?" press release.

New Glarus, whose best-selling beer has an adjunct, is a craft brewer, despite the BA's definition of a craft brewer as one which does not put adjuncts in its beer.
I'm on the BA's e-mail list. I think this is something it is perplexed with. It means well; but it really can't be nailed down. U.S. brewers are just too pioneering.