Touting high-quality beer as a symbol of its "simple pleasures" brand repositioning, the Four Points by Sheraton hotel group is one of an increasing number of operators putting greater stock in the nation's fastest-growing category of adult beverages.
Four Points guests will find a Best Brews list in the lounge and other new trademark amenities on the property, like apple cinnamon pie, gourmet coffee, free bottled water and more comfortable beds. It's all part of a plan by the White Plains, N.Y.-based company, an arm of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, to recast itself under the slogans "delivering honest, uncomplicated comfort" and "delighting with simple pleasures." The Four Points chain consists of 125 properties positioned within the moderately priced segment.
The public face of Best Brews is Scott Kerkmans, Four Points' first-ever chief beer officer. The 27-year-old Phoenix resident and former head brewer and brewery manager was chosen from among more than 7,800 applications from 31 countries that poured in when Four Points advertised the job last fall.
Kerkmans will represent the brand at beer festivals, host tastings at the properties and scout for new beer offerings. "One of the things that I'm most excited about is sampling regional craft beers around the country and seeing how well they fit with our food," he said.
Four Points vice president Sandy Swider said "the time is right" to merge quality beer with other simple pleasures in the company's brand positioning. "Why should the appletini crowd and the wine crowd have all the fun?" she asked.
Unlike the free amenities, the Best Brews list, developed with the help of the Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association, comprises premium-priced, high profit-margin items. It consists of four draft selections and up to 20 bottles in each property. The list is divided into four categories: Crisp Refreshers; Light & Non-Alcoholic Choices; Smooth Thirst Quenchers; and Robust Pleasers. In each category, beers are listed progressively from lesser to greater flavor intensity.
The list of the Four Points by Sheraton San Francisco Bay Bridge hotel includes Corona Extra ($5.50) and Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier ($5.50) as Crisp Refreshers; O'Doul's ($4.50) and Michelob Ultra ($4.50) as Light and Non-Alcoholic choices; Anchor Steam Beer ($5.50) and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale ($6.50) as Smooth Thirst Quenchers; and Guinness Stout ($6) and Duvel ($6.50) as Robust Pleasers. Also available is a sampler of four draft beers, priced at $7.
"Each hotel also has the leeway to pick regional beers, so there won't be cookie-cutter beer lists," noted Swider. Thus San Francisco offers Big Daddy IPA ($5.50), a hometown favorite, while the Four Points by Sheraton Bangor Airport taps Geary's London Porter ($4.50), brewed in Maine.
CBO Kerkmans will travel a craft beer circuit that's on a roll. In 2006, craft beer sales in supermarkets increased 17.8 percent in dollars over the previous year, handily outperforming wine, spirits and ordinary domestic beer, according to the Brewers Association. Over the last three years, total craft beer industry sales have grown 31.5 percent, and the trend seems to be accelerating in 2007.
In restaurants, beer and casual dining are a hot combination. Chef April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, a gastropub in New York City esteemed for its cask-conditioned ales and seasonal British and Italian fare, was named one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs of 2007. Paul Kahan, the James Beard Award-winning chef-owner of the upscale Blackbird in Chicago, is planning a beer-oriented restaurant. And business is booming at suds-centered eateries like Piece, a pizzeria and brewpub in Chicago. Brewmaster Jonathan Cutler predicted that this year Piece easily would double the 560-barrel output of 2001, its debut year. And while his kolsch, a light, gently hopped German-style ale, remains the customer favorite, he sells an increasing amount of "hoppy, Belgian, dark and bigger beers." An example is Wingnut Double IPA, spiked with a double dose of hops, priced at $5.
Also serving more adventurous tastes in brew is Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery in Chicago, one of the 29 Rock Bottom Restaurants based in Louisville, Colo. Brewmaster Pete Crowley reports rising interest in esoteric offerings like the Imperial Stout he ages in used Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, priced at $7.
Both brewers voiced enthusiasm at the chief beer officer announcement. "I think it's fantastic," said Cutler. "We're not serving Joe Six Pack anymore. More people consider quality beer one of the finer things of life."
"I think it's great that a national chain is doing this," said Crowley. "The trend is for places that aren't brewpubs to have more beer lines and more quality craft beers and imports."