"Big Beer" and Your Fridge

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Contemplatebeer

Contemplatebeer

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I've been a holdout to buying big beer/acquisition beer for some time now. Since 2011, and AB-InBev's buyout of Goose Island, it seems that more and more craft brands have been acquired. These brands still occupy their place next to beer from independently owned breweries, so that only savvy consumers know whether or not their purchases are going to support craft beer or acquisition beer.

I'm sure this is news to no one here, but just laying the groundwork for the discussion...

Lately, I've been considering whether or not I should buy beer from any such entity, and I have considered the following criteria in my decision:

1. Does the parent company, to my knowledge, allow for the acquired brewery to continue operating in a mostly independent way (able to make new products, try creative ideas)?
2. Does the history of the parent company indicate a benevolent attitude towards craft beer/traditional producers?
3. Does the particular product i'm intending to buy have a close craft beer equivalent available to me, in terms of quality and price?

What are your thoughts on these guidelines? And do you have a standard for what beer you buy, outside of value/taste/the bud knight?
 
For the most part I buy from local breweries. I usually find the stuff to be fresher and figure I'm helping out a local business. Occasionally the activity on here spurs me to buy something "bigger" (Lagunitas one-hitter series, Fantome).

I do generally avoid the bigger companies I perceive to be exploiting distribution and hurting the samller businesses.
 
steimie said:
I'm not sure you are going to like the answers you get.

Also, buy beer you like to drink.

Respect beer.
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I suspect that most people don't really care about who owns their favorite brewery(ies). It won't be the first time I've been exposed to such perspectives.

I wouldn't ask the question on a public forum unless I was interested in a variety of answers.
 
Not sure who owns this beer, and I do not care. It is ace, and it is in a format I approve off.
0F2818C9-9DFF-409D-B3AE-834E26996FDB.jpeg


People worry about the wrong things more often than not.
 
I haven’t bought Elysian (local around here) or visited one of their restaurants since it was bought out. But I’m a hypocrite, because I chase and drink a **** ton of BCBS and its variants after Thanksgiving.

I don’t like that AB/InBev is now making inroads into the homebrewing world. That doesn’t feel right.
 
BigFrank said:
For the most part I buy from local breweries. I usually find the stuff to be fresher and figure I'm helping out a local business. Occasionally the activity on here spurs me to buy something "bigger" (Lagunitas one-hitter series, Fantome).

I do generally avoid the bigger companies I perceive to be exploiting distribution and hurting the samller businesses.
Click to expand...

Fantome?
 
RyanG said:
Have a big applesauce in there right now. Contemplating going grocery shopping and finding a better mustard.

Click to expand...

I dig what you are saying. When I go to Kroger or Meijer, I'm not buying only small, independent producers food-wise. When they are available and a good quality/price comparison, I'm happy to get them. And, I'd guess, like any shopper, I do have my "splurge" items that I buy, even though they are higher priced.

I certainly like to buy Colman's mustard (good call, Tosh!), for instance, even though mustard from French's or a store brand is cheaper... but beer for me has always been different. I didn't drink the cheap stuff when I was younger, so I never developed any sentimentality towards those brands. I came into craft beer at a time when Michael Jackson was still the most authoritative voice on all things good beer. While he didn't make it a point to rail against big beer in his literature, he also didn't hide his contempt when the occasion called for an opinion on a mass produced beer.

On occasion, I flip back through the pages "Ultimate Beer" (published in 1998). I have noticed that acquisition beers do not receive the same treatment as the mass produced beer mentioned previously. There's usually a mention of the parent company, but simply as a matter of history or current circumstance. It's made me rethink things a bit. If the Beer Hunter could come to grips with the realities of capitalism's effects on beer, then why can't I?
 
Contemplatebeer said:
1. Does the parent company, to my knowledge, allow for the acquired brewery to continue operating in a mostly independent way (able to make new products, try creative ideas)?
2. Does the history of the parent company indicate a benevolent attitude towards craft beer/traditional producers?
3. Does the particular product i'm intending to buy have a close craft beer equivalent available to me, in terms of quality and price?
Click to expand...

I would imagine that unless you are a staff member, you really couldn't answer question 1 accurately.

Also question 2 seems loaded to me. Personally, I can't think of a big brand that acts that way consistently.

Question 3, I would find it unusual if there wasn't a similar beer made by a craft producer. Availability to you would probably be more important. Even then, pricing is likely cheaper for the big boy brand.

Personally, I tend to avoid the beers I know have been acquired and stick to local because it's fresher for me. There are exceptions like bcbs and some Belgians.

Also Koops for mustard. Currently have Dijon, yellow, dusseldorf, brown, and stone ground in my fridge.

070281000273_2048x2048.jpg
 
Contemplatebeer said:
If the Beer Hunter could come to grips with the realities of capitalism's effects on beer, then why can't I?
Click to expand...

Michael Jackson was a wise and good man, and we all owe our fanaticism to him in one way or another and whether we know it or not. But I can’t help to think he would have spoken out about the evils (perceived or real) of what we are seeing with modern acquisitions.
 
Archeological excavations in the Indus Valley (Indian Subcontinent) have revealed that mustard was cultivated there. That civilization existed until about 1800 BC.[5]

The Romans were probably the first to experiment with the preparation of mustard as a condiment. They mixed unfermented grape juice (the must) with ground mustard seeds (called sinapis) to make "burning must", mustum ardens — hence "must ard".[6] A recipe for mustard appears in De re coquinaria, the anonymously compiled Roman cookbook from the late fourth or early fifth century; the recipe calls for a mixture of ground mustard, pepper, caraway, lovage, grilled coriander seeds, dill, celery, thyme, oregano, onion, honey, vinegar, fish sauce, and oil, and was intended as a glaze for spit-roasted boar.[7]

The Romans likely exported mustard seed to Gaul, and by the 10th century, monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris absorbed the mustard-making knowledge of Romans and began their own production.[8] The first appearance of mustard makers on the royal registers in Paris dates back to 1292.[9] Dijon, France, became a recognized center for mustard making by the 13th century.[10] The popularity of mustard in Dijon is evidenced by written accounts of guests consuming 320 litres (70 imp gal) of mustard creme in a single sitting at a gala held by the Duke of Burgundy in 1336.[11] In 1777, one of the most famous Dijon mustard makers, Grey-Poupon, was established as a partnership between Maurice Grey, a mustard maker with a unique recipe containing white wine; and Auguste Poupon, his financial backer.[12] Their success was aided by the introduction of the first automatic mustard-making machine.[12] In 1937, Dijon mustard was granted an Appellation d'origine contrôlée.[8] Due to its long tradition of mustard making, Dijon is regarded as the mustard capital of the world.[10]

The early use of mustard as a condiment in England is attested from the year 1390 in the book The Forme of Cury which was written by King Richard II's master cooks. It was prepared in the form of mustard balls—coarse-ground mustard seed combined with flour and cinnamon, moistened, rolled into balls, and dried—which were easily stored and combined with vinegar or wine to make mustard paste as needed.[13] The town of Tewkesbury was well known for its high-quality mustard balls, originally made with ground mustard mixed with horseradish and dried for storage,[14] which were then exported to London and other parts of the country, and are even mentioned in William Shakespeare's play King Henry the Fourth, Part II.[15]

The use of mustard as a hot dog condiment is said to have been first seen in the US at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, when the bright-yellow French's mustard was introduced by the R.T. French Company.[16]
 
litheum94 said:
What about Chik Fil A?

#spillover
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I have no idea if Chick-Fil-A is buying up other established fast food chains and using their power to put those brands in new markets and push out local competition and/or offering a free keg of Bourbon County if a bar buys 10 kegs of Bud Light in order to push out a local stout but please feel free to show me evidence if you have any.
 
My wife HATES mustard. Something about a traumatic experience whe she was 6 yrs old involving her 12 yr old sister and a “refrigerator door milkshake.”

It’s a pretty gruesome tale, and to this day she can’t stand the smell of anything that was in that milkshake except Hershey’s syrup. Mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles, pickle relish, pickled peppers, chow chow, Russian dressing, etc. Pretty much anything you might find on those shallow shelves of your fridge door.

I once tried moving the mustard to the main compartment of the fridge, but this did not change her attitude toward the condiment.
 

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