aModestMouse
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all about the munnies
Not sure if this fits in to the conversation but what about a brewery like Anchor Brewing. Maybe not a craft beer, but they are a good solid beer maker in my opinion compared to BMC, maybe not constantly changing their line up but a good option. They've got a pretty good sized distribution network, I can find them in many places (athough normally just Steam or Liberty Ale) in Chicago suburbs. I'm not familiar enough with their history to know if they've gone through similar situations as GI or Leine's.
Not sure if this fits in to the conversation but what about a brewery like Anchor Brewing. Maybe not a craft beer, but they are a good solid beer maker in my opinion compared to BMC, maybe not constantly changing their line up but a good option. They've got a pretty good sized distribution network, I can find them in many places (athough normally just Steam or Liberty Ale) in Chicago suburbs. I'm not familiar enough with their history to know if they've gone through similar situations as GI or Leine's.
Mark my words, you'll see less local craft beer at every venue, concert hall, stadium, etc because of this.
Do you see ANY local craft beer at standiums or concert halls anyway as it is? Most places it's ONLY bud or bmc? If there's some goose island there along with bud light, I personally would be happy.
I will say at Comerica Park in Detroit there is one stand that carries Atwater Brewing Company beers....but just about every beer tent, concert venue, stadium in metro detroit is ONLY bmc and usually bud. So anything is better, even if it's owned by them....
Yes I do Rev. Local Beers available at minor league stadium ( we don't have majors) and local music venues ( CBC available at LC and Newport). I also know two bros is available at Wrigley and loose canon and flying dog available at Camden.
You're lucky then.....So let us know in a year if it changes....Frankly I don't think it will because of this deal between Goose Island and AHB....
By what definition is Anchor not craft beer?
Craft beers brewing up success stories
Double-digit growth across the industry making it difficult to meet increasing demand
When it was announced last week that Goose Island is being sold to Anheuser-Busch for $38.8 million, it set the blogosphere atwitter with concerns that a local beer apocalypse was brewing.
For the burgeoning ranks of breweries and aficionados, the Chicago craft beer scene is a lot closer to the beginning than the end.
With double-digit growth across the craft beer industry, several new entrants are opening for business, while established local favorites such as Half Acre, Three Floyds and Two Brothers are all furiously ramping up production in a seemingly futile effort to meet increasing demand.
"We just can't make enough beer," said Gabriel Magliaro, 32, a former magazine advertising director who opened Half Acre Beer Co. in a converted North Lincoln Avenue warehouse in Chicago in 2008. "Our goal every week is just to try not to run out of beer."
A homegrown revolution that took root in the 1980s, the craft beer industry grew from a handful of pioneers to more than 1,750 breweries in 2010. Early leaders included Sierra Nevada, Samuel Adams and Anchor Brewing, which was sold last year to the Griffin Group, a private-equity firm.
Leveraging local roots, flavorful, sometimes fanciful, products and quirky marketing, craft beer accounted for 5 percent of beer sales nationally in 2010. With mainstream sales flat, some analysts think that share could reach 20 percent within the decade.
"Craft beer is kind of a rising tide right now," said Benj Steinman, president of Beer Marketer's Insights. "It's really in the sweet spot of where more consumers are going, and that seems to be toward the sort of innovation, flavor and variety that the craft brewers are epitomizing."
Craft beer sales came in at just under 10 million barrels in 2010, an 11 percent annual increase, while total U.S. beer sales were down 1 percent, to 203.5 million barrels, according to the Brewers Association. Some 30 percent of craft beer is sold on tap, three times the industry average.
With a higher price point — most sell for about $9 per six-pack — craft beer revenue is relatively stronger, accounting for $7.6 billion out of $101 billion in total beer sales last year.
Revenue is growing faster in Chicago, the nation's seventh-largest craft beer market, with store sales up 22 percent last year, to about $22.5 million, according to the SymphonyIRI Group. The top two markets are in the Pacific Northwest — Portland, Ore., and Seattle — which account for 12 percent of craft beer sales nationally.
The top-selling craft brewer in Chicago was the Craft Brewers Alliance, which includes Goose Island, followed by Samuel Adams and New Belgium. Two Brothers ranked ninth, and Three Floyds ranked 14th in local sales, according to SymphonyIRI.
Excised from the official ranks of independent craft brewers — major brewers can't own more than 25 percent, according to industry standards — Goose Island was technically delisted in 2006 when it sold a 42 percent stake to the Craft Brewers Alliance, which is partly owned by Anheuser-Busch.
Still, it remained by far the largest of the local manufacturers, selling about 127,000 barrels of Honker's Ale, 312 Urban Wheat Ale and other brands in 2010.
Goose Island's output pales compared with Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, the nation's largest independent craft brewer, which shipped about 2.3 million barrels in 2010. But local craft brewers consider even six-figure barrelage to be both unreachable and undesirable.
Consider aptly-named Two Brothers Brewing Co., which wants to get bigger, but not too big.
Started in 1996 by brothers Jason and Jim Ebel, they made early batches out of a dairy tank, with neither sibling drawing a salary for eight years. The company turned its first profit in 2005 and promptly moved from a 5,000-square-foot facility into a 30,000-square-foot complex with an attached restaurant.
Like many craft breweries, the long road to reach critical mass was daunting, and expensive, for the inherently capital-intensive business.
"We probably should have quit four or five times, but we were stupid enough or determined enough to stick with it," Jason Ebel said.
Most of the Two Brothers' earnings are funneled back into the business, said Ebel. That's a widespread trend, according to Paul Gatza, Brewers Association director.
"A lot of the craft brewers have a hard time getting money out of it because they have to pump it back in to compete," Gatza said.
Hoping to expand production from 17,000 to 25,000 barrels this year, Two Brothers is investing $1.5 million into its Warrenville facility.
"It seems like an ongoing expansion for us — new tanks, new equipment all the time — and we still can't make beer fast enough," said Jason Ebel, 40.
Shipping to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Minnesota, as well as New York City for publicity, Ebel sees 50,000 barrels as the ceiling for annual production, by choice.
"We don't have designs to take over the world," Ebel said. "We like to be known as the Chicagoland brewer. I want to sell as much as close to home as possible."
Operating out of a Munster, Ind., warehouse and selling mostly in Chicago, Three Floyds Brewing Co. has been growing by about 30 percent a year, with production ramping up from 15,000 to 20,000 barrels this year to slake thirsts in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin.
Founded in 1996 by brothers Nick and Simon Floyd, with a little help from their father, Mike, the only limit to the company's top end is an Indiana law that would force Three Floyds to close their profitable on-site pub if they exceed 20,000 barrels in annual sales.
"We're trying to convince the legislators that they're going to retard our progress," said Barnaby Struve, brewer and vice president. "We can't get rid of our pub, because it's the public face of the brewery."
Selling only to Chicago and the northern suburbs, Half Acre added four fermentation vessels last year, with two more on the way, ramping up capacity to a projected 7,000 barrels this year.
"We're getting close to topping out in this facility," Magliaro said. "We've really always brewed as much beer as we could, and that's what we sell."
While acknowledging a potential glut of craft brewers, Magliaro said he wouldn't be interested in selling out to the big boys, at least anytime soon. Some analysts think the Goose Island deal, one of five major craft brewery sales in the past year, might put Magliaro's resolve to the test.
"I think this sale is definitely a sign of things to come, especially this year," said Jennifer Litz, editor of Craft Business Daily. "It kind of opens the floodgates."
That possibility has entered into the long-term business plan for Chicago's Revolution Brewing, which opened as a Logan Square brewpub last year but will be in full production mode by January, operating out of a new, 35,000-square-foot plant.
"We're following the Goose Island model of growth; I don't mind saying that," said owner Josh Deth, 36, who worked as a Goose Island brewer in the late 1990s.
Copying the Goose Island model might also include a similar exit strategy, somewhere down the road.
"I want to retire someday too," Deth said.
For his part, Ebel pledges to keep Two Brothers a family business, despite fielding a growing number of inquiries from outside investors.
"We intend to stay independent, at least in the foreseeable future," Ebel said. "We've had plenty of people ask us, and my reaction is, where were you 10 years ago when I needed you?''
Craft brewing is certainly vital, alive, well and growing, and I think it has a great future.
Do you see ANY local craft beer at standiums or concert halls anyway as it is?
Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia has local beers on tap at games. Their food places just serve bud and bud light, but every other section or so is a craft brewed station.
Here's a list: http://chuckbonfig.blogspot.com/2009/07/citizens-bank-park.html
Most of the draft list is local craft beer: Victory, Troeg's, Flying Fish, Yards, etc.
It wasnt celebrating the $38 million acquisition of his familys brewery by Anheuser-Busch - it was just a birthday party...
People do stupid stuff after they drink too much.
You'd think a bartender would know that. Way to take the "High Road".
Currently, the beers are only sold in Chicago with limited availability elsewhere.
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