Northeast Ohio
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Belgian beer importer visits Cleveland with
simple message: Try our beers
You would be hard-pressed not to find something you like at this particular bar in Ghent, Belgium, where more than 250 beers are available. (Yves Logghe,
Associated Press)
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By Marc Bona, The Plain Dealer
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on October 24, 2013 at 10:00 AM, updated October 25, 2013 at 9:01 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Royalty visited Cleveland this week.
Steven Villani, who was knighted by the Belgian Brewers Association, came through Cleveland this week as part
of a trip to get the word out about the Belgian ales his company imports. Villani, president of Middleton, Mass.based Global Beer Network, received the Knighthood of the Mash staff in 2011. The honor goes to about a
dozen people a year who promote Belgian beer and its traditions.
The honorary knighthood pays homage to Gambrinus (unofficial patron saint of beer or brewing) and Saint
Arnold (patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers). Pete Larsen, the Midwest sales manager for Global
Beer Network who traveled with Villani to Cleveland, also is an honorary knight.
Steven Villani's main challenge is to get people
interested in the quality ales he imports from
Belgium. Courtesy of Steven Villani
"It's a tremendous honor," said Villani, who goes to Belgium
several times a year. "It's an amazing ceremony."
That ceremony comes with all the pomp bestowed on, well,
dignitaries. There's a parade, complete with cask of beer, that
winds its way to a cathedral. A Mass is said – in Dutch. Later,
buglers sound their horns, a band plays, and the crowd goes
wild.
"They don't hand 'em out willy-nilly," Larsen says. "At the end
you get a medal and drink a beer. ... It's nice to be
recognized."
Both say that in Belgium the medal holds some clout. But
back home, it's different. "That and $2.50 will get you a Starbucks," Larsen says.
All this for promoting some of the most complex and tastiest beers on the planet. While Greater Clevelanders
are enjoying Cleveland Beer Week's celebration of craft beers, Villani and Larsen might seem like outsiders
looking in.
Global Beer Network imports nearly 60 Belgian beer labels, including the well-made Gulden Draak and
Piraat, from eight breweries. But getting onto shelves is Villani's concern. While his business shows 15 to 20
percent growth, tapping into a sometimes craft-beer obsessed market – like Cleveland's - is his main challenge.
Craft beers are local, but often they stay local. Few have the expansive powers of, say, a Great Lakes Brewing
Co., whose beers are distributed in more than a dozen states.
"I wouldn't say it's been hurt, but it's being impacted," Villani said of the effect the proliferation of craft beer has
had on his imports. "Our business model is different. We don't have a home. Our home is national."
Gulden Draak is the second-largest selling and most widely distributed of his beers. Wittekerke, a lighter,
canned wheat beer, is the biggest seller. Both are available in Northeast Ohio.
Villani formerly worked in marketing and sales for Anheuser-Busch, which is run by a corporation formed by
two companies – one of which, coincidentally, is Belgian. But he sipped a Piraat one day, and his palate was
changed.
Face it, Belgium is not a country that falls into everyday conversation in the United States. It declared
independence in 1830 and is about the size of Maryland, remaining a tiny nation sandwiched between France
and Germany. It serves as big brother to even tinier Luxembourg. It rarely surfaces in pop culture, though a
memorable reference came in the 1976 movie "Murder By Death." (James Coco's character Milo Perrier –
based on the classic detective Hercule Poirot – blurts "I'm not a Frenchie, I'm a Belgie!")
But man, does it offer beer. Not just any beer, but hearty, earthy, wonderful ales, in diverse styles ranging from
golden ales to complex Trappist ales (six of the world's eight Trappist ales are brewed in Belgium).
Villani says nothing can replace the quality of a well-made Belgian beer. And while craft brewers are doing a
great job with their products, he shakes his head at some of the ales that are being made in the style of beer he
promotes.
"It's one of our challenges," he said. "Every American brewer has a Belgian 'style' beer. But the second
fermentation [traditional brewing method in Belgium] leads to a complex beer. They [American Belgian styles]
are nice beers, but they don't have the depth.
"The Belgian beers are authentic. That's the beauty of it. There's a lot of passion in their brewing. They've been
doing it hundreds of years."
And while Belgian brewers adhere to a style with little deviation, Americans employ a lot more latitude. This
leads Villani to note that there is no longer any brand loyalty. Rather, he says, you'll find "brand-set loyalty." So
a customer who loves Belgian ales won't be disappointed if he or she walks into a bar and doesn't find a specific
brand, because there are many alternatives, he said.
Villani said a key promotional point is to have more bodies selling Belgian beers and to have the right people
doing it. Large-scale tasting events, for instance, are difficult because of the impersonal nature. But Villani
recognizes the importance of getting the word out.
"We're not servers; we're educators," he says.
The highest price tag on any of the beers Villani's company sells is about $13 for a 750-milliter bottle, much less
than many wines on the market, albeit a bit more than some beers.
But, he says, "people don't have to take out a second mortgage to buy it."
http://www.cleveland.com/drinks/index.ssf/2013/10/belgian_beer_importer_visits_c.html