No hype, just the "Death of a Brewery Salesman."

"My friend once showed me how he explains the three tier system of alcohol to lay people. He picked up his glass and moved it from in front of his right hand to in front of his left hand and then stuck out his other hand and said 'That'll be 30%, please.' There is often a feeling among brewery people that distributor people would be just as happy delivering turkey basters."

I wasn't ever the primary sales rep at my (former) brewery, but even in an ancillary capacity, I experienced enough of it to feel this guy's pain.

Unfortunately, there probably isn't a solution. Let's hope the colleges and universities continue to produce cannon fodder; meanwhile, I intend to curl up with a growler from the brewery down the way.

Death of a Brewery Salesman, by Matthew J. "Heff" Heffernan (DCBeer)

 ... It's a strange dynamic that leads many people to believe that being a beer rep is quite possibly the best job on the planet. That's what the buying public generally sees us doing: drinking beer on an expense account. They don't see us awake until all hours of the night building presentations to show at wholesaler meetings (which are often at 7am the next day). So they think this job is great. They don't see the truly unfortunate amount of time you have to spend analyzing sales data to make any sort of headway at retail, or with your wholesaler partners (about all of whom, I don't think it's any secret to anyone who knows me, I've openly had some very negative things to say about in the past, but we'll get to that in a minute). The public definitely doesn't see the embarrassing and regrettable conversations that sometimes go on out in the market or during a sales call. The horse trading, the sucking up, the falseness, agreeing when you actually disagree, smiling when you actually want to judo chop the person in the neck. These are some things I'm pretty good at. None of them are sexy, but I guess they do separate me from your average homebrewer. Still though, it's the cool shirt that must make them want me there. Or maybe the hope they will receive a cool shirt of their own simply by hosting?

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The PC: Now that the Louisville Bats have a new majority owner, are the prospects for local beer in the ball yard any brighter?

THE PC: Now that the Louisville Bats have a new majority owner, are the prospects for local beer in the ball yard any brighter?

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Since 1998, the city of Louisville has actively participated in the financing of Louisville Slugger Field.

Whatever the exact proportion of public-private monies devoted to construction and maintenance of the venue, metro government obviously continues to contribute financially in a myriad of ways, both large and small, toward the profitable operation of the ball park and its Triple-A occupant, the Louisville Bats baseball club. Soon the Louisville FC soccer team will be a Slugger Field tenant, too, and share in the largesse.

Slow news week, eh?

No, there is nothing unusual about any of this, and with rare exceptions, Americans seem to accept that sporting venues “work” in this manner, i.e., with public subsidies for private profit generators.

The “major” sporting leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) are where much of the real money is spent, but this doesn’t mean there aren’t tidy profits to be made further down the hierarchy of minor leagues, as Louisville's business journal documents.

Majority interest in Louisville Bats sold to New York company, by Marty Finley (Business First)

The local partnership team that has owned the Bats for nearly three decades has agreed to sell the majority interest and operating rights for the franchise to New York-based Manhattan Capital Sports Acquisition LLC.

MC Sports also owns the Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods, a minor league Kentucky team in the Midwest League, and the Class AAA Reno Aces of Nevada in the minor league Pacific Coast League.

Given that these matters generally interest me only from the standpoint of whether the “craft” beer selection within Louisville Slugger Field’s turnstiles might improve from its currently wretched depths, what we have here is a classic good news/bad news paradigm.

The bad news: The Bats no longer will possess a majority local ownership share.

The good news: Majority owners from New York, Beijing or even Timbuktu likely couldn’t do any worse than those residing right here in Louisville when it comes to promulgating the ideal of locally brewed craft beer in the ballpark.

Perhaps new blood would bring fresh ideas. After all, as we’ve noted so many times before, baseball clubs at all levels of the game have long since grasped that the very best reason to vend locally-brewed craft beer is market-based. Simply stated, local fans want locally brewed craft beer, and across America, their desires (and cash) are being honored, with a notable exception being in Louisville, where our Bats and their Centerplate hatcheteers continue to succumb to the simple avarice of pay-to-play dealings with multinationals.

So, does the majority stake sale constitutes grounds for optimism?

Alas, probably not.

The local partnership group — president Gary Ulmer; his father, Dan Ulmer; and Louisville businessmen Ed Glasscock, Steve Trager, Ken Huber and Mike Brown— will remain minority partners in the Bats organization. Gary Ulmer also will retain his leadership role, and the team management structure is expected to stay the same …

… “I don’t think fans will see any difference at all,” (Gary Ulmer) said, adding that it will be “business as usual.”

Oh, dear.

Three decades of antediluvian Philistinism have taught us that Gary Ulmer’s executive suite is the Formica-clad dungeon where beer hope crawls off to die, and now, even with an infusion of outside perspective, we’d have far better odds of Slugger Field beer improvement by regularly playing the lottery and vowing to buy 100% of the ball club with our future winnings.

Could this get any more grimly humorous? Yes, it can, and yet therein lies perhaps the only avenue for better beer’s salvation.

At the news conference, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the Katzoffs understand the treasure they are now safeguarding, telling them Louisville will have "high expectations."

Might these "high expectations" for our civic "treasure" include much needed affirmative action for locally produced goods and services ... like "craft" beer?

As mentioned previously in this space, Mayor Fischer recently convened a study group of local beer industry people, of whom I was one, to meet and discuss ways the city of Louisville might help promote locally brewed beer. A City Hall announcement pertaining to this is slated for next Monday, and the section of the recommendation pertinent to Slugger Field and the Bats is repeated below.

Of course, there's no guarantee that our recommendations will be incorporated into prospective courses of action, but speaking only for myself, the consultative exercise was marked by sincerity all around.

Louisville Metro Breweries in local city owned venues

The mayor’s work group recommends that more local breweries be included in city-sponsored events and on city owned property. Louisville Metro breweries would like the opportunity to sell beer at such events like Waterfront Wednesday, Slugger Field, Iroquois Park, Yum! Center. Also noted, Louisville Metro breweries like to be included in city sponsored events or festivals such as Hike, Bike, and Paddle, Worldfest, and Blues, Brews, and BBQ.

Details for Recommendations

It is widely understood and accepted that Metro Louisville government is an equal opportunity employer, one that seeks to utilize minority, female and handicapped employees, whether when hired directly, or indirectly through contractors, suppliers and vendors. The importance of these precepts extends far beyond beer and brewing, to government’s fundamental aim of providing conditions for the improvement of daily life.

In like fashion, metro Louisville government understands the critical importance of the local economy in a sustainable future, as well as the key position that locally generated food and drink businesses occupy in the city’s outreach, whether within the community itself, or directed toward visitors from elsewhere. Alongside urban bourbon heritage and an explosion in innovative dining, Louisville’s breweries serve as exemplars of this new economy.

Aspects of pre-existing “older” economic systems sometimes must be modified to fit new and evolving realities. As an example, it has remained the case that customary concessions practices in venues for sports and music have evolved from the three-tier alcoholic beverage distribution system at state and federal levels, and to a certain degree, reflect private commercial matters between concessionaires and wholesalers.

And yet, there is nothing fundamentally ‘Louisville” about concessions choices emanating solely from contractual arrangements that the general public never sees. For native and tourist alike, viewing a baseball game at a venue such as Louisville Slugger Field should present the opportunity to inform and offer choices that pertain to the community which laid for the venue’s construction – that speak to Louisville itself.

Reflecting the reality that private for-profit businesses entities and drinks vendors utilize publicly financed venues and facilities, Metro Louisville government seeks to be a positive force in encouraging these entities and vendors to provide equal opportunities for local brewers, precisely because public financing of these venues implies acceptance of the merits of equal opportunity, as well as providing the ideal forum to educate attendees as to the merits of local, sustainable economies.

Metro Louisville government supports the creation of branded, destination concessions areas unique to the venues its taxpayers have financed. It works to educate concessionaires as to the benefits of a contemporary local economy as it pertains to beer and brewing, safe in the knowledge that profit margins for handcrafted beers can be equal to or greater than those for products supplied by multinational breweries.

In short, Metro Louisville government enthusiastically greets the chance to expand local brewing consciousness by use of the landlord’s bully pulpit in venues/events that include, but are not limited to, Slugger Field; Waterfront Wednesday; Iroquois Amphitheater; YUM! Center and Hike, Bike and Paddle.

Actually, I’m cautiously optimistic.

If both the city of Louisville and the Katzoffs get it, any hired gun concessionaire, Centerplate or otherwise, can be compelled at the point of a pink slip to get it, too.

Local beer enthusiasts know that Gambrinus gives us the beer. Unfortunately, the Ulmers and Glasscocks of the world keep standing in the way. Maybe ... just maybe ... their time finally will pass.

Passing of the sales baton at NABC.

Examples of inspiration in transition include Season Four of M*A*S*H, AC-DC's Back in Black, and Rick Sutcliffe's 16-1 record down the stretch for the Cubs in 1984.

The 4077th welcomed both a new doctor and camp commander, and the series lasted three times longer than the real-life war. The rock group honored Bon Scott's passing with a classic album, and had a hit album just last year.

And, Chicago made the playoffs, even though they lost to San Diego. It is my intention to leave goat-laden curses out of this one.

Our new NABC sales rep for Louisville and Southern Indiana is Josh Hill, who has worked with us for several years, and recently has been selling NABC beers to accounts on the Indiana side of the Ohio.

We wish the best to John Campbell as he departs on a new course. John's loyalty and hard work have been instrumental in bringing us to this place. I'd make an analogy with Che leaving for Bolivia, except that he failed, and I know John won't. But if it feels like just such a chapter closing, I know that when our paths cross in the future, there'll be beers and cigars all around.

I'm confident that Josh will pick up where John left off. Overall, we at NABC are blessed to have passionate beer loving people to fight against the scourge of swill. Parting may be sweet sorrow, but partying isn't ... and the battle rages on.

Tish Dean is our new World Class Beverages sales rep.

If you are a resident beer aficionado in Southern Indiana, by which I mean east of New Albany toward Madison and points beyond, and west to Evansville and perhaps even New Harmony, the state’s largest wholesaler of craft beers and imports has very good news for you.

Our part of the state now has a World Class Beverages sales rep whose exclusive job it is to work the Southern Indiana territory, which quite frankly (and WCB would agree) has been neglected in the past.

Her name is Tish Dean, and we’ve known her for years around NABC, Rich O’s and Sportstime. We finally had a chance to touch base in a professional capacity yesterday, and I’m confident in saying that her arrival bodes well for the expansion of good beer availability in our neck of the woods.

The reason? In the past, accounts like my pub and Todd (Keg Liquors) Antz’s certainly have been serviced by WCB, and often quite well, but never by a full-time sales rep who wasn’t spending much of his or her available time in other markets (Bloomington, et al). Or, as has been the case recently, we’ve worked with someone in the office (the inimitable Bob Mack) who is right on target with our needs, but again, has other jobs to do and no time to expand the company’s mandate.

Tish’s responsibility will be to expand the presence of craft beer and imports in locales and establishments that previously had no one to do business with directly. She reports that in her brief travels around the area to date, many bar and package store owners are expressing interest in the idea of broadening the selection. They simply require appropriate information and personal attention of the sort that only a full-time rep can provide to people who don’t come into the game with their own self-motivated good beer skill sets.

Down here in Hickland, the rising tide will be lifting all our boats for years to come, so good luck to Tish – I think it’s going to be a revelatory experience for all of us.