AB InBev Buys Wicked Weed

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.
Also, what do you think is going to happen with this: https://wickedweedbrewing.com/funkatorium-invitational-2017/

Lots of brewers pulling out of it?

2017-05-03.png

Jester King just called out their former Bae on social media and will not be selling the weed at the brewery.
 
Is there a general consensus on these takeovers? I know I like getting Bourbon County releases (and don't go blaming the infection on In-Bev). Alpine seems to have taken a dip from their sort of corporate takeover.

I don't know, I'm not convinced this is 100% a bad thing.
Seems like ABI takeovers are a hell of a lot better than craft mergers. ( GF <--> Alpine ).
 
Seems like ABI takeovers are a hell of a lot better than craft mergers. ( GF <--> Alpine ).

Kind of depends on each one of them. Duvel-Moortgat seems to do very well with their US craft acquisitions and the Southern Tier/Victory merger is doing well.
 
Kind of depends on each one of them. Duvel-Moortgat seems to do very well with their US craft acquisitions and the Southern Tier/Victory merger is doing well.
Firestone has taken a major dip since the acquisition. Whether or not it's the fault of that, who knows but they have gone downhill.
 
Firestone has taken a major dip since the acquisition. Whether or not it's the fault of that, who knows but they have gone downhill.

Don't drink their beers very often. How have they declined?

FWIW, I think the GF/Alpine thing is because of the brewing arrangement. If companies merge and everything besides ownership basically remains the same, there's less of a chance of a change in quality.
 
Jester King Brewery
31 mins ·
This has been a difficult day for us. The news that our great friend Wicked Weed Brewing was acquired by AB In-Bev came as quite a shock. As you might guess, we've been getting a lot of e-mails, media inquiries, and online questions about what we think and what it means for Jester King.

It's no secret that Wicked Weed has been one of our closest friends in the beer industry. Regardless of what has transpired, we'll always consider the people of Wicked Weed friends, and want the best for them and their families.

With that said, we have some core principles that define who we are as a brewery, and those principles must not be compromised. One of our core principles is that we do not sell beer from AB In-Bev or its affiliates. We've chosen this stance, not because of the quality of the beer, but because a portion of the money made off of selling it is used to oppose the interests of craft brewers. In Texas, large brewers (and their distributors) routinely oppose law changes that would help small, independent brewers. We choose not to support these large brewers because of their political stances, and in some cases, their economic practices as well.

Because of this core principle, it pains us to say that we won't be carrying Wicked Weed anymore at Jester King. We think Wicked Weed beer is some of the best in the world. Their talent, techniques, and patience produces some of the most beautiful beer we've ever tasted. That, combined with their great friendship, is what makes this decision so tough for us. But like we said, our core values must be paramount at the end of the day.

We wish Wicked Weed the best, will deeply miss having their beer at Jester King and working with them on collaborations, and expect them to continue to make fantastic beer. Like we mentioned, they'll always have our friendship and we look forward to the next time we can share a beer together.

Cheers,

Jeffery Stuffings
Founder
Jester King Brewery
 
Firestone has taken a major dip since the acquisition. Whether or not it's the fault of that, who knows but they have gone downhill.

How did they take a dip? Firestone seems to have gotten even bigger here in Maryland. Can't speak about other states though.
 
See this year's Parabola which Firestone didn't even make, the waste of tank space and barrel aging Bravo, saying **** it to Sucaba etc.

Did they skip sucaba just for this year, or did they totally ditch it like Double DBA (which i think was one of their best BA beers and a damn shame they discontinued).
 
Elysian holds Firkin Firkin during Seattle Beer Week every year as well as the Great Pumpkin Festival. They used to get all kinds of out of region breweries to contribute to both events (Russian River, Allagash, Surly, New Glarus, Schlafly, Three Floyds, etc.) but since they were purchased those breweries are no longer involved. Same with some locals like Fremont.

I think they kind of do...? Relatives were just in Boston and said all the bartenders at every beer bar basically said trillium doesn't deliver much beer outside the tap room? Maybe they got lied to but they said they only had trillium at one bar and it was one beer..

Trillium does limited distribution outside their own facilities. My wife goes to work in Boston from time to time and has brought me back some bottles and cans from a shop near her hotel. None of the big hyped stuff: Scaled, Fort Point and Mettle.
 
Last edited:
Elysian holds Firkin Firkin during Seattle Beer Week every year as well as the Great Pumpkin Festival. They used to get all kinds of out of region breweries to contribute to both events (Russian River, Allagash, Surly, New Glarus, Schlafly, Three Floyds, etc.) but since they were purchased those breweries are no longer involved. Same with some locals like Fremont.



Trillium does limited distribution outside their own facilities. My wife goes to work in Boston from time to time and has brought me back some bottles and cans from a shop near her hotel. None of the big hyped stuff: Scaled, Fort Point and Mettle.
Correct but from what they were told it's very minimal
 
so much for that friendship, huh
To metaphor a bit: If you found out that your girlfriend was ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street for a few weeks without your knowledge while you were still in a relationship, would you be as gracious?

They were literally just starting (or had already started?) work on a new sour collaboration while this was going on (After Red Atrial came out alongside SPON). How do they not mention that they're in talks with InBev?
 
To metaphor a bit: If you found out that your girlfriend was ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street for a few weeks without your knowledge while you were still in a relationship, would you be as gracious?

More like "in talks about ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street"

They were literally just starting (or had already started?) work on a new sour collaboration while this was going on (After Red Atrial came out alongside SPON). How do they not mention that they're in talks with InBev?

Because they knew this would happen.
 
Because they knew this would happen.
Then you say "Hey bae, let's delay this collaboration for a few months. I gotta, uh, shampoo my hair and not sell out to a large conglomerate"
More like "in talks about ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street"
This made me LOL. I can't even lie. That's not something even up for debate. Rich Belgians don't **** around. They want to you to take out that bung.
 
To metaphor a bit: If you found out that your girlfriend was ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street for a few weeks without your knowledge while you were still in a relationship, would you be as gracious?

They were literally just starting (or had already started?) work on a new sour collaboration while this was going on (After Red Atrial came out alongside SPON). How do they not mention that they're in talks with InBev?

i mean, if he slides me some money on the side...
 
I may be in the minority here but if the beer tastes good I will buy/drink it. I couldn't possibly care less who the owner is. Unless it's Hitler. Then I would have to think about it.

I used to think this way, but I'm starting to make the transition to caring.

Reason? The predatory business practices of AB-InBev and companies like them. Just can't get behind those and if people don't vote with their feet/wallets, craft beer, as a whole (not just small, independent craft beer), will suffer.
 
I used to think this way, but I'm starting to make the transition to caring.

Reason? The predatory business practices of AB-InBev and companies like them. Just can't get behind those and if people don't vote with their feet/wallets, craft beer, as a whole (not just small, independent craft beer), will suffer.
Meh. Don't really care. I'll be the guy over here drinking whatever is on tap that sounds good. There will always be a local brewery that I can enjoy. I can see how that would be harder in other parts of the country though.
 
Meh. Don't really care. I'll be the guy over here drinking whatever is on tap that sounds good. There will always be a local brewery that I can enjoy. I can see how that would be harder in other parts of the country though.

Especially in the places that only sell Hitlerbrau.
 
I used to think this way, but I'm starting to make the transition to caring.

Reason? The predatory business practices of AB-InBev and companies like them. Just can't get behind those and if people don't vote with their feet/wallets, craft beer, as a whole (not just small, independent craft beer), will suffer.
How so? What are some examples?
 
I don't know, I'm not convinced this is 100% a bad thing.

Because it's not. Look at their expansion rate, they have 4 breweries and they started in what?? 2011?? Pretty obvious they would have to take on investment from somewhere. And no one even knows what this deal entails. No specifics of money or percentage have been made public.

If their plan is to be New Belgium size, then it's a very good strategic move that only neckbeards will give a **** about. Because last time I looked new money normies are still buying out all of Goose's black friday products.
 
To metaphor a bit: If you found out that your girlfriend was ****ing the rich old Belgian guy down the street for a few weeks without your knowledge while you were still in a relationship, would you be as gracious?

If he wants to give he $100 million dollars then go for it.
 
How so? What are some examples?

A couple years ago, InBev was massively underselling kegs of Goose Island IPA for ridiculously low prices to any Seattle restaurant willing to replace their local craft options with it. My neighborhood Mexican place bit and took Deschutes Inversion IPA out of their rotation for it. That place always had Inversion on tap for at least ten years.
 
Back
Top