Love Good Beer

In the spirit of last comment’s disclosure, it would be interesting to hear who the author of this email is…

The author of the letter has asked to remain anonymous as he is involved in the beer industry in BC.

but that stanley park 1897 amber ale is pretty damn good. to me, it’s not about the size of the umbrella organization, but the quality and value delivered at street-level. this is still a locally-produced and distributed beer. why not let them compete with the other established local brands?

I agree, the beer is not bad at all. However, I do not like the smoke and mirrors game from the Mark Anthony Group. Most craft brewers want to see the entire industry grow, Turning Point seems to care more about their own bottom line.

I certainly agree with you Erik in regards to the smoke and mirrors and the intentions of the MA Group – much like someone like Molsons, they will market the hell out of it and try to push the little guys out.

That said, why I asked about who wrote the letter and why I feel that it should be stated, is that someone who’s in competition with the MA Group is obviously going to have a negative reaction to their tactics. Not that I disagree with the letter, it’s just hard to call this the definitive inside scoop when it could easily be someone who’s up against MA.

While i have not tried this yet i have actually seen there hells gate beer in stores and was always kinda curious about what was going on there. I will definatly have to try out the stanley park ale as i do know Erik knows a good beer when he tastes one.

I worked there, the staff and employees are amazing people that make an incredible product.

Regardless of who brews this great beer and where, the bottom line is TASTE! I sampled my first pint of Stanley Park Amber Ale in Stella’s on Friday night. What a fantastic tasting beer that had another one calling right after my first. The beer was very smooth, rich in color,lighter than usual for an ale, easy to drink and served in its own easy to hold proprietary pint glass! Well done Turning Point whoever you are!

Anonymous sounds like he carries some baggage when it comes to the Mark Anthony Group and therefore his comments need to taken with a grain of salt.

I can correct some of the misinformation – regarding the Brewmasters – there were two (one from Austria, the other American) from the beginning, the Austrian left this summer and they have recently hired a new assitant brewmaster. I believe that most of the staff is from BC though.
Obviously more sour grapes in respect to his representation of the Mark Anthony Group in suggesting that the brewery lacks credibility because of who’s put up the money. The brewery’s intent is still to craft fine beer. Hell’s Gate is geared and priced for a completely different demographic and served as a good vehicle to get the brewery up and running, and allow all the bugs to be worked out before attempting a more crafted brew. To suggest that the intent is to push out other local brewers is ridiculous; rather focus those accusations at Molson’s who’s attempting to negotiate exclusive rights in local establishments.

One person’s smoke & mirrors is another person’s strategic marketing plan – one thing that Mark Anthony has shown an aptitude for – look at Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Bottom Line – it is an awesome beer, great taste, colour, substance… and that’s what matters …right?
And no, I don’t work for either the brewery or Mark Anthony but do have connections some unbiased and some biased which works pretty well when trying to gain a better perspective. Cheers!

Anonymous just comes across as bitter. His only real argument seems to be that this beer company is now in the hands of a large corporation. Wow, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Oh wait, isn’t the vast majority of all beer in the hands of large corporations?

Mark Anthony is trying to launch a new product in a very competitive market, what’s the problem? And as previous posters have already stated, “it all comes down to taste.”

Keep in mind Mark Anthony is not nearly as large in scale and scope as the current global conglomerates who dominate the BC/Canada Beer Market (Molson-Coors Global and Anheiser-Inbev). While they have accomplished great things MA remains a privately held, BC owned and opporated company and thus have every right to exploit the local angle. Quite frankly any success they or other BC brewers accomplish is refreshing. Pun intented!!

Keep in mind that we just posted what we received, which we found to be coming from an interesting perspective. We have never actually spoken to anyone at Turning Point directly and are not passing judgment. However, I would have a problem with Turning Point if their claims of being a sustainable brewery were false. Also, I do like the taste of Stanley Park Amber.

It is absolutely shameful to even relate this to real beer. My first thought was that it was a Molson Canadian scam and I’m still not convinced otherwise. This beer is absolute crap. They’ve used environmental marketing to greenwash consumers and I hope consumers will recognize this.

I agree that nothing about their product is green and I too find their marketing suspect. However, the Brewery is not a Molson subsidiary and I don’t find the beer to be bad. It’s nothing special, but definitely drinkable.

glad i found this site. i had just finished watching ‘beer wars’ and thought i’d do a little research on some of the beers i drink. i specifically tried Stanley Park Amber Ale for the first time because it was 1)local and 2)sustainably brewed.

knowing that they are just using green-washing gimmickry (and seeing that they are based on annacis island) they have been struck off my list.

cheers!

I’m glad to see that some respondents are concerned about greenwashing. This brewery claims to be Canada’s First Sustainable Brewery, but they are not. They are not certified organic, they provide no statistics to back up their claims (which insiders say are false) to be operating only on windpower and to be using “less” water than other breweries. Yes, I’m in the industry, you probably all know who I am and I’m posting under my own name. Check out http://www.crannogales.com and see who’s backing up what claims.
Oh, and in beer, bitterness is good

I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, I work for the Mark Anthony Group/Turning Point Brewery

By all means, please do set the record straight. We’d be happy to post your side of the story.

Mark Anthony Group may be a large company, but it remains 100% BC owned and operated!
They have never claimed that the beer is 100% sustainable but have said that they are taking efforts to get to that point. The wine turbine out front the brewery DOES run-anyone who drives over the Alex Fraser daily, will see that for themselves. They use something like 70% less water in the production of their beer.
The argument that they are attempting to take out all of the ‘little guys’ is completely false. How can anyone make a statement like that, unless they are working for the company (in which point, hopefully wouldn’t make a claim like that)
They are actually looking to take a piece of pie away from the big brewers.
Their tactic is to create a craft style beer with continuous consistancy and quality. Most craft brewers make GREAT beer but on an inconsistant level. Most large brewers make OK beer but very consistantly. Mark Anthony/Turning Point is looking to make great beer, consistantly, all the time! That is their marketing plan-plain and simple!
To another point, being sustainable doesn’t mean they are laying claim to being organic. That was never part of their pitch, they are two completely different things.
There isn’t absolultely no ‘green washing’ in attempt there. They have given the simple facts when asked for them and from what I see, never tried to disguise anything that they are doing.
To the point of never saying where the Brewery is…..I have heard from dozens of Mark Anthony restaurant/retail partners who have been hosted to the brewery. If they were trying to conceal the location, why would they host people there daily? The reason for the location is because they had property there and it’s close to everything they need for production/distribution purposes. It is no different that any other brewery space out there.
I am shamed that people would make comments about this not being a ‘real beer’ …… beer is beer. Whomever manufactures the beer of course plays a role, however, from the FACTS that I know about Mark Anthony/Turning Point, there is absolutely no reason why I would have a negative opinion about Stanley Park.
I think people need to focus on the liquid and how it tastes rather than the rumours behind it.

Green washing is happening. If not washing, exaggerating.

Ask them how much energy the turbine actually produces, its barley enough to run the computers in the brewery. When it runs at max capacity it can help power 20% of the breweries total power, which it never has yet to date.

Be aware, all the numbers you are hearing are based off of them running at 100% efficiency consistently. That is the only way to ever reach the savings in water and power they state. As we know this is never the case with a brewery there are always problems arising.

Lets see them actually go out and be proactive in being sustainable instead of paying money to look sustainable.

Beer, however, is not bad. Better than most mainstream craft beers out there. The Noble Pilsner is great on a sunny day, while the Amber goes great with dinner.

I love fish and chips and amber ale while watching the hockey game, it really doesn’t get more west coast.
Well, unless you top it off with a little mary jane ^_^

It’s 2012, and still no post from MAG. Turning Point brewery.ca still has a one-page website up, Stanely Park brewing still claims sustainability. Where’s the MAG’s defense and the proof? Fail.