PLEASE let the Northern Brewer buy-out be a hoax!

[UncleLankyFrank]

For those that state they will buy more from their LHBS, why were you not already doing this?

Northern Brewer WAS my LHBS. The only other option in my market was Midwest Supplies and they too are now on the InBev train.

Aside from the obvious monopolistic, all-consuming assimilation of anything beer related, InBev now has the opportunity to influence the source from which the majority of craft breweries started. We forget that, 20 years ago, Northern Brewer (and stores like it) were a complete novelty. They were largely ignored by the brewing industry because they posed no threat to their sales volume or market reach.

If you read the "About Us" page of many successful craft breweries, you'll most likely find a story about humble origins in the garage or the homebrew kit received for Christmas. Now InBev can poison the well at the source and greatly influence what comes up the pyramid from its very base. Like a Monsanto pre-immersion herbicide, InBev can selectively engineer what NB customers brew.

If I add the lead shield to my tinfoil hat, I can also imagine that this database of homebrewing trends is a boon to their research and development end. Now, instead of being the dorky parent using youth slang and ripped jeans to try to fit in with the cool kids (Miller Fortune / Bud Platinum), they can use this avatar to go back to high school and become the cool kid (Tiny Rick!):rockin:

 

[UncleLankyFrank]

Because we don't like light american lager here. PKU.

I love a good light (not LITE) lager. I'm from a part of the U.S. where community breweries thrived before prohibition. We have higher-than average populations of northern European constituency and we still love our no-big-deal beers!

Hamm's, Grain Belt and Schmidt were local favorites that not only survived Prohibition but continued to thrive in the national market throughout the middle part of the 20th Century. Although they exist now only as a brand (Hamm's is sadly under the Miller/Coors umbrella), they still sell well, even in the craft/hipster market because of their local roots and our acclimation to that Wonder Bread flavor profile.

In the last few years, I've been delighted to see our regional craft breweries coming back with good ol' beer-flavored beers. My favorite is Indeed Brewing's Dandy Lager, which hits my taste buds in the same spot as Stroh's! Yeah. But guess what? They're not brewing it with corn maltose or rice sugars. It's expensive for them to make compared to their ales and they sell it their usual price point.

 

[normonster]

Morebeer.com forever!!!

 

[UncleLankyFrank]

What if that homebrewer owns a toy store? Should you boycott his toy store because he makes light American lager?

OK, this seems like a complete non sequitur but I'll bite. What if the toy store is Toys 'R' Us? This is the face of monopolistic market crushing:

According to the New York Times OCT. 1, 1997:

"Toys ''R'' Us, the dominant player in the nation's cutthroat toy business, violated Federal trade laws by colluding with manufacturers to keep prices for Barbie, Mr. Potato Head and other popular toys artificially high, a judge ruled today."

So if you owned Toys 'R' Us, I would NOT buy your light American lager because of your toy store. My hatred of fascism is very by-the-book.

 

[UncleLankyFrank]

As a manager at one of the older, larger brick-and-mortar homebrew shops in the country, I don't know whether to be excited or terrified. I'm also more than a little confused as to why a major corporation would buy into an industry that is currently in decline.

Look at American pseudo-colonialism since World War I. We let other European countries do most of the dirty work, get into their messy wars late in the game with tons of fresh meat, then we clean up an equal or greater share of the spoils once they drop out.

See: Germany, Korea, (almost Vietnam), Afghanistan, Iraq... Destabilize, buy cheap, produce even cheaper.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Like a Monsanto pre-immersion herbicide, InBev can selectively engineer what NB customers brew.

That's IT! THAT is their plan!

They will devise kits so horribly out of balance, with aged ingredients and non descript yeast selections. THEN they will couple that to horribly out dated instructions that potential brewers will be forced to quit the hobby lest they endure more disappointment.


BWahahahaha!

Wait, what?

 

[UncleLankyFrank]

Well, I just got an email from Midwest. normally I'd send it straight to the trash bin, but I took the opp. to unsubscribe.

I'm curious to know what percentage of customers they planned to lose due to the buyout...

This is precisely why you create a shadowy last-page-of-the-phonebook company like ZX Venutres. You keep the transaction as quiet as possible to mitigate the attrition rate (sounds like a wicked hip-hop lyric).

I supposed they got doxed in a way, I'm sure this is not how they wanted it to go down. Their sudden admission and press releases smack of embarrassment and damage control.

Like when Miller/Coors was the defendant in the class action lawsuit alleging they intentionally obfuscated the source of Blue Moon to position it in the craft beer market.They immediately put up coupons on liquor store cooler doors containing Blue Moon and Coors products offering a rebate for customers who buy BOTH Coors and Blue Moon products. As if to say "Nooo, of course Blue Moon is Coors, we were never pretending it wasn't!" Though I have long suspected their drivers and merchandisers are instructed to separate the two products in stores.

 

[ericbw]

OK, this seems like a complete non sequitur but I'll bite. What if the toy store is Toys 'R' Us? This is the face of monopolistic market crushing:

According to the New York Times OCT. 1, 1997:

"Toys ''R'' Us, the dominant player in the nation's cutthroat toy business, violated Federal trade laws by colluding with manufacturers to keep prices for Barbie, Mr. Potato Head and other popular toys artificially high, a judge ruled today."

So if you owned Toys 'R' Us, I would NOT buy your light American lager because of your toy store. My hatred of fascism is very by-the-book.

In the scenario I described, the guy owns a local, one-off toy and hobby store. They sell model cars, model trains (HO scale like everyone, but also harder to find sizes), board games, dolls, a little bit of sports equipment, but not the really good stuff, and craft kits like sew-your-own moccasins. It's just him and his wife, because the kids aren't interested in going into the family business.

But, you know, in his spare time, he brews light American lagers like people used to drink in the midwest, so f*** him and his struggling toy store.

Also, the brewer is a homebrewer, so no, you wouldn't be buying his beer.

It's not really a non sequitur, you just don't like the example. A non sequitur would be if I posted "Definitely blue."

But equally lame is equating a distaste for big business with bad products. "I don't like big business, therefore Miller Lite sucks." That makes far less sense.

 

[OBK]

If I add the lead shield to my tinfoil hat, I can also imagine that this database of homebrewing trends is a boon to their research and development end.

The data is pure gold. It has got to be the most valuable part to Zx Ventures outside of a pure investment venture. This is assuming they have the rights to all that data and feed it back to AB:

What zip code would a pumpkin peach ale sell in?
The most concentrated state of folks with a sanke D coupler for a promotional mini keg?
Would an 80 IBU beer sell well in Dakota?
How many homebrewers are in Chicago that have a household income above $75,942?
How about a map color coding America by preference of grapefruit aroma hops?

The deal is a growth opportunity for both parties. NB will not close from a loss of customers over the news. Zx will be able to attract new ones to offset any exodus. They have an expected loss of customers and a plan with a timeline to grow the company. Both parties knew would be a backlash, and both parties really do not give a ****. The data tells them this is the profitable way.

Anyone even consider Zx may want to grow the hobby and use it as a revenue stream? If they flex resources and muscle as the mission statement alludes to this will benefit consumers. It will make the economies of scale work to reduce many end consumer items. It will allow better advertising and exposure to the hobby. It will remove stigma from "bathtub brewers" and "gross homebrew". Homebrew may finally become mainstream and Northern Brewer will be the big box store. Competition and recognition is not going to hurt the hobby. It most certainly will shake out a few shops. But it is not going to hurt the innovative leaders that sell quality,service,innovation.

Prohibition could not shut down homebrewing. No way AB is going to. This just going to grow the hobby if they want. Collect data, and likely generate revenue. The situation has more positives then negatives to brewers. Just think about the ways folks are going to have to get creative to compete. I am actually excited.



Patrick

 

[day_trippr]

 

[OBK]

No, no I do not see a problem with it.

I run Canada's largest homebrew shop with a staff of 14, and I see this am opportunity to break into the USA market. I am not even in America and I see this as a chance to grow the hobby and expand. Imagine what American shops are thinking.

 

[Murphys_Law]

An InBev rep came to my door today while I was brewing (found my address in the NB database) and bought all my home brew equipment!

Once they complete their "reverse buyout" of the home brewers equipment they will then shut down NB and distribute nothing but Bud Light from the warehouse and distribution center.

Ever see the movie The Santa Clause where Jack Frost took over the North Pole? Well, just imagine something on that scale happening at GABF. That's right - nothing but Bud Light in every booth! And you will never get that damn jingle out of your head. Go ahead. Try it.

What an ingenious, evil plan! Briiiiiiiliant!

 

[Paps]

It will allow better advertising and exposure to the hobby. It will remove stigma from "bathtub brewers" and "gross homebrew". Homebrew may finally become mainstream and Northern Brewer will be the big box store.

Patrick

Budweiser has advertised AGAINST homebrewing and they try to perpetuate the stigma of "bathtub brewers" and "gross homebrew". They most certainly will NOT try to make it mainstream. Similar to how they buy up craft breweries, they bought the largest homebrew supply shop. Sure they now may have a temporary price reduction due to having more buying power and access to ingredients from Bud. But sooner or later will come the job cuts and the older emplyees leaving due to not being able to stand the changes within the company.

While i personally don't buy from NB i view this as a bad thing for homebrewing in general.

 

[NeoBrew]

So here's what happened to the St. Paul / Minneapolis market. Two powerhouse LHBSs developed. Northern Brewer and Midwest. They dominated it pretty well and the only other options pale in comparison. (Brew and Grow is not bad, but not convenient for most of the metro.) A couple of years ago some investor figured out how to merge them. Eventually they basically carried only the same products. (no variety except what they decided to put on the shelf.) Then that investor sold to AbInbev.

What remains is the choice to buy from AbInbev...or don't buy. For instance, I have no idea where to get White Labs yeast locally unless I go to NB or Midwest.

I share this story because one of the more likely scenarios (in my humble opinion) is that they are going to make Northern Brewer YOUR LHBS. They will expand and take over markets. Then your choices will be limited to whatever they decide to sell you.

 

[snowveil]

Let's be honest with ourselves here.

The active & robust homebrewer (like many on HBT) is not the demographic AB-Inbev is after.

Northern Brewer has LONG been a draw to new brewers. Hell, nearly 8 years ago I purchased my very first homebrew starter kit from Midwest Supplies because it was reasonably priced and it was easy to understand for a new brewer. We take for granted a LOT of terminology and "common knowledge" as brewers that those outside of the hobby are unfamiliar with. Northern Brewer has long known how to connect with those new to the hobby.

If you were to tell me "Some online homebrew shop has been bought out by AB-Inbev" I would immediately assume NB. We've seen the rise and fall of Brewing TV (and the exodus of passionate brewers Jake Keeler, Michael Dawson, and Chip Walton), and more importantly, the massive marketing push of every day brewing products.

It used to be that you bought a propane burner. Now, with NB, you buy the DARK STAR. Want a co2 regulator? NO! You want a GOVERNATOR*tm! Wort Chiller? HELL NO! BUY OUR COPPERHEAD or SILVER SERPENT!

Fact is, the marketing department at Northern Brewer has been bringing a very foreign approach to the homebrewing community for a few years now. Rebranding every day products makes it easier to bring new brewers into the fold. It's ridiculous to think that AB-Inbev is interested in suppressing the homebrew/craft community...if this were the case we wouldn't see such massive buyouts as Goose Island and Elysian. NB was bought out by a venture capitalist arm of AB-Inbev...NB is profitable, and they want a cut of it. The data obtained from NB purchases is just gravy.

Vote with your dollars. I have long preferred to support my LHBS, with rare exceptions being bulk hop orders and some equipment, but Northern Brewer is now completely off my radar. Unfortunately, there are new brewers coming into the hobby that won't have any idea that this buyout ever happened.

 

[MisterGreen]

This is precisely why you create a shadowy last-page-of-the-phonebook company like ZX Venutres. You keep the transaction as quiet as possible to mitigate the attrition rate (sounds like a wicked hip-hop lyric).

I supposed they got doxed in a way, I'm sure this is not how they wanted it to go down. Their sudden admission and press releases smack of embarrassment and damage control.

Like when Miller/Coors was the defendant in the class action lawsuit alleging they intentionally obfuscated the source of Blue Moon to position it in the craft beer market.They immediately put up coupons on liquor store cooler doors containing Blue Moon and Coors products offering a rebate for customers who buy BOTH Coors and Blue Moon products. As if to say "Nooo, of course Blue Moon is Coors, we were never pretending it wasn't!" Though I have long suspected their drivers and merchandisers are instructed to separate the two products in stores.

Were there press releases? I went to InBev's website and saw absolutely nothing about it.

 

[ericbw]

Were there press releases? I went to InBev's website and saw absolutely nothing about it.

It's not really an InBev deal. It's their shadow company's acquisition of the shadow company that owns NB. Very hush hush.

 

[Dan_K]

I guess I am lucky. I have 3 homebrew shops in town, 2 of them are 15 minutes away from my house and the other is about 25 minutes.

 

[cbaumle]

Here's a link to an article on Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ser-busch-inbev-buys-top-diy-brewing-supplier

 

[Yeastieboy]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1476927219.079245.jpg
Did anyone catch this gem from Homebrew Supply dot com? This is a new recipe they released today. Absolutely brilliant I must say.

 

[JimboVorlaufski]

haha ya, thats a nod to their new Belgian owners, and their owners favorite beer. Does the recipe have 0.5 oz hops per batch and a 30% corn grain bill?

 

[murphyslaw]

Just think, now we'll be able to get all that hard to find corn and rice for our beers.:rockin:

 

[invictusbrew]

Just think, now we'll be able to get all that hard to find corn and rice for our beers.:rockin:

Don't forget the beechwood chips!

 

[pepindavid]

Interesting article on possible outcomes: http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/20/th...e-acquisition-of-northern-brewer-by-ab-inbev/

Personally, given that it's the "Disruptive Growth" unit, I think that the "market disruption" scenario is the likeliest: start an aggressive price war (aiming at beginner homebrewers, maybe with some focus on automation - imagine, a Budweiser PicoPak..!), force dozens of LHBS and other online retailers to close, and then bring the prices up again.

I also like the theory of them being able to analyse market trends to feed their recently bought "craft" beer makers (insight on popular kits, popular hops, etc.). Business intelligence, basically.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Homebrew Suppy's flash sale today has a promo code of "NOTBUD"... just rubbing it in so hard! I love a good laugh.

 

[mikeshoup]

I just hope it doesn't affect the many local stores in the Denver area. NB/MS has some good prices, but it never made much sense for me once I factored in shipping.

 

[mmb]

Northern Brewer - Craft beer products at Macro Beer Prices(tm)

 

[dallasdb]

I just hope it doesn't affect the many local stores in the Denver area. NB/MS has some good prices, but it never made much sense for me once I factored in shipping.

What Denver stores have you been shopping at. Besides bulk grain, ordering online with shipping has been much cheaper when compared with buying local.

 

[popquizkid]

Do people that have been brewing for a while and don't live in the area actually buy from NB on a regular basis? Once I dove in headfirst I was ordering from morebeer 10x as much as NB. I think I have bought one thing in a year from NB. Won't be anymore.

I find NB to be geared towards new brewers. A little pricey in most cases. They seem to push a lot of stupid gadgets that I don't find particularly useful.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Do people that have been brewing for a while and don't live in the area actually buy from NB on a regular basis? Once I dove in headfirst I was ordering from morebeer 10x as much as NB. I think I have bought one thing in a year from NB. Won't be anymore.

I find NB to be geared towards new brewers. A little pricey in most cases. They seem to push a lot of stupid gadgets that I don't find particularly useful.

I have been brewing "for a while", don't "live in the area" and buy (bought) from NB relatively often. Only when they run a 20% off sale though. I don't own any of their silly gadgets except the "Oxygenator" which I'm happy with. There are cases as I have pointed out before, where you can snag good deals like when I had a 50# sack of Rahr 2-row delivered for $35 bucks. Of course all bets are off now.... traders!

 

[55x11]

Food for thought:

http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/20/th...e-acquisition-of-northern-brewer-by-ab-inbev/

 

[Yeastieboy]

"In essence, every dollar spent on homebrew supplies is now a vote and those votes will shape this industry going forward."

 

[CA_Mouse]

Personally, given that it's the "Disruptive Growth" unit, I think that the "market disruption" scenario is the likeliest: start an aggressive price war (aiming at beginner homebrewers, maybe with some focus on automation - imagine, a Budweiser PicoPak..!), force dozens of LHBS and other online retailers to close, and then bring the prices up again.

I said exactly this a few days ago on Facebook and was told that I sounded paranoid.

Drive prices down, forcing the other home brew shops to drop their prices as low as the can (not being able to drop them as low because of they don't have the buying power), thus driving sales to NB/MW causing the smaller shops to lose sales and close down or sell out to AB-InBev.

 

[Transamguy77]

I saw this thread when it started and since I don't buy much from them i didn't really feel the need to think too much about this but then I got an email about 14.92 kits and since I just moved I thought that was a pretty good deal and since I don't know when I'll be up and running again I though I'll make a few kits to keep the pipeline going.

So I ordered 10-11 and got and email that it was confirmed and that I'll receive another email when the order will be shipped, that was a week later and my delivery window is yesterday to Monday, now since I'm in no real rush it's ok.....I guess but to have not filled the order for a week and then another week to deliver that sounds long. Since I don't buy from them much is that normal? Or is that one of those things that is changing?

I will definitely be reconsidering ordering anything from them because I think that 2 weeks really is unacceptable, I mean they took my money that day and I get it's a big organization but I can order from other places that are across the country and it won't take that long.

Has anyone else seen changes in how they operate?

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I haven't been brewing that long, and I don't know a ton about the politics of beer, but it's easy to imagine reasons why a macrobrewer might buy a homebrew outlet that don't involve some sinister plot to make you drink light adjunct lagers. They might just be hedging: they know that beer in general is a slowly declining industry in the US, even while craft beer is a quickly growing but small part of that industry, and homebrewing is something of a growth industry (I think) but a tiny one. So it makes good business sense to diversify your investments if you think that your core business has limited room to grow. Or, they may want access to information about the buying behavior of beer nerds--that is, people nerdy enough about beer to go through the work of brewing their own beer. If they know that x trendy new hop is really popular among the vanguard of beer drinkers, then they might try to market it with craft breweries that InBev has bought out. Maybe the next step in craft beer marketing, one InBev might not otherwise be that competent at doing, is marketing specific beer ingredients: try our Nelson Sauvin IPA, or whatever. If they want to do that, then it might help to know what ingredients are trendy among craft brewers and homebrewers. Or, finally, InBev may just seek goodwill for its brand from homebrewers, and may see owning a large and respected homebrewing outlet as a means to that end.

Also, who owns a company is different than who runs it. If InBev or whoever is smart, then they'll keep the people Northern Brewer already has running things there, and then they may not change that much. The age of creating huge integrated conglomerates is largely over; nowadays, large firms and investors slice and dice the ownership of smaller firms and toss them around for obscure reasons that help balance their portfolios.

 

[bob1852]

I said exactly this a few days ago on Facebook and was told that I sounded paranoid.

Drive prices down, forcing the other home brew shops to drop their prices as low as the can (not being able to drop them as low because of they don't have the buying power), thus driving sales to NB/MW causing the smaller shops to lose sales and close down or sell out to AB-InBev.

So, InBev's plan is to run a bunch of brick and mortar LHBS into the ground (most of which are already operating on razor thin margins) them buy 'em up and try to rebuild their customer base that they destroyed, or they operate those stores at a loss?

Yikes, now I think I've heard it all....

 

[murphyslaw]

So, InBev's plan is to run a bunch of brick and mortar LHBS into the ground (most of which are already operating on razor thin margins) them buy 'em up and try to rebuild their customer base that they destroyed, or they operate those stores at a loss?

Yikes, now I think I've heard it all....

It's not all that unusual a claim. It's called predatory pricing and it's a concern of antitrust law, though not a big one because it's hard to pull off.

 

[Finlandbrews]

I think what is going to be interesting is the potential business partnerships between the American Homebrewers Association or homebrew equipment brands such as blichmann or ss brew tech with abinbev stores! We'll discover the real face of these brands now that abinbev is in the homebrew game! I also believe that all these brands should focus on direct shipping of their goods instead of working with abinbev s homebrew stores! Homebrewing is the essence of craft beer and if all homebrew brands are going to sell to abinbev - which is very likely- unless abinbev makes their own brand for everything homebrew, it's gonna be very ugly anyway!

 

[bob1852]

it's a concern of antitrust law, though not a big one because it's hard to pull off.

Right, so InBev is gonna do it in the homebrew ingredient market.....

Yeah sorry, that's a boogeyman....

 

[RevKev]

Wow, never thought people would be off put by a larger manufacturer buying out a homebrew supply.

So.. f'kin.. what.. lol.

It's business and honestly will probably be better for the customer. They still have great prices on certain items.