Beer wars: Yuengling fights massive merger of Budweiser and Miller Lite brewers

[WaltStarr]

I've given this one some thought. On the one hand there is a small brewer going to the Feds to get relief over a perceived threat to their existence while on the other hand you have a huge multi-national conglomerate attempting to continue massive year over year growth by purchasing their largest competitor.

At the end of the day I find I really don't care how the Feds go with this one as I cannot think of a single product produced by any of the organizations involved that I actually like!

Beer wars: Yuengling fights massive merger of Budweiser and Miller Lite brewers

 

[catdaddy66]

It's not the product, it's the principle man! It can't be a good thing for one company to have all of the power in the marketplace.

I also don't like most of those products...

 

[robc311]

While I'm not in love with Yuengling's products (though I do like their Lord Chesterfield Ale), I do support their cause as they have a brewery near me in Tampa. It's right next door to Busch Gardens (I have season passes) so I occasionally swing by to do the brewery tour, have a few samples, check out the gift shop, then head over to Busch Gardens to have some fun.

 

[bobeer]

The beer wars are getting out of hand. I get everyone wants more money but it's unfortunate that it has to be how it is. I just try to keep my head down and rdwhahb.

 

[Magnus314]

Yuengling rulz! I would tattoo that on my fingers if I had like, WAY more fingers.

But seriously, Yuengling is a great brewery suffering from near-monopolistic BS. Their beer is good, better of you get it from the main brewery.

And they are one of the VERY few distributors with enough clout to distribute micro's like Cigar City and many others, with widespread enough distribution to make it worthwhile for those guys to bother with distribution.

I went to Cigar City this summer and they were talking about merging with several other "craft" breweries to form a distribution partnership... and that partnership would still be very small compared to Yuengling.

 

[robc311]

Cigar City was bought by Oskar Blues Brewery earlier this year...at least it wasn't sold to InBev.

 

[tgmartin000]

Cigar City was bought by Oskar Blues Brewery earlier this year...at least it wasn't sold to InBev.

Really? Excellent, I hope I can start getting cigar city beers here in Colorado.

 

[Magnus314]

Was the brewery actually sold? The guys at Cigar City said it was a distribution merger.

 

[madscientist451]

A "controlling interest" was sold to Oskar Blues with backing from a private equity firm called Fireman Capital. The founder of Cigar City remains as a part owner, so I suppose you could call it a merger.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/busine...ntrolling-interest-to-bostons-fireman/2269280

 

[brianbrinley]

While I'm not in love with Yuengling's products (though I do like their Lord Chesterfield Ale), I do support their cause as they have a brewery near me in Tampa. It's right next door to Busch Gardens (I have season passes) so I occasionally swing by to do the brewery tour, have a few samples, check out the gift shop, then head over to Busch Gardens to have some fun.

the people who run the tour and gift shop are super awesome! I wish the tour showed more but its a great free tour I recommend to everyone visiting tampa.

 

[hockeybrewer]

I live in PA and up here you can get a case on sale at tanzos for $15.97, can't beat that for a great crushable beer. Has anyone tried the Yuengling ice cream?

 

[IslandLizard]

Up till a few years ago, when I lived in PA, 30 miles from the brewery, I used to buy 16oz flats of Yuengling for $17 from the local beer distributor. I really like their Black & Tan, also in 16oz cans. It's even better on tap.

The whole InBev development is becoming borderline cartel forming, IMO. Coca-Cola seems the be the next acquisition. I was wondering if Belgium is one of the few countries that doesn't have anti-trust/anti-cartel laws. The Belgians used to be very laid back with laws, creating a small Mecca for those wanting to walk the fine line.

 

[jtfarabee]

I was wondering if Belgium is one of the few countries that doesn't have anti-trust/anti-cartel laws. The Belgians used to be very laid back with laws, creating a small Mecca for those wanting to walk the fine line.

They probably don't have a monopoly in Belgium. In a lot of European countries, the small breweries sell a lot to the locals, and I know in Belgium there's a ton of independent breweries and a few monasteries that aren't owned by large conglomerates. It's possible that the only country where AB InBev has this much control is the U.S. They bought the largest players in an industry dominated by a small handful of companies, and now that consumers are increasingly choosing smaller brands, they start buying those as well.

 

[fnffishcore]

Ohhhh, I'm sure Dick Yuengling can get his buddy Donald Trump to intervene

 

[Desupero]

The problem with this is that a company like AB and InBev will have the money, connections and lobbying power to change legislation in the future. If you can't see that down the road from here they will either push to ban homebrew, make you pay tax on it, or set legislation so that you can only purchased from "approved" suppliers for quality, health or other BS reasons then please take note. In Oregon I ran a craft beer festival, and for the first 2 years a homebrewers competition wasn't allowed because of State rules. I feel that only because a State Senator was heavily into homebrew (name escapes me) that that law was changed. At the same time that AB were ridiculing the craft beer industry and its mandarin beer (sic) on Superbowl Day, they were purchasing 10 Barrel Brewing (a craft brewery) in Bend, OR. I have some very real concerns for the beer industry and in particular homebrew and suppliers. AB is an animal that simply wants to devour all and everything so you are left with no choice. And I understand that some might say it can't be done. But with money, connections and millions to get people elected with then maybe it can.

 

[SeanMcEntee]

The thing I find most surprising about the merger is that it is only worth 106 billion dollars. It seems that Anheuser-Busch InBev SAB Miller would be worth more than that. Compared to the pharmaceutical industry, that's chump change.

 

[spyder2723]

Really? Excellent, I hope I can start getting cigar city beers here in Colorado.

You can, head up to the Tasty Weasel in Longmont, they have all the big Cigar City beers, some even on tap. Jai Alai in Colorado, woo hoo!

 

[Descentman]

I don't want this to turn into a political discussion, because that has no place here on a forum about home brewing, (at least it shouldn't, imo). I would hope that government intervention isn't necessary, but if InBev keeps trying to monopolize everything, perhaps we DO need Trump (and by Trump, I mean government in general) to step in. Their business practices are horrible from what I've been reading, always squeezing out the little guy. Please keep in mind, I am new here and fairly new to home brewing / wine making as well. And I most certainly don't want to step on any toes. If I have crossed any lines or ticked anyone off please be gentle in correcting me. (or I might need a safe space LOL)
And lastly, being from PA, my parents were from the coal region right near Pottsville, my uncle lived about a mile from the brewery for years, I have always liked their products, especially their porter, black & tan, and Oktoberfest. I even have some Chesterfield in the fridge right now, which is also pretty good. The only Yuengling I can honestly say I didn't like was their summer wheat. No reason, I just didn't like it.
OMG sorry. I just realized how much I wrote. Ugh.
Thanks for letting me throw out my 2¢. Sorry to be so long winded.
+1 For America's Oldest Brewery!

 

[fishhead202]

While Yuengling's done enough shady crap in the past to make me pass on their beer, I'm completely against the merger.

 

[biochemedic]

It would be a damn shame if anything happened to Yuengling. I had read earlier this week that AB-InBev was apparently also considering a possible take over of CocaCola!

It seems like they want to control just about anything liquid that goes in our mouth....I'm waiting for news that they are trying to buy my local water company!!!

 

[schmartz]

Not only does AB/InBev (a Belgian company) control a huge number of breweries and beer companies world wide, they recently bought Northern Brewer which is the largest homebrew retailer in the US. So yeah, they are into EVERY aspect of what we love. I stopped buying their products when I read about them putting up $150M to pay off distributors to stop carrying non-AB/InBev craft brands.

 

[wantonsoup]

The hypocrisy of Yuengling to be so pro-Republican and yet run to the fed when they want something is staggering.

 

[Ohiosean]

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I don't want Yuengling to become part of that juggernaut, but at the same time I'm pretty indifferent to Yuengling's well being. "Beer" is supposed to be a happy, neutral island where we can all come together and be at peace. Mergers like this are usually driven by corporations with ideals closely related to those of Dick Yuengling. I'm sure he would have more support if he hadn't decided to take political sides during the election, and be so vocal about issues specific to his employees in the past. If you Google about this you'll find that recently bars all over the place are taking Yuegling off the menu.

So do I want this merger to go through? Heck no--but it has nothing to do with my respect for Yuengling. Not anymore. Beer should bring us together--not take sides. But we are seriously running out of cheap-beer options that don't fuel AB-Inbev.

 

[brewski09]

The hypocrisy of Yuengling to be so pro-Republican and yet run to the fed when they want something is staggering.

True, but isn't this also a classic example of a domestic company vs a foreign owned company? IIRC the pres elect campaigned on penalizing companies who moved operations out of the US. Presumably he would also support the domestic company here over the one taking its profits out of the country.

 

[rtt121]

At the end of the day I find I really don't care how the Feds go with this one as I cannot think of a single product produced by any of the organizations involved that I actually like!

Oooooo I wish I had your palette! It sounds so refined!

 

[Bob750]

The hypocrisy of Yuengling to be so pro-Republican and yet run to the fed when they want something is staggering.

Hypocrisy? Yes. Capitalism 101? Absolutely. Use the tools at your disposal to get what you can, while you can, nevermind what or whom you trample in the process. Then complain about the rules that prevent you from feeding your greed, or worse, limit your accrual of increased wealth and power.

 

[WaltStarr]

Oooooo I wish I had your palette! It sounds so refined!

So I don't like something and you decide to poke fun at me over it? How socially refined of you.

 

[rtt121]

So I don't like something and you decide to poke fun at me over it? How socially refined of you.

If you had posted a thread titled "I don't like Yuengling" I wouldn't have clicked on it. You posted a thread titled "Beer wars: Yuengling fights massive merger of Budweiser and Miller Lite brewers". IMO you could have left your opinion out if you didn't want to hear others opinions on your opinion.

edit: deleted last line because maybe I was wrong.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I don't want Yuengling to become part of that juggernaut, but at the same time I'm pretty indifferent to Yuengling's well being. "Beer" is supposed to be a happy, neutral island where we can all come together and be at peace. Mergers like this are usually driven by corporations with ideals closely related to those of Dick Yuengling. I'm sure he would have more support if he hadn't decided to take political sides during the election, and be so vocal about issues specific to his employees in the past. If you Google about this you'll find that recently bars all over the place are taking Yuegling off the menu.

So do I want this merger to go through? Heck no--but it has nothing to do with my respect for Yuengling. Not anymore. Beer should bring us together--not take sides. But we are seriously running out of cheap-beer options that don't fuel AB-Inbev.

I feel you have misunderstood the article, or didn't read it and are just making an assumption.

This is NOT a thread about Yuengling being bought out. This is a thread about Yeungling taking a stand against the AbInbev and SAB merger.

 

[Auger]

And InBev's acquisitions have little or nothing to do with "wanting to control everything that goes in your mouth" and everything to do with the corporate level bonus program structure. Executives stand to get enormous bonuses for maintaining/increasing top- and bottom-line growth. Organic business growth is generally not enough to consistently reach those growth targets, so M&A activity is generally the solution. Oh, I can get a $5M bonus for doubling our revenue numbers this year? What, we can't sell that much stuff? Ok, I'll buy someone else who's already selling that much stuff and add it to our top line. Boom. bonus.