BEER AND ALCOHOL AND THE NEED FOR THEIR KOSHER CERTIFICATION
By Dr. Harold Goldmeier, November 2011 @1600 words
hgoldmeier@aol.com Chicago, Il. 312-931-0532
Alcohol and beer sales remained flat for nearly two decades, while taste buds of young people changed. Demand has grown for sweeter more flavorful and exotic drinks. The industry decided to target women who find the taste of regular beer and alcohol bitter and harsh, and the metro crowd aficionados of culinary cuisine wanting chichi alcoholic drinks. Wine makers quickly responded resulting in an explosion of new wineries with new products, and sales including kosher wines are skyrocketing. Craft breweries and small distilleries are flooding the market with specialty blends, new ingredients, and brewing processes spearheading a dramatic growth in sales of beers, liquors, and especially vodkas. Little information about the ingredients and processes is readily available, but their kosherness is seldom questioned.
Goose Island Beer Company, for example, is the father of craft breweries and a favorite of Midwestern beer drinkers. They grew rapidly with 312 Urban Wheat Ale, Fleur, Pepe Nero, Honker’s, Bourbon County Stout, and more. Their beers and ales are classified under titles like URBAN, CLASSIC, VINTAGE, VINTAGE RESERVE and EXTREME. GIBC recently sold to Anheuser-Busch for nearly $40 million, and is accused by many as having sold its craft-brew soul.
Writer Jessica Festa found some of the more bizarre beers now on the market:
• Pizza tasting beer contains a mashed up Margarita pizza
• Bacon beer with bacon fat flavoring and hot Chili beer from a Mexican brewery
• Coffee beer with all kinds of real coffee and flavors added for that extra caffeine charge
• Peanut Butter, Banana Bread beers, and Crème Burlee beer is a milk stout desert drink with dark caramel malt for coloring and lactose sugar; it has a sister drink chocolate beer.
| Oyster Beer. sounds delicious. Not! |
You can easily find beer with an alcohol level to 6.5% with coloring from ruby red, dark caramel, to green. Beers, liquors, and vodkas have fruity flavors and scents described by someone as fruit cocktail drinks like peach, apple juice, watermelon cherry and berry flavorings. Others are spruced ginger, pumpkin, nutmeg, or cinnamon. Vodkas and whiskeys are sometimes aged in old fashioned pot stills like the ones used to make Cognac and Scotch; they have flavorings and colorings added for tartness or freshness and can contain blue agaves from Mexico crushed and fermented, or caraway seeds, star anise, orange, mango, and vanilla notes.
Most governments strictly control the brewing, distilling, and distribution of alcohol beverages in full cooperation with breweries and distillers; you do not hear them calling for less government regulation. In this industry it is used to protect the integrity of the beverage (you cannot call it Scotch if it is not made in Scotland), and to capture all the tax money they can get from this cash cow. Wild Turkey’s label does not read Real Whiskey, it boasts “Real Kentucky.”
Public health services make sure the breweries and distilling plants meet the highest standards, so there is never an outbreak of salmonella or e-coli that would threaten sales. The public hardly knows the ingredients or manner of making alcohol beverages, however, because these are proprietary secrets just as secretly guarded as the formula for Coca Cola (which is certified kosher). Imported beers and liquors especially from Mexico and Japan are ever increasingly popular drinks, and less is known about their ingredients than American made drinks.
Definitive data on the alcohol beverage industry are very hard to acquire. The industry is one of the largest grossing and most profitable in America, and guards the information about it with a heavy hand. Profits on wine, liquor, and beer were up 18%, sales up 5%, and exports from America up 8% over a year ago led by whiskey.
| Kosher Beer |
• There are about 1,600 breweries in the U.S. This is an increase of 100 breweries over 2008. Most are microbreweries selling to the retail market.
• Six billion gallons of beer are sold every year with an annual per capita consumption of 85 liters or three million gallons.
• Craft beer sales are 12% of the beer market in 2010 accounting for 4.5 million barrels.
Kosher certification of alcohol beverages is increasing as part of the industry’s efforts to reach new markets. The kosher food market segment is $13 billion in annual sales. The web site, JUST-DRINKS, a beverage industry information site, concludes: “The market for alcoholic drinks is set to become increasingly competitive in the US, underscoring a growing need for innovation marketing and astute product development…” (emphasis added). Hennessy USA, looking to expand its US market share of high-end, single malt Scotch is has had its Glenmorangie and Ardberg certified kosher. The company redesigned its packaging and promotional materials to include the kosher logo on the package. In a statement to JUST-DRINKS, Glenmorangie’s US brand director said, “…kosher certification will bring our brand to an entirely new consumer base that can now enjoy our products.” Standard Millers and Coors and many of their new flavored beers are certified kosher also to reach new markets.
Brewers and distillers are also trying new processing methods. The equipments and land are tied up as the alcohol ages. Craft brewers and now craft distillers are loyal to the natural aging process, but they are trying different methods and ingredients speed things up and get more products to market more quickly because the demand for their drinks is so great. Coatings on the inside of bottles and cans are changing to lengthen shelf life, be more resistant to bacteria and air contamination.
| Kosher Microbrewery Beer |
Filtering drinks prior to bottling to bottling isinglass from fish bladders, gelatin, egg whites, and seashells may be used. None of these things appear on the labels. Every other food that uses alcohol or extracts from alcohol are now the objects of concern—candies, baked goods, baking mixes, aged meats, etc.
Two special alcohol beverages deserve a closer look: sports/energy drinks and vodkas. Some of the largest alcohol producers are behind sports/energy drinks. This is a huge and fast growing market appealing to students, athletes, and anyone else who needs a drink with a boost. They are flavorful and colorful and few of them are certified kosher.
Vodka has a colorful history for such a colorless drink. Vodka is classically not aged in wooden casks, and is most often made from grains, potatoes or fruits. There are some vodkas, though, that can be questionable and straight out not kosher. Tastings.com is a great source for information about vodka. For instance, vodka can be flavored “with a mix of ginger, cloves, lemon peel, coffee, anise and other herbs and spices…."Old" Vodka, a holdover from the early centuries of Vodka production, which can be infused with everything from fruit tree leaves to brandy, Port, Malaga wine, and dried fruit….Some brands are aged in oak casks. The base for these Vodkas can vary from grains in northern countries such as the United Kingdom, Holland, and Germany, to grapes and other fruits in the winemaking regions of France and Italy….The United States and Canada produce nonflavored Vodkas, both from various grains (including corn) and from molasses. American Vodkas are, by law, neutral spirits, so the distinction between brands is more a matter of price and perception than taste.”
Finally, let the buyer beware. “Organic” and “all natural ingredients” on the label mean very little, because no one is inspecting and certifying the kashrut of these claims. The spirits market is as competitive as any in the world. Price and profit rule. Small-sized or multi-national producers cannot be trusted on their own not to cut corners with cheaper ingredients and processes to maximize profits. According to Lubicom, a kosher foods consulting/marketing company, 55% of the people who look for a kosher symbol on their food labels do so for health and safety reasons; they believe kosher certification commits brewers , distillers, and food manufacturers to a higher standard. It reassures consumers that these manufacturers hold the standards for their products to a higher authority beyond government. May be so, but without the same comprehensive and rigorous inspection and certification of alcohol beverages by kosher certifying agencies the alcohol consumer really cannot trust the true kosher, vegetarian and vegan status of their beers, liquors, and vodkas.
Dr. Goldmeier specializes in business and economic development.. He holds a doctorate from Harvard University where he served as a Research and Teaching Fellow. He served on the Government Relations Committee for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and recently sold his business that had more than $12 million in annual sales. He has published more than two dozen articles.
Thank you for this post! I've held for a while that beer and hard liquor needs a hechsher, for the simple reason that once something is processed in this modern age, anything goes. Frum people all around me drink all sorts of hard liquor, and say, of course it's kosher. Thank you for reaffirming what I thought.
ReplyDeleteGreat article.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, yes this article makes sense. And things may indeed be changing. But please don't ignore that fact that the 'frum people all around you' are relying responsibly on what the major kashrut organizations have said up until now. This of course may change, but the major hechshers have to varying degrees said that unflavored beer does not need supervision. Some limit this to domestic beers, some do not. Same goes for many hard liquors. I would say your overly-broad generalization and assumption is incorrect. I would also say that Dr. G's essay does not support such a broad-brush approach.
ReplyDeleteWhat a useless essay. Perhaps 20 percent of the copious facts cited are relevant from a kashrut perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe guidance from the major kashrut agencies regarding beer and spirits is still accurate and nothing in this article indicates otherwise or points to the need for certifying beer, for example, on a large scale.
I also loved the list of vague irrelevant credentials at the end. I think he knows as much about the manufacturing of beer as the manufacturing of credibility.
ReplyDeletewhy so rude? did he write something that insulted you? you can easily reject his position without personal attacks
ReplyDeleteRafi, As someone who also has a PhD from a distinguished university I resent when people A) go by Dr. in contexts where it is irrelevant, B) tell people where they received their doctorate in contexts where it is irrelevant, c) cite their research and teaching experience as an RA or TA during graduate school 35 years ago as a credential, and d) mention the number of articles they have published without qualification, leading to reader to think that they published that number of peer reviewed research articles when that's not the case.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, academics take offense at the abuse of academic credentials... and the article was bad and misleading.
(BTW, does this count as one of his more than two dozen articles? a few more guest posts and he'll be able to claim over three dozen.)
people regularly put brief bios attached to articles, so readers have an idea who the author is. My father, Dr. Goldmeier, has written articles for business magazines, for policy magazines and probably articles that I am not aware of.
ReplyDeleteThe research behind much of this article was commissioned by a major kashrus organization when considering a new business approach for kashrus in the alcohol industry. He isnt just just talking about something he knows nothing about.
Dr. Goldmeier is one of the smartest people I know (and I know a lot), and his breadth of knowledge far exceeds his lettered credentials. If "anonymous" had a fraction of Dr. Goldmeier's integrity or intelligence, s/he would identify her/himself.
ReplyDelete"he served as a Research and Teaching Fellow"
ReplyDeleteUnless one knows that "Research and Teaching Fellow" means your funding as a grad student came from teaching and doing research, just like 90% of other grad students, one would easily be misled into thinking that after getting his PhD he was hired by Harvard to teach and do research there.
Look, I've seen plenty of this inflated style of mini bio, and this one is not even the most egregious, but that doesn't make it any less misleading.
If that's what you call integrity - a series of true statements intended to convey a false impression of academic accomplishment - then by all means.
Neither myself nor my wife, nor my father go by Dr. anything outside of professional contexts, and the same is true for virtually everyone I know in academia.
Even in professional contexts, journal articles, etc., all one generally does is list one's institutional affiliation.
So when I see an article written by someone with little apparent expertise, citing information from "in depth" research conducted using google, and at the end listing irrelevant credentials, and not a single shred of relevant information on author vis a vis this particular subject, it gets my hackles up.
anon:
ReplyDeleteyou choose to not use your title and others choose to use it. It's no different from "rabbi". he worked hard for it and he feels that it is important to him to use it. Your comment regarding google search was insulting as I can attest the time and travel he put in to do his research. He has help many positions in his career and I'm not sure why you feel the need to pigeonhole when he ought to be allowed to use his title. When he writes and researches professionally, he uses the title. The fact is most people in our shule where we have davened for 30 years still don't know he has a PhD. So no, he doesn't use it just to inflate a bio or his ego.
Your choice to not use you tiltle is good for you. You have no right to tell someone else that the title they worked hard for, isn't theirs to use.
anon - your comments are very out of place and wrong. i dont know who you are, if you know my father or not, but clearly you are just making things up, and for the life of me I have no idea why.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I just want to clarify that while most oyster stouts do in fact have some oyster base the Marston oyster stout picture is actually oyster free and kosher!
ReplyDeleteI added the images to the post. That particular image I simply did a search for oyster beer
ReplyDeleteDr Anonymous is clearly on his soap-box and gone way out of order.
ReplyDeleteRafi's blog is just that - Rafi's blog.
For we readers, Rafi's dad is primarily Rafi's dad.
That Rafi's dad is *also* a Harvard PhD, and an accomplished business man, and that he writes for other outlets as well as LII, adds to his credibility, without misrepresenting his credentials.
Anonymous - Go find somewhere else to pontificate.
Dr Goldmeier - keep it coming!
Anon... you say his credentials are useless so lets argue that point for a moment.
ReplyDeleteDr.Goldmeier presents an argument that beer and alcohol need kosher certification.
1) Dr. Goldmeier specializes in business and economic development..
Seems like something you might want when researching a business issue.
2) He holds a doctorate from Harvard University where he served as a Research and Teaching Fellow.
Absolutely correct to show that he has been trained by one of the best Universities in the world on how to research a topic and then transmit his findings. And with a Ph.D he has been trained to do it well.
3) He served on the Government Relations Committee for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and recently sold his business that had more than $12 million in annual sales.
So do you want someone researching kashrut and the massive alcohol industry without business and governmental experience?
4) He has published more than two dozen articles.
And this lets you know that it's not his first time at the rodeo.
All in all his credential do exactly what credentials are supposed to do: lend weight to his argument.
Good day dr. smarmypants
Just a couple of thoughts:
ReplyDeleteWikipedia quotes נודע ביהודה מהדורה קמא, יורה דעה, כ"ו as matir these finishing agents. I would think bittul and many other halachic mechanisms lean towards heter.
Also, with craft beer at least, the brewers are proud of their exotic ingredients. If they put in oysters, pizzas, cabernet grapes, habaneros, or whatever, they make sure that the consumer is aware of it. Avoiding beer brewed from more than just grains, hops, and water is easy - you don't need to insist on a hechsher for that.
First, thank you for the defense of my credentials especially by my sons. Probably the nicest things they've ever said about me. Second, I never respond to someone too ashamed of themselves who only write anonymously. Finally, basic, plain beer has always been accepted as kosher by every haschgacha of which I am aware; clearly I did not write about basic plain beers, liquor, and vodka. Anyone who believes they can determine the true and complete ingredients in spirit drinks from the label just read the labels...there is more information on a soda pop label than on a beer or liquor label. Beer or liquor labels say anything more than you shouldn't drink this if pregnant. It's a shame Anonymous' mother did not read those labels while she was pregnant.
ReplyDeleteI think it may be the ONLY nice thing we say about you pops!!!!
ReplyDelete