BRAND RECALL
Online survey results to the question, “What brand first comes to mind when you think of a craft beer or microbrew?” were fragmented, which is an accurate representation of the state of the craft beer industry. Fifty-three percent of respondents answered with a unique brand. Samuel Adams was recalled first 18% of the time, and Dogfish Head 8% of the time. These were the only two brands that received more than two mentions. According to survey results, all respondents had previously tried a craft beer. (More charts after the jump!)

BRAND AWARENESS
The online survey also asked respondents to rate their awareness of eight beer brands. Six of these were craft beers, including the top three brands by sales volume –Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium. One was a national brand – Budweiser – and one was a craft-positioned brand owned by a national brewer – Blue Moon, owned by MillerCoors.

Of these, only Budweiser and Samuel Adams had 100% awareness. Western and mid-western brands such as Bell’s, New Belgium and Stone tended to show lower awareness among respondents, 34% of whom were from the Northeast. This reflects the lingering regionalism in the craft beer industry. The exceptions were Sierra Nevada, with 94% awareness, and Blue Moon, with 98% awareness.

CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AND INFLUENCES
Ninety-eight percent of online survey respondents indicated that they drink beer at home, closely followed by bar/pub (90%), restaurant (84%) and sporting event (61%).

When asked where they typically got information about buying beer, “Personal Recommendation” was far and away the most common answer. This was one of the top answers again when asked, “What influences you most when purchasing a beer?”, narrowly beaten out by “Prior Purchase”.

Although 22% of respondents indicated that they get information about beer choices from print and television advertising, only 2% said that advertising was “Very Influential”.

DEMOGRAPHICS
Most survey respondents were males aged 35-44, with incomes above $50,000 per year. As mentioned previously, most were from the Northeast region, most likely due to the fact that I'm from this region and many respondents were gathered from my personal, professional and social media contacts.

BRAND ASSOCIATIONS
Respondents to the online survey were given a randomly ordered list of descriptors and asked to indicate any words which best-described Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada, and Samuel Adams.

Not surprisingly, Dogfish Head scored highest with Offbeat, Humorous, and Rugged. Respondents were also permitted to fill in an additional descriptor. Results included: “dense”, “innovative”, “strong”, “potent”, two occurrences of “adventurous”, and 4 variations of “never heard of it”.

Sierra Nevada’s associations skewed towards Natural, Rugged, Trustworthy and Proud, with “hoppy”, “bitter”, “consistent”, and two instances of “never tried” as additional comments.

Samuel Adams scored high on Proud, Trustworthy, Friendly, Natural, and Sophisticated. Additional comments included “patriot”, “pioneer”, “historic”, “consistent”, “established” and  “good value”.

And Farmer Jim has a new beer a-brewing. Emperor's Own Black IPA. It's on the dark side.

Hoptoberfest is October 1st this year. No pig roast, but lots of other food, beer on tap, and plenty of bottles to bring home. Hope to see you there.

Doublefile Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum). I don't know the name of this hybrid because it was an $8 WalMart special, bought 4 years ago. It started off as a sad little stick of a thing (ah, don't we all?) and now it's starting to look like a real shrub.

Variegated Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum Odoratum 'Variegatum'.
That's a lot of "um's".

Also, Spotted Dead Nettle (Lamium Maculatum 'White Nancy'. This kind doesn't have little stinging hairs like a common nettle. Very pretty and spreads to fill in little corners.

The new chickens, on the other hand, have been pretty easy to deal with this year. They are Buff Brahma Bantams. Jim & the Farmhands made a new coop, and Jim's dad gave us a great idea for a light, moveable playpen made of PVC & chicken wire. Too bad we didn't think of this when the Farmhands were small.

Jim shows the Farmhands how to back nails out of these old fence parts so they can be re-used in the chicken coop. Green farming, or too cheap to buy lumber? You decide.

I planted peas and radishes - never put them out this early before, but the ground was "workable". The tomato cages are just there temporarily, to remind the Farmhands where not to walk.

Millie cat has been sleeping on top of my garden tools all winter. There used to be a stack of seat cushions here, but they were unceremoniously knocked to the floor.

I gave the "fancy grass" (Miscanthus) a spring haircut and raked out the dead stuff to find daffodils poking out of the cold ground. There's still snow in this garden bed.

On the cold side of the yard, the snow and ice have finally let go of my mother-in-law's Christmas tree, which was dragged away for burning. Yes, I know, it could go in the woods to become a nice habitat for birds, but we have 17 acres, 3 of which are covered in logging slash. The birds have plenty of nice habitat.

I also put away the Christmas lights that were on the bushes. Yeah, we were one of THOSE houses this year. I did leave the lights on the shrub by the back door and on the hop trellis.

All south facing windowsills have been commandeered for seedlings in these little Jiffy Peat Pellets. They start off as something the size of an Oreo. Add water, and watch them expand as the water is absorbed.

Mud. The ugly side of Spring in the Hilltowns, and yet I find brown to be such a nice color after all the white and gray. I can say this NOW, because our road was paved a few years ago. When we first moved here, it was a dirt road, or in March, a dirt soup road.

Hamammelis x. intermedia 'Arnold Promise'. One of the first things in the yard to wake up after a long winter. The flowers unfurl on warm days and curl up tightly on cold ones. Only about 4' tall now, but will eventually get to be about 15' high. Pretty foliage in the fall,too.

Crocus over the septic tank in the back yard is always a reliable early bloomer. Did you know that saffron comes from the stigma of a crocus sativa? I don't think this is a saffron crocus, however.

Salix integra "Hakuru Nishiki", or variegated willow. This thing is huge - if you plant one, leave plenty of room for it, or be prepared to prune it hard every year to keep it under control. I love it in early spring, even though it isn't showing the variegated pink and green foliage for which it is known. It's not a pussy willow, but the branches turn a lovely pinky gold color just when the buds are forming.