Brewers Assoc. Craft vs Crafty

[Zamial]

They're not playing fair.

I will tell you why it matters to me. MACRO beer companies have personally gone out of the way to make opening a new brew pub/micro brewery in my state unprofitable while pretending to go after each other. Since they contributed to the present local government so heavily this went through faster and more under the radar than anything I have ever seen. They were also trying to stop our homebrew bill which would allows us to have competitions outside the State Fair and to be able to take our homebrew off the property where it was brewed. They continue to stop homebrew legalization in the places it is illegal.

So what is this about how much you don't care about who does what? Fine by me. Why should you care why people HATE BMC? I homebrew and buy craft beer because I would like to see the power BMC has on the world lessened also because I like the hobby, the culture and the end product. Drink all the BMC you like, tell me how 1/2 craft is the best beer you have ever had. I simply will never drink or spend money on it.

 

[alestateyall]

They continue to stop homebrew legalization in the places it is illegal.

Good point. BMC has been known to do that. They supposedly supported the beer laws in Mississippi last year. But out of like 4 beer bills only homebrew failed to pass.

 

[dbsmith]

...
The second issue is that this brand diversification eats shelf space and does limit market access for competitors. Every additional line of product that the majors adds means a retailer and distributor will have to cut a line to make room. Couple this with the fact that in most cases these additional product lines are not optional - they're 100% required. If you want Miller, then you might be required to stock Leinenkugel. If you want Bud, you might be required to stock two lines of shocktop.

Sure microbrewing is showing some signs of success, but the growth is only eating points of percentages of the major's share, so I think you're fooling yourself if you think this isn't a deliberate technique employed to harm competitors. Once they get control of modelo, it will eventually become much worse on the shelves and at the taps. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS...astes-big-beer/story?id=17966715#.UNSP6nLIeaQ

Who do you think controls shelf space and locations? The final say is in the shopkeeper/company who owns the store. Contracts are agreed upon. No one has to sell BMC products. Shopkeepers will do what is best for the business (what will yield most profit). You don't think that a major grocery store chain has power to negotiate contracts with BMC? Think again. Imagine how much of a sting it would be to the big guy if your major grocery chain didn't carry InBev products...Trust me, InBev would be open to negotiate. Stores are not 'forced' to do anything. If it were more economically advantageous to sell more craft beers, and the store was aware of it, they would designate more/better space to it.

So who should you really be mad at? If you are mad at anyone, you should be mad at the grocery store chain you so lovingly shop at that doesn't offer what you want. Let them know that you want something that they don't provide, and maybe they will listen. Otherwise, take your business somewhere else. If it becomes more economically advantageous to carry more microbrews because they miss your business, they will.

 

[jkendal]

So what is this about how much you don't care about who does what? Fine by me. Why should you care why people HATE BMC?

It seems that I'm finding quite a bit of HATE here lately.

I homebrew and buy craft beer because I would like to see the power BMC has on the world lessened also because I like the hobby, the culture and the end product.

I fail to understand why a love of homebrewing and craft beer has to also include HATE for someone or something else at the same time.

Drink all the BMC you like, tell me how 1/2 craft is the best beer you have ever had. I simply will never drink or spend money on it.

Read my post again and show me where I stated that I even drink BMC, much less the best I ever had! Drink/spend money on whatever you want, I couldn't care less. But you really need to analyze where all your hatred is coming from and why you feel the need to direct it toward a fellow homebrewer who is just trying to understand why you feel the way you do. I already said I meant no disrespect - I'm just trying to understand where all the hatred is coming from. But instead all I get is your hatred directed at me. I gave up on the NB forum because of people like you. Instead of directing all that HATE toward somebody you don't even know, why don't you get off your couch and DO something to change the things you don't like?????

 

[signpost]

Plain and simple, I value honesty. The macros are dishonest. That means I don't like them. I happen to think other people also value honesty (not everybody, I know, but a fair number none the less). So, I am in favor of other people being made aware of the dishonesty of the macro brewers. I know that anybody that really likes beer at all is going to be able to easily find a craft/micro/local brewery that makes a beer they like, even if they actually like the flavor of bud or coors light.

So, hate? Yup. I hate dishonesty. When it comes to dishonest business practices, I'm like a kid with an upright bass. I can't stand it.

 

[dbsmith]

Dishonest? Because a large company owns the rights to brand names and has subsidiaries? I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but that is the norm for just about all corporations. When you read your local newspaper, watch tv, listen to the radio, you don't see "subsidiary of ____ communications". When you buy many food products at the store, you don't necessarily see a huge logo announcing that a product's company is a subsidiary of some behemoth corporation like nabisco or general mills. Just because the ownership of a brewery has changed it doesn't suddenly taint the beer that it produces. If BMC changes the recipe or the brewing location (which they occasionally do), and you don't like the resulting beer, then obviously you won't pay for it anymore. If the average consumer still enjoys the beer and pays for it (willingly, I might add), then as a matter of certain fact both parties' wealth has increased.

Do yourself a favor and look at all of your ordinary household foods and items and track down where they all came from. Are all of those companies dishonest?

 

[biestie]

I'd challenge everyone here to a homework assignment. Go to your local grocery store, take a survey and figure out how much actual "choice" is on the shelves in the refrigerated section. You might be surprised at what you find.

I will commit to this as a personal project..

I can do this from my chair. My grocery store has a walk in cooler where all of the swill is kept. It probably has the most beer, but is relatively small (essentially pallets of bud, miller, and coors). Out front it has several coolers of craft beer of which maybe 10% are bud or miller products. For example, it's got 3 shelves of Stone, SN, and New Belgium, 2 shelves of Founders, Big Sky. It's kind of broken down by regions, it's got a large national craft section. An import section, and a local(ish) section where it has beers like Peacetree and Great River. There's much more, but I'll never name them all (Schlafly, Sam, Rogue, Boulevard...) When Stone came to Iowa in October, they rearranged the store to accommodate and the Shock Tops and Blue Moons lost shelf space, but I actually think some of what you would call craft brewers gained space. There's a large bomber section, and a kind of crappy singles section.

They've got a great selection of beers not in the cooler as well, but you asked for cold, so....

 

[hercher]

I can do this from my chair. My grocery store has a walk in cooler where all of the swill is kept. It probably has the most beer, but is relatively small (essentially pallets of bud, miller, and coors). Out front it has several coolers of craft beer of which maybe 10% are bud or miller products. For example, it's got 3 shelves of Stone, SN, and New Belgium, 2 shelves of Founders, Big Sky. It's kind of broken down by regions, it's got a large national craft section. An import section, and a local(ish) section where it has beers like Peacetree and Great River. There's much more, but I'll never name them all (Schlafly, Sam, Rogue, Boulevard...) When Stone came to Iowa in October, they rearranged the store to accommodate and the Shock Tops and Blue Moons lost shelf space, but I actually think some of what you would call craft brewers gained space. There's a large bomber section, and a kind of crappy singles section.

They've got a great selection of beers not in the cooler as well, but you asked for cold, so....

I can do it from my chair, as well. My local grocery store has zero choice. In PA, you generally can't buy beer at grocery stores. You have to go to a distributor, and have to buy an entire case. (Most of the time: there are some exceptions as the state is very slowly changing is archaic laws.) Guess what dominates in those distributors? Yup, BMC. I'm fortunate in that the store nearest me has a small but interesting selection of "craft" beers. My biggest complaint is the price.

 

[biestie]

yeah, I was in PA working for a week (Berwick I think, near the Susquehanna Nuclear Station). I flew in and had some dinner. I wanted to get a sixer to take back to the hotel, so I stopped at a gas station - no joy, walmart - nope, I eventually asked someone and they pointed me to a distributor down the road. I wandered around the store looking for something drinkable, and arrived at a 12 pack (I think it was Fat Tire). I took it up to the counter and the guy sent me back to get another 12 pack. I thought he was joking at first.

Iowa recently had a law repealed where any beer >5% was treated as liquor and had to be sent through the state liquor warehouse. Before that, it was pretty slim pickings for craft beer.

 

[Barnesie]

Who do you think controls shelf space and locations? The final say is in the shopkeeper/company who owns the store. Contracts are agreed upon. No one has to sell BMC products. Shopkeepers will do what is best for the business (what will yield most profit). You don't think that a major grocery store chain has power to negotiate contracts with BMC? Think again. Imagine how much of a sting it would be to the big guy if your major grocery chain didn't carry InBev products...Trust me, InBev would be open to negotiate. Stores are not 'forced' to do anything. If it were more economically advantageous to sell more craft beers, and the store was aware of it, they would designate more/better space to it.

Grocery stores do have to sell BMC products since they're 90% of market share, that's not even an option and it's not the point. The point is that retailers are forced to carry additional lines as a condition of receiving stock of the core products. Retailers in almost all cases ARE required to carry a line of something like Leinenkugel's as a condition of receiving their regular deliveries of Miller Lite. There are many grocery stores where the BMC rep actually decides exactly how the shelves are stocked.

Again, this wouldn't be an issue if they didn't hold 90% of the market. As someone above stated, diversification happens with all corporations and it's not abusive when they don't have a dominant market position. Most cable companies are required to have IFC on their plan if they carry AMC, so if your customers want The Walking Dead you also have to pay for Portlandia.

I don't think anyone is saying that isn't fair, but it's not similar to the beer industry because there's no other industry where 2.5 companies hold 90% of the market. An analogy would be three companies directly owning 90 of your 100 channels and conspiring to decide what other 10 you have access to. In any other time in the US, that would be considered an anti-competitive trust. If you read up on anti-trust law, I don't know how a rational person could not believe the modern beer industry as it stands is anything but a functional trust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

Please understand that I'm not suggesting that government needs to do anything to fix this (that being said, I don't think the government should approve the sale of Modelo as that further consolidates a monopoly position). I think this a matter of consumer choice and I think consumers are starting to choose more wisely...but this could get very nasty once microbrew gets over 10% market share.

We are one bad hop harvest away from a lot of nano breweries going out of business.

 

[Barnesie]

Talk about belaboring a point...is anyone else totally tired of me by now?

 

[passedpawn]

We are one bad hop harvest away from a lot of nano breweries going out of business.

Naw, I think the nanos are safe. Craft is regional.

One thing that the macros can't do is be regional unless they buy it, but I doubt that works out (i.e., I think Goose Island brand is tainted).

And, craft has to be regional. The craft market is saturated except for their local markets. There are so freaking many now, and they can't all have shelf space everywhere. I think more craft/nanos can open doors and be successful, but their business model will probably be limited to the local consumer, with no hope of broad distribution.