IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
As if Budwieser wasn't already watered down.
http://m.yahoo.com/w/ygo-frontpage/...ref_w=frontdoors&view=today&.intl=US&.lang=en
http://m.yahoo.com/w/ygo-frontpage/...ref_w=frontdoors&view=today&.intl=US&.lang=en
If it is true then that's pretty serious news for Anheuser-Busch...
IL1kebeer said:Maybe it can best described as going from "a full bodied urine taste" to a "not so overbearing urine taste"
Until they have an independent analytical lab test and and come forth with the numbers this one doesn't pass the smell test for me.
AB is not a brewery. It is in fact a profit driven Multi-national Corporation. By definition A corporation is in business to maximize profits at any expense. Simply, AB will do anything and everything to make a buck. They just bought out Goose Island in Chicago. They are buying out smaller craft breweries as fast as they can. Buying up breweries all over the world is what the practice AB is engaging in at the moment. In fact if you order an AB prospectus I am sure you can see their whole list of acquisitions. It free if you ask for it from AB or a brokerage house. In fact they have to give it to you as required by full disclosure. Buying Goose Island and watering down their beer is nothing compared to how they really run a business? Are people going to stop drinking Goose Island? Its doubtful. AB is doing nothing unusual here that other corporations have done and will continue to do in the future. The world is not run by governments, but my THE corporations. Remember the midis rule? He who has the gold makes the rules.
If they are found guilty or not guilty it does not matter for them, because its simply the cost of doing business, and who can complain with Spuds Mackenzie or a talking frog? It is an interesting news story, but I am not surprised by it in the least.
Every professional brewery is a profit driven business. Professional brewers are not "artists" they are businessmen and women. If they fail to make a profit, then their brewery goes out of business. They do not make beer solely out of love for it, they're doing it to make money. If they didn't care about a profit, they would be home brewers like the rest of us.
ab inbev says that it meets the labeling laws. Now if I remember correctly and I may be wrong (just ask SWMBO) I believe that the avb has to be within .3% of what is put on the label here in the U.S. of A. compared to the .5% in Europe (source Brew Like a Monk, I think that is where I read it). Which is why large breweries blend their batches to achieve a more uniform product (source Bitter Brew). So it is possible that ab inbev is watering down their product yet still within the requirements of the law.
Test the beer, does it meet label guidelines for stated ABV? Yes? STFU. How they achieve the end product has never been the concern of the people who drink that stuff, why now? Idiots.
AB is not a brewery. It is in fact a profit driven Multi-national Corporation. By definition A corporation is in business to maximize profits at any expense. Simply, AB will do anything and everything to make a buck. They just bought out Goose Island in Chicago. They are buying out smaller craft breweries as fast as they can. Buying up breweries all over the world is what the practice AB is engaging in at the moment. In fact if you order an AB prospectus I am sure you can see their whole list of acquisitions. It free if you ask for it from AB or a brokerage house. In fact they have to give it to you as required by full disclosure. Buying Goose Island and watering down their beer is nothing compared to how they really run a business? Are people going to stop drinking Goose Island? Its doubtful. AB is doing nothing unusual here that other corporations have done and will continue to do in the future. The world is not run by governments, but my THE corporations. Remember the midis rule? He who has the gold makes the rules.
If they are found guilty or not guilty it does not matter for them, because its simply the cost of doing business, and who can complain with Spuds Mackenzie or a talking frog? It is an interesting news story, but I am not surprised by it in the least.
Now I wouldn't be surprised if they brewed at a higher gravity and cut it down at bottling to get the most out of their brewhouse...
In my opinion, “Class Action Lawsuits” are designed by big law firms with the sole intent of shaking down businesses. Whether you like or dislike the beer, what are the real damages here? If the quality suffered, people would simply move to another brand. This is all about Lawyers looking for free money.
what are the real damages here?
So, if you don't have a job, investments, and you live in the woods in a stick hut, you can get up on your soapbox. If you do have a job, investments, a house, a COMPTER, then you have no leg to stand on and your argument against THE corporations doesn't hold water. You have personally benefited from these corporations financially and standard of living wise. Next time you want to rail against BIG corporations, try mining your own copper, nickel, iron, etc and building your own computer from scratch to use to rail against these corporations. If not, please refer back to #2.
There is a little bit of a difference though. I think most of your craft breweries try to make their money by producing the best product possible and rely more on good taste, quality and word of mouth to sell their product. Companies like ABInbev rely on clever advertising and saturating the market to sell their beer. Yes, both groups are trying to make a profit, that's for sure, but how you go about making that profit can be wildly different.
You can't be letting just anybody go all buying and selling things at will.
Update. With a hat tip to Stan, let me direct your attention to Alcohol Beverage Testing News, an independent lab run by Gary Spedding--a former director of laboratories at Siebel--who's been doing those labs I wondered about. Because of A-B's famously rigorous standards, Spedding has used Bud as his control beer. He writes:
Also for calibrating our alcohol instruments Bud goes in after calibration to see hopefully 5.00% abv. pretty much on the nose. Not so recently. Now as low as 4.94% after slipping from 4.98% earlier in the year.
and
The Bloomberg article talks of other acquired brand changes for ABInBev and we have also noticed this with other classic beers in the giants stable. The article may have hit the nail or the King fair and square on the head. They relied on sensory perceptions of patrons but analytical parameters can confirm their suspicions. I think, from our early findings that it already has.
. . By definition A corporation is in business to maximize profits at any expense. . .
Except for when its not.
cor·po·ra·tion/ [kawr-puh-rey-shuhn]
noun
1. an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members. See also municipal corporation, public corporation.
2. ( initial capital letter ) the group of principal officials of a borough or other municipal division in England.
3. any group of persons united or regarded as united in one body.
i saw this story in a different article and was going to post it, but already found this one up.. i too am going to be following it to see how it all pans out.. i don't think this will fall into the category that all press is good press
no one light a match in here, ignite a strawman conflagration
it's not about the way they're brewing. 5% abv ± .3%? = 4.985% to 5.015%. A smart producer would shoot for the low side, save some costs.
Hell.. They could go down to 4.900% and i wouldn't say, "boo"
if they label it 5% ± .3% and it is actually 4.5%, then there's a problem.
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