AB acquired Wicked Weed

[bajaedition]

I think the entire reason so many craft breweries are selling out is because of the slowdown in growth of the market.
You can not bemoan a person for making a killing on his business. He did not start it to remain a working stiff tied to a job.
And it is pure flattery that IN Bev would want to gobble up your brewery, it means you are a success.

BUT IT SURE SUCKS DONKEY DICKS

 

[jmark]

I disagree with a few of your other opinions also, but more regulation is not the answer. And if you were to add regulations, rather than make the craft brewer pay to obtain "craft" certification why not have non craft brewers place a "non craft".disclosure on their label. Absurd either way...

I don't know what you're referring to by my other 'opinions', but I don't see what bearing that has on this at all... that's like saying I don't like your avatar so your homebrew must suck... but I digress...

For a start, I never said a single word about regulations and nor would I want them. I'm talking about an Industry group like the Brewers Association that already represents craft breweries (and already defines what it means to be called craft) providing a way for its own members to distinguish themselves from the 'faux craft' (for the lack of a better term). These types of things are done by all sorts of industries, and I really don't understand the hostile reaction you have to something like this.

 

[bajaedition]

I don't know what you're referring to by my other 'opinions', but I don't see what bearing that has on this at all... that's like saying I don't like your avatar so your homebrew must suck... but I digress...

For a start, I never said a single word about regulations and nor would I want them. I'm talking about an Industry group like the Brewers Association that already represents craft breweries (and already defines what it means to be called craft) providing a way for its own members to distinguish themselves from the 'faux craft' (for the lack of a better term). These types of things are done by all sorts of industries, and I really don't understand the hostile reaction you have to something like this.

IF we were to identify the Faux Craft brewers, would it include the true craft brewers who have their beer contract brewed by BMC because they do not have the facilities to brew for their total market?

 

[jmark]

That would be up to the industry group like the BA... geez... why all the hostility to something as simple as a 'seal of quality'. It works so well for the Trappists, for Champagne makers, Cheddar makers etc. etc.

 

[applescrap]

My favorite brewery Wicked Weed announced what every craft beer lover hates...what a sad day.

View attachment 398978

Or a happy one for me, hope I can get it here finally. I assume you want to share your favorite beers with the rest of us. I mean my favorite local breweries avery, Oskar blues, and new belgian have been enjoyed around the country. I am not pissed at the idea of having a steady stream of pernicious ipa.

 

[FatDragon]

IF we were to identify the Faux Craft brewers, would it include the true craft brewers who have their beer contract brewed by BMC because they do not have the facilities to brew for their total market?

Are you even a brewery if you have your beer contract brewed? I'd argue that you're more of a "beer company" at that point. One could certainly debate the point, but my gut opinion is that if you're not brewing the beer, you're not a craft brewer.

Unfortunately, I doubt a "craft beer seal" would do much good. It would probably be like CAMRA in the UK, where beer nerds who already know which beers are or aren't "Real Ale" congratulate themselves for buying certified Real Ale while the much larger group of of casual drinkers who could swing the market doesn't take much notice, in part because they're mostly gravitating to cheap adjunct lagers anyway.

 

[applescrap]

This tells me you don't know much about this brewery and their attention to detail and use of high quality locally sourced ingredients. Look at Goose Island for example and their 2015 BCBS. The fact is quality WILL suffer.

Hold up, goose ipa is now being brewed in my home town fort collins by some assumingly pretty bad azz brewers at ab, using our mountain water. I am thrilled by this and at buying it for 12 a 12. 55 for 55, cheap as any keg I ever get.

 

[applescrap]

I am sure there are some good reasons to not like these beer deals, like they are taking over some restaurants taps. But this isnt always a bad thing. Infact a step up in some cases. Bringing craft beer to masses might help everyone in the long run. Maybe the head brewer will finally get paid a little better. Maybe all the volunteers that i have heard breweries are notirious for, will get paid. Maybe it will open up jobs for all the people here who dream of brewing for a living and maybe i can buy pernicious for a dollar a beer. I dont know if I have a reason to stand in line, arm and arm, with you for this cause. But I am also easily swayed. My choice only being goose ipa at chillis for 3 a beer at happy hour isnt one of them, because its a step up from before.

 

[FatDragon]

I am sure there are some good reasons to not like these beer deals, like they are taking over some restaurants taps. But this isnt always a bad thing. Infact a step up in some cases. Bringing craft beer to masses might help everyone in the long run. Maybe the head brewer will finally get paid a little better. Maybe all the volunteers that i have heard breweries are notirious for, will get paid. Maybe it will open up jobs for all the people here who dream of brewing for a living and maybe i can buy pernicious for a dollar a beer. I dont know if I have a reason to stand in line, arm and arm, with you for this cause. But I am also easily swayed. My choice only being goose ipa at chillis for 3 a beer at happy hour isnt one of them, because its a step up from before.

Big corporations get bigger and hold more power and influence. Smaller businesses struggle to compete. You get dollar-a-bottle Goose Island IPA in Colorado and Something-or-Other Craft Brewery down the street goes under because they can't afford to sell their similar IPA for less than $1.50. Instead of opening up more tap handles for local craft beer as the market changes, Chili's is placated by AB's "High End" into offering the same Goose Island IPA in every location across the country so customers know what's on tap wherever they go, while local breweries who used to get an occasional tap at their local Chili's are now out of the rotation because there no longer is a rotation.

In short, you might get cheaper craft-quality beer through deals like this, but it hurts competition for small businesses like actual craft breweries. Let's not even talk about the dreaded drop-off in quality after acquisition (hotly debated, but real in my opinion, based primarily on Ballast Point beers pre- and post-acquisition).

 

[applescrap]

Big corporations get bigger and hold more power and influence. Smaller businesses struggle to compete. You get dollar-a-bottle Goose Island IPA in Colorado and Something-or-Other Craft Brewery down the street goes under because they can't afford to sell their similar IPA for less than $1.50. Instead of opening up more tap handles for local craft beer as the market changes, Chili's is placated by AB's "High End" into offering the same Goose Island IPA in every location across the country so customers know what's on tap wherever they go, while local breweries who used to get an occasional tap at their local Chili's are now out of the rotation because there no longer is a rotation.

In short, you might get cheaper craft-quality beer through deals like this, but it hurts competition for small businesses like actual craft breweries. Let's not even talk about the dreaded drop-off in quality after acquisition (hotly debated, but real in my opinion, based primarily on Ballast Point beers pre- and post-acquisition).

Imo much of this has not been the case. As madscientist pointed out small craft breweries arent closing, they are popping up everywhere. Plenty of restaurants round here serve local beers and we have popping tap houses everywhere. Goose is a massive step up from bud or bud light at chillis and 1 dollar goose island isnt putting heady topper out of business. Even the crappy breweries are filled on fridays with people enjoying 6 dollar pints. If some of these worser breweries close down because their beer sucks, so it goes. People who order goose at chillis are serving our cause better than when they ordered bud light before. What good did that do anyone? Gotta eat green chilli before habanero, no. I could buy the quality argument, i mean hey mass production, but i offer in return that goose island being brewed in my hometown by skilled brewers and our mountain water didnt destroy that average beer and two i dont care if it goes down a little in quality, as a. I cant get it now anyways and b. I dont know, depending on the beer, what it tasted like in the first place. In conclusion, i am not sure i like all this big business as much as anyone but honestly it this stuff doesnt bother me much obviously. I find most these big business beers average and buy other stuff anyways.

 

[FatDragon]

Imo much of this has not been the case. As madscientist pointed out small craft breweries arent closing, they are popping up everywhere. Plenty of restaurants round here serve local beers and we have popping tap houses everywhere. Goose is a massive step up from bud or bud light at chillis and 1 dollar goose island isnt putting heady topper out of business. Even the crappy breweries are filled on fridays with people enjoying 6 dollar pints. If some of these worser breweries close down because their beer sucks, so it goes. People who order goose at chillis are serving our cause better than when they ordered bud light before. What good did that do anyone? Gotta eat green chilli before habanero, no. I could buy the quality argument, i mean hey mass production, but i offer in return that goose island being brewed in my hometown by skilled brewers and our mountain water didnt destroy that average beer and two i dont care if it goes down a little in quality, as a. I cant get it now anyways and b. I dont know, depending on the beer, what it tasted like in the first place. In conclusion, i am not sure i like all this big business as much as anyone but honestly it this stuff doesnt bother me much obviously. I find most these big business beers average and buy other stuff anyways.

Woof, formatting...

The health of the craft beer industry doesn't mean that massive corporations muscling in on their game doesn't hurt them. That's false equivocation. Beer Wars is a good documentary that gives some insight into some of the ways that macros hurt micros.

I recognize the "good for them" argument for brewers selling out to macros and I've made it myself before, but putting MORE money and power into the hands of giant corporations isn't helping anybody.

 

[bob1852]

This deal just gives me a bad taste in my mouth.

Big beer, big money, only becoming bigger... I won't support it.

Couldnt agree more!

What's the cut off between big beer and small beer? Big money and small money?

Because the more AB-Inbev (and other mega brewers) are able to control the market (through deals with distributors, advertising, shelf space, tap handles etc), the harder it becomes for new breweries to get a foothold, and i want it to be easy for the next great brewery to get started, not harder.

I know! It's not like there's more breweries now than ever before. Wait, what?

If InBev is destroying the "craft" (however you chose to define it) beer industry, they're failing miserably....

 

[BrewKnurd]

What's the cut off between big beer and small beer? Big money and small money?







I know! It's not like there's more breweries now than ever before. Wait, what?



If InBev is destroying the "craft" (however you chose to define it) beer industry, they're failing miserably....

Assuming (dangerous), that the fact that you quoted me means this is meant as a response to me, I never said InBev was destroying anything. In fact, I didn't say any of the things you appear to be refuting with your response. If you wish to actually have a discussion about, you know, the things I said, cool. If you're just gonna straw man this thing, then I'll pass. and if it was just a thing you wanted to say and happened to quote me, then rock on.

 

[ircbrewing]

Ah....I see now. They were not acquired per se. They just took capital from AB to allow them to expand. Nothing wrong with that. Sounds like AB is going to be a silent partner and allow the original owners/staff of WW to continue the day to day.

Not really an acquisition.

 

[madscientist451]

The concern I think is that shelf space and tap handles are going to be in such short supply and who is going to be able to command that space? The companies that can provide the best deals... hmm... who might that be. It's also confusing to customers who might want to support their local businesses.

What I'd like to see is some industry group offer a 'Certified Craft' designation/logo that independent breweries can apply, and be approved, for which would guarantee a certain quality level as well as a level of independence. Breweries with the designation could use the logo on their packaging etc. which might help consumers make more informed choices.

Why a concern about shelf space? Is anyone concerned about shelf space for loaves of bread or cans of tomatoes? If a retail outlet doesn't have good selection, the customers will go to the retailers that do offer choices.
The real enemy of beer consumers is a corrupt political system that limits entry to the marketplace for retail alcohol sales. Its not ABInBev's problem that the voters don't make "informed choices".
How much "outrage" is expressed that in many states, new restaurants can't sell alcohol, and opening a new bar or liquor store is out of the question because politicians limit liquor licences?
A bar owner can serve whatever they like and what the customers ask for. Will ABInBev someday lower prices and try to drive competition out of the market?
Maybe, but that's completely legal and a legitimate business practice.
Prices at the retail and bar level are too high anyway, we need some price competition. I actually don't see that happening anytime soon.

I've never had Wicked Weed Beer, but I'm hoping their practice of having 25 beers on tap, continuously rotating is adopted by others.

 

[rodwha]

I am sure there are some good reasons to not like these beer deals, like they are taking over some restaurants taps. But this isnt always a bad thing. Infact a step up in some cases. Bringing craft beer to masses might help everyone in the long run. Maybe the head brewer will finally get paid a little better. Maybe all the volunteers that i have heard breweries are notirious for, will get paid. Maybe it will open up jobs for all the people here who dream of brewing for a living and maybe i can buy pernicious for a dollar a beer. I dont know if I have a reason to stand in line, arm and arm, with you for this cause. But I am also easily swayed. My choice only being goose ipa at chillis for 3 a beer at happy hour isnt one of them, because its a step up from before.

Though this may not have been an outright sale of the company, but AB/InBev is known to shut down the brewery to move it elsewhere and lay off the crew. Then they dabble with the recipe to make it cheaper despite how it effects the taste or how those who loved it feel about it.

And then there are the nefarious and underhanded things they've done to hold back the little guys, and deceitfulness to sell to those who refuse big brewery beers. There's nothing admirable about them.

 

[jmark]

Why a concern about shelf space? Is anyone concerned about shelf space for loaves of bread or cans of tomatoes? If a retail outlet doesn't have good selection, the customers will go to the retailers that do offer choices.

The real enemy of beer consumers is a corrupt political system that limits entry to the marketplace for retail alcohol sales. Its not ABInBev's problem that the voters don't make "informed choices".

Shelf space for bread and tomatoes isn't really a fair comparison is it? It's not like there are hundreds of local tomato producers clamorous for 40 square feet of a grocery store. Getting shelf space and tap handles is ALREADY a problem in some areas and if you can't compete at retail, you're fighting with one hand behind your back.

I would agree that our patchwork quilt of archaic laws don't help matters and the 'big boys' are in a much better position to bend or otherwise take advantage of those laws. However, I wasn't suggesting it was AB InBev's problem that consumers don't make informed choices... I was merely suggesting a small way in which craft brewers could distinguish themselves from brands owned or controlled by the big guys. At end of the day folks should drink whatever they want to.

 

[rodwha]

What's the cut off between big beer and small beer? Big money and small money?



I know! It's not like there's more breweries now than ever before. Wait, what?

If InBev is destroying the "craft" (however you chose to define it) beer industry, they're failing miserably....

Ah, but they've only begun. Just look at what they did prior to muscle out the little guys. It worked to some degree, but not enough for their greedy appetite. Those just getting started didn't get anywhere. They stayed local and very small. It was only the larger ones not effected quite so. So now they are buying up the larger of those breweries.

Beer Wars, as mentioned, and another that escapes me shows quite a bit.

 

[applescrap]

Woof, formatting...

The health of the craft beer industry doesn't mean that massive corporations muscling in on their game doesn't hurt them. That's false equivocation. Beer Wars is a good documentary that gives some insight into some of the ways that macros hurt micros.

I recognize the "good for them" argument for brewers selling out to macros and I've made it myself before, but putting MORE money and power into the hands of giant corporations isn't helping anybody.

Even though I would agree monopolies are bad in just the general Spirit of things. Please explain how any of these buyouts have hurt you personally?

 

[rodwha]

Even though I would agree monopolies are bad in just the general Spirit of things. Please explain how any of these buyouts have hurt you personally?

Watch Beer Wars and you'll understand what they have done to the craft beer industry. Without behind the scenes knowledge how could one possibly know how the craft beer scene has been effected?

 

[passedpawn]

Watch Beer Wars and you'll understand what they have done to the craft beer industry. Without behind the scenes knowledge how could one possibly know how the craft beer scene has been effected?

If the assertions on this forum, and movies like the 2009 Beer Wars, are true, then AB is controlling the craft beer industry. In that case, I say keep up the good work! The craft beer explosion in my area in the last 8 years has been unbelievable.

Here's a list of Florida breweries that have opened since that movie.

Cocoa Beach Brewing Company,Cocoa Beach,2009
Cycle Brewing,St. Petersburg,2009
Swamp Head Brewery,Gainesville,2009
Intuition Ale Works,Jacksonville,2010
Pensacola Bay Brewery,Pensacola,2010
Barley Mow Brewing Co.,Largo,2011
Grayton Beer Company,Santa Rosa Beach,2011
Green Bench Brewing Company,St. Petersburg,2011
Naples Beach Brewery,Naples,2011
Organic Brewery,Hollywood,2011
Southern Brewing & Winemaking,Tampa,2011
Tequesta Brewing Company,Tequesta,2011
3 Daughters Brewing,St. Petersburg,2012
7venth Sun Brewery,Dunedin,2012
Big Storm Brewing Co.,Odessa(Pasco location),2012 (original),Clearwater (2nd location),2016 (Clearwater location)
Brew Bus Brewing,Tampa,2012
Copp Winery & Brewery,Crystal River,2012
Copperpoint Brewing Company,Boynton Beach,2012
Darwin Brewing Company,Bradenton,2012
Golden Horn Brewing Company,Tallahassee,2012
Hourglass Brewery,Longwood,2012
Mack House,Fort Lauderdale,2012
Miami Brewing Company,Homestead,2012
Aardwolf Brewing Company,Jacksonville,2013
Big Top Brewing Company,Sarasota,2013
Bone Island Brewing Company,Key West,2013
Brewers' Tasting Room,St. Petersburg,2013
Bugnutty Brewing Company,Merritt Island,2013
Calusa Brewing,Sarasota,2013
Coppertail Brewing Company,Tampa,2013
Fort Myers Brewing Company,Fort Myers,2013
Green Room Brewing Company,Jacksonville Beach,2013
Idyll Hounds Brewing Company,Santa Rosa Beach,2013
Intracoastal Brewing Company,Cocoa Beach,2013
Motorworks Brewing Company,Bradenton,2013
Ormond Brewing Company,Ormond,2013
Pair O Dice Brewing Company,Clearwater,2013
Point Ybel Brewing Company,Fort Myers,2013
Rapp Brewing Company,Seminole,2013
Sailfish Brewing Company,Fort Pierce,2013
Saltwater Brewing Company,Delray Beach,2013
St. Pete Brewing Company,St. Petersburg,2013
Tampa Beer Works,Tampa,2013
Two Henrys Brewing Company,Plant City,2013
Wynwood Brewing Company,Miami,2013
Angry Chair Brewing,Tampa,2014
Fat Point Brewing,Punta Gorda,2014
First Magnitude Brewing,Gainesville,2014
Islamorada Beer Company,Islamorada (original),2014 (original),Fort Pierce (2nd location),2016 (2nd location)
J. Wakefield Brewing,Miami,2014
JDub's Brewing Company,Sarasota,2014
LauderAle,Fort Lauderdale,2014
Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company,Madeira Beach,2014
MIA Beer Company,Doral,2014
New Smyrna Beach Brewing Company,New Smyrna Beach,2014
Orchid Island Brewery,Vero Beach,2014
Persimmon Hollow Brewing Company,DeLand,2014
Redlight Redlight Beer Parlour,Orlando,2014
Six Ten Brewing Company,Tampa,2014
Veterans United Craft Brewery,Jacksonville,2014
Ancient City Brewing,St. Augustine,2015
Bangin' Banjo Brewing,Pompano Beach,2015
Barrel of Monks Brewing,Boca Raton,2015
Bury Me Brewing,Fort Myers,2015
Cape Coral Brewing Company,Cape Coral,2015
Central 28 Beer Company,DeBary,2015
Concrete Beach Brewery,Miami,2015
Florida Keys Brewing Co.,Islamorada,2015
Grasslands Brewing Company,Tallahassee,2015
Infinite Ale Works,Ocala,2015
Waterfront Brewery,Key West,2015
81Bay Brewing,Tampa,2016
Arkane Aleworks,Largo,2016
Bog Brewing,St. Augustine,2016
Broken Strings Brewery and Black Cauldron Brewing,Orlando,2016
De Bine Brewing Co.,St. Petersburg,2016
Dead Lizard Brewing Company,Orlando,2016
Deadly Sins Brewing Company,Winter Park,2016
Grove Roots Brewing Co.,Winter Haven,2016
Gulf Coast Brewery,Pensacola,2016
Hell 'n Blazes Brewing Company,Melbourne,2016
Ocean Sun Brewing,Orlando,2016
Reprise Brewing,St. Cloud,2016
RipTide Brewing Company,Naples,2016
The Tank Brewing Co.,Miami,2016
Walking Tree Brewery,Vero Beach,2016
Southern Swells Brewing Company,Jacksonville Beach,2017
Tampa Bay Brewing Company,Tampa,1996
Engine 15 Brewing Company,Jacksonville Beach (original),2010 (original),Jacksonville (2nd location),2013 (2nd location)
Tomoka Brewing Company,Ormond Beach,2013
Wild Rover Pub and Brewery,Odessa,2013
Rebel Dog Brewing Co.,New Port Richey,2016
Wicked Barley Brewing Company,Jacksonville,2016
Cigar City Brewing,Tampa,2009

 

[h22lude]

Why a concern about shelf space? Is anyone concerned about shelf space for loaves of bread or cans of tomatoes? If a retail outlet doesn't have good selection, the customers will go to the retailers that do offer choices.
The real enemy of beer consumers is a corrupt political system that limits entry to the marketplace for retail alcohol sales. Its not ABInBev's problem that the voters don't make "informed choices".
How much "outrage" is expressed that in many states, new restaurants can't sell alcohol, and opening a new bar or liquor store is out of the question because politicians limit liquor licences?
A bar owner can serve whatever they like and what the customers ask for. Will ABInBev someday lower prices and try to drive competition out of the market?
Maybe, but that's completely legal and a legitimate business practice.
Prices at the retail and bar level are too high anyway, we need some price competition. I actually don't see that happening anytime soon.

I've never had Wicked Weed Beer, but I'm hoping their practice of having 25 beers on tap, continuously rotating is adopted by others.

Yes actually shelf space is a big concern with smaller start up companies even in retail. This is why shows like Shark Tank exist. Obviously being on TV helps but without one of the Sharks help, most of the companies on that show would never get into the big chain stores. It isn't because the store doesn't want to sell their product. It's because shelf space is money and the stores don't want to put an unknown product on the shelves.

The same goes for beer especially taps in a bar. AB can lower their cost of goods sold by a lot making the beer cheaper to sell. This makes it more enticing for smaller bars or liquor stores to sell more of AB's stuff because it is cheaper to buy. Years ago this wasn't a big problem because they didn't have the "craft" portfolio they do now. AB can go into a bar and offer a ton of "craft" products now at a cheaper cost than the local breweries can. And since they do own a lot of "craft" breweries, they can put a good selection of taps in a bar and most of the beer drinkers wouldn't know all the taps were AB. While nothing they are doing is illegal, it hurts the small local breweries. Yes I understand, if people like the product they will still buy it but that doesn't mean local small breweries aren't losing money because of these buy outs. If AB controls a lot of the taps around a small local brewery, that brewery may not be able to get into as many bars or restaurants as they would like. That means less profit. It also means less exposure to new customers. Cash flow is a huge issue for start up breweries. They have little to no money for marketing. Taps are a huge way to market their beer. If they can't get their taps into bars because AB offers other "craft" beers at a much lower price, that definitely hurts the small guy.

While most of us in here would drive 30 minutes to a brewery and pay $20 a 4 pack, most of the country would not. They want to go to the closest liquor store and get something good and cheaper. The breweries AB buys fit those two needs. AB beers also get the good shelf space, which does go into what people buy. Large chain stores (like Target) do studies on shelf space. Shelf space does affect what people buy. If local is at the very bottom and an AB brewery is at eye sight, more people will buy AB just because they saw it.

With all that said, I don't hate on people for drinking AB. There are some AB breweries that still make good beer. People like what they like. Some people hate everything but Bud Light. They shouldn't be forced to drink local. I personally would rather support locally owned than something that is owned by a company located in another country.

 

[Homercidal]

If the assertions on this forum, and movies like the 2009 Beer Wars, are true, then AB is controlling the craft beer industry. In that case, I say keep up the good work! The craft beer explosion in my area in the last 8 years has been unbelievable.

Here's a list of Florida breweries that have opened since that movie.

Ah! But the question isn't how whether craft beer has grown in that time, but whether it's grown BECAUSE OF, INSPITE OR, or INDIFFERENCE TO, Big Beer.

Perhaps, without Big Beer meddling, that list could be twice as large.

Beyond that, let's all recognize that Big Beer isn't much at ALL concerned with small breweries, or breweries that serve in their taproom. The local breweries aren't a threat financially, and Big Beer doesn't have much to offer those guys.

The somewhat larger breweries, that sell packaged beer on store shelves, are their target. But only when they get big enough to have a name buyers will recognize. There is no point in helping distribute no-name beer if nobody wants to buy it. They are buying into the sellability of that craft beer. The brewery wants to be able to distribute farther than they currently could, but don't want to go further in debt to do it. It's a Win-Win for these guys at the start.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

... but I'm talking about objective measures of quality - shelf stability, consistency of product (where that is actually a goal), brewing practices etc.

So, you are talking about Budweiser.

How long have you worked for bud?

Twice as long as you have for Wicked Weed.

Watch Beer Wars and you'll understand what they have done to the craft beer industry. Without behind the scenes knowledge how could one possibly know how the craft beer scene has been effected?

Yes, do watch beer wars.

You could argue that you are affected because AB is controlling distribution. Except that now the brands they are partnered with have national distribution.

You could argue that AB stifles the industry with superior marketing budget. Except that now that budget extends to their partner brands.

You could argue every point that Beer Wars makes against macro beer. Except that now all that power works for their partner brands.

 

[applescrap]

Clearly the craft beer scene is growing and clearly all the people that drink Bud Light being turned onto a little better beer is going to do nothing but help in the long run. I'm not going to waste my time watching beer Wars. I am sure there are all kinds of BS going on behind the scenes but the actual fact is craft breweries are popping up all over Denver offering more choices in bars and my choices of beer in the liquor store is bigger than ever just like all of yours are, so I can't understand why anybody has a problem. If an Heiser Bush owned every Craft brewery in America and that meant I could get every beer in America in my store that wouldn't be the worst thing. With power and capital everybody involved in these breweries is likely to make more money except the owners. The people that do all the hard work are likely to get paid better and I have more selection. In this chess game of beer, big business is no doubt advancing their pawns, but it has yet to hurt any of us or the business. How many people on this forum really buy Goose Island ipa anyways other than because it's cheap. I never liked Breckenridge beer before and if anything it's gotten better. It's hard to make an argument that power and money being put into a product that we all love is a bad thing.

 

[Harry482]

 

[applescrap]

The Northern Brewer buyout sucked all the people I used to talk to are still there and last week they were offering $20 All Grain kits. I would have killed that $20 All Grain kit deal, except I just bought a 50 pound sack of grain.

 

[Grannyknot]

I never really thought i'd see the day when any craft beer site had a majority of people saying not to worry about AB buyouts and that everything would be fine, possibly better.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I never really thought i'd see the day when any craft beer site had a majority of people saying not to worry about AB buyouts and that everything would be fine, possibly better.

Okay. Except most of these are not buyouts.

 

[rodwha]

So, you are talking about Budweiser.



Twice as long as you have for Wicked Weed.



Yes, do watch beer wars.

You could argue that you are affected because AB is controlling distribution. Except that now the brands they are partnered with have national distribution.

You could argue that AB stifles the industry with superior marketing budget. Except that now that budget extends to their partner brands.

You could argue every point that Beer Wars makes against macro beer. Except that now all that power works for their partner brands.

Which indeed does help out that little guy for a portion of his profits if he only gave a portion of his company. But it has also helped AB/InBev in their goals of control. Maybe you missed Those parts in the movie?

At first they tried to stifle the little guys with deplorable practices. It didn't work as well as they had hoped and expected as passedpawn pointed out in his area, though it would be rather difficult to see what startups didn't make it. So now their tactic is to buy into any they can to again muscle in.

It's the business practices of AB/InBev I have an issue with and not big business. I had no problem buying Blue Moon or even Coors when there wasn't something else I preferred, though I do prefer to support local/small business who certainly can use the money more.

Maybe their tactics and practices don't mean much to others but it bothers the hell out of me and I refuse to deal with that.