PLEASE let the Northern Brewer buy-out be a hoax!

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Use the information for WHAT? Absolutely nothing, if you unsubscribe. If you don't, they'll send you emails.

They can't steal money from your credit card or somebody goes to jail.

They can't come to your home and take your homebrew gear or somebody goes to jail.

It's no big deal.

Relax and have a homebrew.
 
Why would AB InBev Bother with a Homebrew Supply Shop Like Northern Brewer?

Northern Brewer & Midwest Supplies were likely a sought after purchase due to a reported annual revenue of at least $50,000,000
Click to expand...

$50,000,000?

Whoa, I'm in the wrong business!

TD
 
gratus fermentatio said:
I really want to give them a break, I mean, if I built a business & somebody came along & offered me an amount of money that meant I could do what I wanted, when I wanted & would never have to work another day for the rest of my life if I didn't want to; I'd probably take the money too.

Now that being said, as a customer, homebrewer & craft beer/cider/wine/mead lover, I kind of feel like Norther Brewer/Midwest Supply not only sold out, but sold out to the enemy. To me, InBev stands for everything you DON'T want in a brewer. Faceless, corporate beer (which mostly sucks ass BTW), the lowest common denominator, marketed to "the Proles," (read Orwell's 1984) who have been conditioned to not only like that corporate swill, but dislike craft beer. Is InBev going to do to the homebrew supply biz what they did to beer brewing? Who's next on their list? Austin Homebrew? Briess Malt? Hop farm after hop farm?

Let's consider their plan:

"A disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading firms, products and alliances. The term was defined and phenomenon analyzed by Clayton M. Christensen beginning in 1995."

Not unlike Walmart, Starbuck's, Microsoft, or any other large corporation that puts smaller companies out of business. The whole point of "Disruptive Innovation" is the destruction of the competition. BTW, they WILL use all the acquired data, they say so themselves, scroll down to INTELLIGENCE:
http://zx-ventures.com/

I buy local whenever I can, but sometimes I have to buy online for specific ingredients/equipment. I don't want to spend my money with InBev. Pretty soon, I may not have a choice. For me, for now, Austin Homebrew just got a new customer.
Regards, GF.
Click to expand...


"Corporate" is not a flavor in beer. You may not like it, but that doesn't mean it sucks ass.

On the flip side, MOST craft breweries do suck ass.
 
WaltStarr said:
Use the information for WHAT? Absolutely nothing, if you unsubscribe. If you don't, they'll send you emails.

They can't steal money from your credit card or somebody goes to jail.

They can't come to your home and take your homebrew gear or somebody goes to jail.

It's no big deal.

Relax and have a homebrew.
Click to expand...


They'll make you buy beer you don't like and say that you like it. You will have to brew light lagers.

What if they email you with sale offers????
 
I'm done with them. I refuse to knowingly give my money to AB Inbev, or even consume their products when someone else bought them and they are free.
 
I don't like the way this was handled by NB. They more or less tried to hide the fact that they sold out to the BBB - BiggestBrewBully on the planet.
It's your biz, sell if you'd like, but don't pizz on the homebrewer parade and tell them it's elixir from heaven.
Man up. Sell out. Take your millions and run. For many of us, you are done.
 
xandersaml said:
I don't like the way this was handled by NB. They more or less tried to hide the fact that they sold out to the BBB - BiggestBrewBully on the planet.
It's your biz, sell if you'd like, but don't pizz on the homebrewer parade and tell them it's elixir from heaven.
Man up. Sell out. Take your millions and run. For many of us, you are done.
Click to expand...

I can fully understand why NB handled it the way they did. Get the maximum payout for the business, then head to the bank. Waiting until the absolutely last moment to tell employees is standard in any business, you don't want the walkouts or loss of morale until after the deal is done.

For my part, I'll never do business with them again. This is sad because when I do extract brews, I like using Northern Brewer extract.

That's how it goes. Whaddayagonnado?
 
xandersaml said:
I don't like the way this was handled by NB. They more or less tried to hide the fact that they sold out to the BBB - BiggestBrewBully on the planet.

It's your biz, sell if you'd like, but don't pizz on the homebrewer parade and tell them it's elixir from heaven.

Man up. Sell out. Take your millions and run. For many of us, you are done.
Click to expand...


How dare them not letting us in on their internal plans! That's it...they're dead to me!
 
Man I just want to brew beer that I like to drink. If the biggest fish in the pond (InBev) is threatened by me and you brewing and their plan is they have to have a stranglehold on all the grain, yeast, supplies etc. so they can continue to make their huge profits, and keep us from brewing, or only buying their beer (craft breweries that they bought or watered down lagers) or their supplies, this really sucks. I hope not. Time will tell. We will see....

John
 
jcav said:
Man I just want to brew beer that I like to drink. If the biggest fish in the pond (InBev) is threatened by me and you brewing and their plan is they have to have a stranglehold on all the grain, yeast, supplies etc. so they can continue to make their huge profits, and keep us from brewing, or only buying their beer (craft breweries that they bought or watered down lagers) or their supplies, this really sucks. I hope not. Time will tell. We will see....

John
Click to expand...


They don't give a **** about you and your beer. They can't stop you from brewing. But mostly they just don't know who you are.
 
Jesus, if you guys would just read my last two posts...

NB/MW has been owned by a venture capitalist for YEARS.

THIS WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN.

keep-calm-and-brew-more-beer.png
 
I guess my real point it this: NB can sell to whoever they want and make a profit from their hard work, I'm fine with that. InBev can profit all they want, that's business. As long as they don't interfere with little Ol' me in the future trying to buy grain and yeast and other brewing supplies. If they do somehow keep me from being able to procure said ingredients and supplies that will be a big problem. I'm not fine with that and judging from some of the prior posts, it look like they want to patent certain items that are vital to brewing like yeast. Whether they will be successful is another story. I wonder if they can patent water! :D

John
 
jcav said:
I guess my real point it this: NB can sell to whoever they want and make a profit from their hard work, I'm fine with that. InBev can profit all they want, that's business. As long as they don't interfere with little Ol' me in the future trying to buy grain and yeast and other brewing supplies. If they do somehow keep me from being able to procure said ingredients and supplies that will be a big problem. I'm not fine with that and judging from some of the prior posts, it look like they want to patent certain items that are vital to brewing like yeast. Whether they will be successful is another story. I wonder if they can patent water! :D

John
Click to expand...

I'm no lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but I don't think you can patent something that has been in common use for years and years and years. Naturally-occurring stuff is not something InBev invented.
 
mongoose33 said:
I'm no lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but I don't think you can patent something that has been in common use for years and years and years. Naturally-occurring stuff is not something InBev invented.
Click to expand...

I know I was just commenting on post number 350. I was being smart, but it is not impossible if you read what he meant in that post. I will stop now.....

John
 
Murphys_Law said:
How dare them not letting us in on their internal plans! That's it...they're dead to me!
Click to expand...
Their actions after the sale, I found troublesome. Denying it; obfuscating it... Why? Be honest. Say you sold the biz. It was yours to sell.
When customers ask about ownership I think honesty is the best policy.
It makes no difference to me as I shop local anyway. It only confirms that I never will do business with NB. They'll be fine without me.:mug:
 
I have a hard time believing 50MM in annual revenue. That's 1,369 sales every day of the year at an average of $100 per sale. If they are doing that, I'd be very impressed.
 
tdiowa said:
$50,000,000?

Whoa, I'm in the wrong business!

TD
Click to expand...

That is annual sales, not annual profits. That number just makes it look like a massive moneymaker. An average for a hobby supply company is most likely less than 4% of the annual sales. Once you factor in their costs for the supplies, facility rent/mortgage, taxes, labor and losses, that $50M isn't that big of a number.
 
Consider the advantages that InBev brings to NB. Lower cost ingredients? I am fairly certain that they can provide many grains at a much lower cost than the distributors NB was using previously. Not entirely sure about the yeast, some of the hops, and most of the equipment. So there may be larger profit margins in some areas. THey may even have equipment to make extracts. Who knows?

What does InBev get from NB? A place to sell some of the excess grain they may have due to sales being down. I don't know. They probably saw the revenue NB was making and bought them at a good price. It's a nice horizontal business for them, since they are in a related field.

Specifically you need to imagine how InBev can sell products through NB cheaper than NB could before, or at least sell products for less than other supplies stores can. The ZX ventures is primarily a disruptive business. That means they enter a market and find ways to make money in it, while causing a large enough change in the system to disrupt other sellers. In this case I think they might be able to lower prices enough to undercut other homebrew supply stores, possibly forcing them out of business.

Really, that's not a bad business plan, if they can pull it off.

What I will find interesting is the homebrewing community's response. I, for one, have no plans to purchase from them. I really didn't anyway, unless they were selling something unique, but that was rare.

Will the homebrewing public support a supply store owned by the Evil Empire? I guess we will see. While many here are vocal about not supporting those companies, I'm betting the vast majority of homebrewers aren't on here railing against them, and are just as happy buying from them if the price was right and they offered what the homebrewers wanted.
 
And as they get better deals for themselves, they will lower prices, but they'll still be more profitable as a company. Especially if they knock out competition. Then prices will rise again.

So keep buying local, even if it costs more.

As an example, I'm going to buy a refractometer. Locally, it looks like $36. Amazon has it for $23 (free shipping with Prime - it will come to my house). So the refractometer costs $23, and supporting my local economy costs $13.

In the future, I can't ask questions of Prime. I have taken kegs to the store to try replacement posts and make sure they work. They've helped me piece together components I need. Answered questions about recipes or grain. You can't get that kind of interaction online. It's worth $13 to keep it in town.

Buying locally has great advantages, so do it when you can. That's simple.
 
ericbw said:
And as they get better deals for themselves, they will lower prices, but they'll still be more profitable as a company. Especially if they knock out competition. Then prices will rise again.

So keep buying local, even if it costs more.

As an example, I'm going to buy a refractometer. Locally, it looks like $36. Amazon has it for $23 (free shipping with Prime - it will come to my house). So the refractometer costs $23, and supporting my local economy costs $13.

In the future, I can't ask questions of Prime. I have taken kegs to the store to try replacement posts and make sure they work. They've helped me piece together components I need. Answered questions about recipes or grain. You can't get that kind of interaction online. It's worth $13 to keep it in town.

Buying locally has great advantages, so do it when you can. That's simple.
Click to expand...
I wish more people had that attitude! I forgot to bring something to the counter of my local store and it never got rang up. Called to see if I forgot it and realized I didn't ring it up and when I got there he said here take it for free for the trouble. Can't beat a local store.
 
ericbw said:
And as they get better deals for themselves, they will lower prices, but they'll still be more profitable as a company. Especially if they knock out competition. Then prices will rise again.

So keep buying local, even if it costs more.

As an example, I'm going to buy a refractometer. Locally, it looks like $36. Amazon has it for $23 (free shipping with Prime - it will come to my house). So the refractometer costs $23, and supporting my local economy costs $13.

In the future, I can't ask questions of Prime. I have taken kegs to the store to try replacement posts and make sure they work. They've helped me piece together components I need. Answered questions about recipes or grain. You can't get that kind of interaction online. It's worth $13 to keep it in town.

Buying locally has great advantages, so do it when you can. That's simple.
Click to expand...



I've bought about 90% of my gear local and 100% of my ingredients. I have a few locals around me with decent prices and I enjoy going there and talking to them, asking questions, and even providing feedback.

I am sure I can find better deals elsewhere on the 'net but the prices really aren't too far off and at the end of the proverbial day I feel I get a fair deal and value.

I've bought two narrow gauge hydro' from NB, only because I couldn't find locally, and they are both out of calibration!

So it's easy for me to say "they're dead to me" because I've never been active in buying from them. :)

Sorry, but I have to laugh when people say they'll never buy from them (NB) because they are now owned by the evil empire while these same people scan he internet looking to save a few shekels and have been buying from a greedy investment firm all along, all while turning their backs on their local small business or even a nice, small(er) run business like Farmhouse appears to be.
 
Just jumping into the conversation. Am disappointed with this, but I am guessing that they're not going to change anything big for the first few months.

I'll be looking at other places to buy stuff at, but I don't know how many places will sell the variety of things that NB does. And didn't they also buy the group that supplies LHBS, etc?

Not sure where I'd be able to go now where I can get things like MCI Stout Malt, and my local shop doesn't have the wide variety of ingredients, especially malts and yeast. The shop I went to when I'd visit my in-laws is closed, and I still don't know what I can count on at the shop I visit when I go to my parents.

Any suggestions?
 
Never shopped with NB, and now never will. I don't support any breweries that AB has acquired, even some great local ones in my area. Time to start voting with your wallets folks; check out the little guys in and around your area, or take a look at some other non-AB online shops.
 
A sad day indeed. I'm guessing Ab InBev will use their muscle to bully the other homebrew supply houses with ingredients they same way they bully craft breweries.

I'll still do my best to avoid purchasing anything from them.
 
This is absolutely horrible! Kinda makes me want to go buy a six pack of Budweiser just to dump it down the toilet... That or go puke in a bag.

I buy stuff from both of the shops but I guess at this point it's time to stop. I can't believe we continue to allow such few mega-corps to buy up everything. AB InBev grosses 36 Billion a year so I can't exactly figure out why they want the home brew stores other than to start force feeding us their marketing BS.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the shops. Will prices go up, will they go down along with quality? Will we start seeing everything branded as Budweiser? No matter how this plays out I can't see it being good.

It hasn't been good for Elysian Brewery which is here in my backyard. Their beer gets crappier by the day and most people I know stopped buying it along with all the other "Craft" beers that keep getting bought out. Just look at Redhook, Kona or Widmer... They all suck pretty bad and are just a glimpse of what's to come for anyone bought out by the worlds largest maker of crap beer...
 
Remember that many a businessman's dream is to grow their business to the point where someone wants to give them a lot of money for it.

They get our of debt quick, and get a nice retirement fund out of the deal.
 
Its always a sad day when corporate behemoths take over the little guy. But come on folks, sacks of grain are much cheaper picked up locally from the LHBS. And hops are much cheaper by the pound from hops folks online (like YakimaValley). Hardware is better sourced from the few hardware guys online and yeast is easily propagated so how often do you really buy new yeast. This isint a big deal. And there are choices out there, welcome to free market capitalism. Ive always preferred Morebeer.com and AIH anyway on the rare occasion I buy online. NB has a new boss who will be skimming the profits and demanding a certain margin %. Long term NB WILL have to change to accomodate this, contrary to their press release. I wish them the best, may the strongest survive.
 

Similar threads

NeoBrew
Northern Brewer/Ab InBev - What's the prognosis 1 year on?
Replies
10
Views
1K
Transamguy77
Transamguy77
Vogt52
Northern Brewer & Midwest Supplies Bought by AB InBev
Replies
20
Views
3K
quirkzoo1
quirkzoo1
I
Seems Official - Northern Brewer/Midwest/AB Inbev/Budweiser/SAP/Miller
Replies
23
Views
3K
WaltStarr
W
C
  • Article
Anheuser-Busch InBev Acquires Northern Brewer & Midwest Supplies
4 5 6
Replies
206
Views
11K
Hghlndr76
H
D
  • Article
The Top 10 Homebrew Talk Articles of 2016
Replies
0
Views
2K
David Doucette
D

Latest posts

Back
Top