Westport in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Sunday, September 27,
2009
Quick Article Index . . .
Last call for Buzzards
Bay Lager!
Westport
Historical Society seeks 19th century women’s clothing for
exhibition.
Dachshund Day 2009 at Partners.
|
Last call for Buzzards Bay Lager! EverythingWestport.com Sunday,
September 27, 2009
According
to Bill Russell “sales of their Gold Medal Lager and Pilsners had declined to
the point where it was no longer profitable to produce the award-winning
beers.” “Our
microbrewery had a nice 11-year run on making beer under the Buzzards Bay
Name,” Russell said. “We won gold at the 2000 Great American Beer Festival
(GABF) and gold at Rhode Islands’ 7th,
9th, and 11th Great International Beer Festival. The GABF remains the largest commercial beer
competition in the world with 3,308 entries. But quality product and folksy marketing aren’t enough by their
own to garner market share and monetary rewards. And awards fade fast for
price-conscious drinkers. The companies Buzzards Bay Pilsner, Gold Medal Lager and Black
Lager brands sold almost 5000 barrels to stores and restaurants around New
England at its peak in 2002. “We’ll sell around 100 barrels in the next seven
months,” Russell projected. If
the project is not financially rewarding, there is not much point in doing
it. Russell
attributed a stalled legislative attempt by the Massachusetts Farm-Winery and
Growers Association to allow beer and wine tastings and sales at local
Farmers’ markets. The organization tried to determine if Massachusetts Farm
Winery License can be used for the tasting and sale of wine at Massachusetts
Farmers’ Markets. “We viewed local farmers’ markets as a great way to get our
name out there,” Russell said. “We are very disappointed.” According
to the Brewers Association the growth of the craft brewing industry in the
first half of 2009 was 5% by volume and 9% by dollars. Craft brewers sold an
estimated 4.2 million barrels of beer in the first half of 2009, up from 4
million barrels in the first half of 2008. However, overall US beer sales are
down 1.3% in the first 6 months of 2009. Imported beer sales are down 9.5% in
the first 6 months. The
faltering US economy is having its effect on beer sales, disproportionately
with higher priced microbrews like Buzzards bay. Beer, wine and liquor sales
are strong in good times and even stronger when times are bad, but price does
become an issue.
And consumers’ taste for popular microbrews change; today’s
favorites can be tomorrow’s failures. Getting on tap in popular bars and
gaining retail shelf space requires consistently aggressive but expensive sales
and marketing efforts. In the highly competitive beer and wine environment
that effort requires the help of the area’s largest beer distributers where
the deal is king. Unfortunately better financed competitors have more
influence with distributers. But
the 540 acre farm is not going to pasture. “Our best years were when we distributed our Lager ourselves,”
Russell said. Bill
Russell and Harry Smith do all the brewing. Together they offer over 30 years
of experience in brewing gold medal winning beer. “The timing is right for
affordable, sustainable local beer,” Russell said. “Hey, he keeps me
employed,” said Smith. “We
are going back to our distribution model
The lights may be going out on Buzzards Bay Lager
but there’s big plans ahead for the Horseneck Road brewery. Westport Historical Society seeks
19th century women’s clothing for exhibition. EverythingWestport,com Wednesday,
September 30, 2009
This
project is funded by a grant from Mass Humanities and the exhibition curator
is Blair Walker, a textile consultant and graduate of the Textiles Department
at the University of Rhode Island.
“Clothing provides one route into discovering the daily rhythms of a
woman’s life in the past,” Ms. Walker explained. “Country clothes which are rarely
found in museum collections are well represented in the Westport Historical
Society collection. However, we know that there may be some unique clothing
items in private collections which we could display as part of the exhibition.” Westport
Historical Society would welcome 19th century clothing items either as
donation or loan. Please contact the Society at (508) 636-6011or westhist@gis.net. Dachshund
Day 2009 at Partners. EverythingWestport.com Saturday,
September 26, 2009
Crosby, owner of
five in her long association with these agreeable dogs, held her latest, Andy,
while making a YouTube video with the Fall River Herald. “It’s a wonderful
breed” she said, “and all of us that have Dachshunds feel very, very
fortunate to have them.” Click here to
view video on YouTube. Partners
is a very proactive retailer in promoting community events across the wide span
of interests that Westport offers, and Dachshund Day was no different. If something
is happening in Westport, it’s usually happening at partners. There
was a parade of dogs where each dog and its owner were introduced by Crosby, with
awards presented to the youngest and oldest dog. Wally Nichols of Westport and
his buddy Meister won the raffle. By all accounts the youngest dog was five
months and the oldest was 15 years.
Dachshund Day 2009
(submitted photo) Lisa Cusick, manager of Partners, said $263 was raised through
entry fees and the raffle, and “will go to the Southcoast Humane Society, “supporting
the efforts of this local dog charity.” “Every dog owner is very proud of his or her dog. They
like to show them off,” explained Crosby when asked about the record turnout.
Click here to learn about more about these wily wieners!
Dachshund Day 2007 (submitted
photo) - - - - - End - - -
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Events of Westport All rights
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