The Big Three should die

[worlddivides]

While I don't hate BMC beers existing (although I personally don't drink them or care for them), I do hate how they try so hard to crush craft breweries. Since that wasn't working, they've been buying up some craft breweries, but they're still trying to crush all the ones they can't buy (or that they don't want to buy). Things like their incentive program (i.e. them paying super markets and liquor stores extra money to not carry any craft brews) just really annoy me. It frustrates me that it's legal too, but they see craft breweries as threatening them (even though they have between 80 and 90% of the beer sales in the country), so they either try to crush them or buy them.

That said, I don't see them going anywhere. Their marketing works well and the vast majority of Americans buy their beers. I just hope their strategies either fail or are made to stop at a legal level. I think it's legal because they make it an option for each super market and liquor store so it can't technically be classified as anything like a "monopoly," but it is similar in practice.

 

[broadbill]

While I don't hate BMC beers existing (although I personally don't drink them or care for them), I do hate how they try so hard to crush craft breweries. Since that wasn't working, they've been buying up some craft breweries, but they're still trying to crush all the ones they can't buy (or that they don't want to buy). Things like their incentive program (i.e. them paying super markets and liquor stores extra money to not carry any craft brews) just really annoy me. It frustrates me that it's legal too, but they see craft breweries as threatening them (even though they have between 80 and 90% of the beer sales in the country), so they either try to crush them or buy them.

Yeah, we call this capitalism, and it seems to be a very popular notion here in 'merica.

 

[broadbill]

It is a big statement to say InBev with 152,000 employees should be out of a job, however, a 457m hl producer with a 45.8% US Market share should shut down because they have been producing 457m hl and $43,600,000,000 USD of disappointment. Buying up companies, for a label and a recipe, only to smash it into a despicable piss poor representation of a beloved product that brings us all to this forum. Are you telling me starbucks is the best and only coffee you should drink? Is McDonalds the best burger? Is KFC the best fried chicken?

yeah, 457m hl and $43B in revenue tells me they are anything but a disappointment. Considering their 45.8% market share, I don't think I'm alone here.

InBev can acquire breweries to their heart content but it doesn't affect me at all; if a brewery is a possible acquisition target for InBev, chances are I'm not drinking their product anyway...it has already lost any interesting character trying to scale up so it can be served in Crapplebees or some regional chain restaurant. Good riddance...let that 45.8% drink my sloppy seconds I moved on from 10 years ago.

 

[GrogNerd]

One of my favorite beer company was just bought buy AB. Devils backbone. I am sure they got payed good .Hope they don't change. But they deserve it .

good thing I have clone recipes, I've brewed my own 8 Point & Vienna Lager and will do again with absolutely none of my money going to A/B

 

[broadbill]

I see the argument as two fold...yes as American homebrewers we want to see good craft beer made here and owned by our brewing brethren but common how are you gonna tell the guys at Ballast Point to give up 1 billion dollars from Constellation Brands with no changes in management or brewers?

Not to mention, with every independent brewery sale there spins out a group of very wealthy brewers...any guess what those guys are likely to do? Start more and invest in more independent breweries...

If InBev is trying to crush the craft brew movement (as our very short-sighted OP contents) then injecting capital in the craft brewery market is NOT the way to go about it.

As an aside: you can't tell me there hasn't been any changes at Ballast Point...watermelon, pineapple Sculpin etc....enuff said. Those guys would have be laughed off the stage at GABF if they tried sh*t like that pre-$1B buyout!

 

[jjeffers09]

yeah, 457m hl and $43B in revenue tells me they are anything but a disappointment. Considering their 45.8% market share, I don't think I'm alone here.

InBev can acquire breweries to their heart content but it doesn't affect me at all; if a brewery is a possible acquisition target for InBev, chances are I'm not drinking their product anyway...it has already lost any interesting character trying to scale up so it can be served in Crapplebees or some regional chain restaurant. Good riddance...let that 45.8% drink my sloppy seconds I moved on from 10 years ago.

Who makes better beer? Bud Miller Coors - or - Heady Topper, Dogfish, 3F, Boston Beer Co, Russian River?!? I mean come on...

 

[passedpawn]

I think it's a good idea to occasionally work out our feelings towards the big brewers. I'll just sit in the back and watch though.

 

[broadbill]

Who makes better beer? Bud Miller Coors - or - Heady Topper, Dogfish, 3F, Boston Beer Co, Russian River?!? I mean come on...

Define "better".

 

[jjeffers09]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...weiser-america-beers-cans-20160511-story.html

 

[jjeffers09]

A more enjoyable product. I mean better. What's for lunch that mystical taco truck or Taco Bell?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

A more enjoyable product. I mean better. What's for lunch that mystical taco truck or Taco Bell?

Suppose BMC does fold. And Heady Topper, Dogfish, 3F, Boston Beer Co, Russian River then decide to fill the void with an identical light american lager, would it then be a more enjoyable, I mean better, product?

 

[woo_pig]

If you find a cattywompus clone please let me know .

 

[jjeffers09]

how do you answer that hypothetical question, when you propose a hypothetical beer... I guess an uncertain hypothetical answer is in order... MAYBE? I don't have a problem with crystal clear lager with little to no hops. I have a problem with InBev selling an "American" product as it is clearly portrayed as, when in reality it is a 1%er in Leuven, Belgium.

I am sorry this, this is not my 'Merica!

 

[jjeffers09]

This thread is starting to feel like

https://youtu.be/2eZLBKrHE_E

 

[m00ps]

omg i totally agree with you guys. i hate IPAs too

 

[rmyurick]

AB is a multi-national corporation, but their beer for the US market is produced in the US at 12 regional breweries.

Goose Island has gone downhill, and for that I am sad, but there are many other options. The Green Line Pale Ale made at Baldwinsville is awful. Also, they ruined Bass. So yeah, they will keep buying and ruining breweries, and we will continue to find new, exceptional ones. They can't shut down micros completely--it's like whack-a-mole.

 

[jjeffers09]

AB is a multi-national corporation, but their beer for the US market is produced in the US at 12 regional breweries.

All of which work for the bottom line, profit. Who gets that profit?

 

[Sammy86]

As an aside: you can't tell me there hasn't been any changes at Ballast Point...watermelon, pineapple Sculpin etc....enuff said. Those guys would have be laughed off the stage at GABF if they tried sh*t like that pre-$1B buyout!

According to Time 80% growth in fruit beers over the past five years...they are obviously doing something right...

 

[YeastMode]

This is the faux letter I wrote back when Bud had that silly Super Bowl commercial bashing craft beer. Perhaps it is appropriate here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=515583

and @jjeffers09, you are correct, as technically this would be your 'Merica:

 

[kombat]

except taking profit and income out of American soil.

So buy shares in them. They're publicly traded. I personally own thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of ABI stock. It's been one of the best performers in my portfolio.

If you can't beat 'em, make 'em pay you dividends.

AB is a multi-national corporation, but their beer for the US market is produced in the US at 12 regional breweries.

All of which work for the bottom line, profit. Who gets that profit?

The shareholders.

So become a shareholder.

Use your AB-Inbev dividends to buy Dogfish Head beer. Win-win.

 

[GrogNerd]

.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

While I don't hate BMC beers existing (although I personally don't drink them or care for them), I do hate how they try so hard to crush craft breweries. Since that wasn't working, they've been buying up some craft breweries, but they're still trying to crush all the ones they can't buy (or that they don't want to buy). Things like their incentive program (i.e. them paying super markets and liquor stores extra money to not carry any craft brews) just really annoy me. It frustrates me that it's legal too, but they see craft breweries as threatening them (even though they have between 80 and 90% of the beer sales in the country), so they either try to crush them or buy them.

Yeah, we call this capitalism

Given that it's pretty much the additive inverse of "free market competition," we should probably stop doing that. It seems to confuse things.

 

[broadbill]

A more enjoyable product. I mean better. What's for lunch that mystical taco truck or Taco Bell?

What is my metric for enjoyment? I don't understand what you mean by better...better in what way? In some ways a bud light excels and in some ways DFH.

 

[worlddivides]

Yeah, we call this capitalism, and it seems to be a very popular notion here in 'merica.

It's incredibly popular with corporations, and why not? It allows for oligopolies. It's one of the biggest problems with the country. It's why Comcast was the only option for internet in my previous residence, even though I lived in the middle of a metropolitan area of 2 million people. Yet ****ty Comcast was the only option I had. It's why there are mainly only 4 airline companies, mainly only four cell phone companies, and a severely limited choice of internet options per area (with only about seven national corporations, oftentimes only one or two in a single area).

In a way, though, I see it as capitalism not working since it doesn't give the consumer the ability to choose because the huge corporations have taken that choice away from the consumer. In the Comcast example, I literally did not have any other option, even though I hate Comcast with a passion. At least with beer, even if the super market and local liquor store only have BMC products, I can probably find a place somewhere else that has the craft beers I want to buy. And at the current moment I live in an area with a decent number of local breweries and beer bars, so those options at least exist here. So, beer certainly isn't the worst example of this oligopoly issue.

If you don't agree, though, we'll just leave it at that. We don't agree.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I don't like BMC's products, so I don't drink them very often. A few exceptions like BCBS, etc.

But I don't wish them death. And really, Batman needs the Joker anyway.

 

[Homercidal]

I see the problem with the big beer companies is when they have incentive programs to PAY retailers/distributors to not stock competition, whether its in actual cash, discounts, or other valuables. I have no problem with them being an option on the store shelves otherwise.

 

[TheMadKing]

I see the problem with the big beer companies is when they have incentive programs to PAY retailers/distributors to not stock competition, whether its in actual cash, discounts, or other valuables. I have no problem with them being an option on the store shelves otherwise.

Thats just dirty old fashioned capitalism.. My problem is when it gets into politics.. The bmc lobby here in the south is wealthy enough and politicians are corrupt enough that the beer laws are slanted heavily in favor of the big guys.

Its illegal for breweries to serve beer to patrons in this state. They are required by law to sell it to a distributor first, then buy it back before serving it.

Unless they sell $4 tours with a free 12 oz sample.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Thats just dirty old fashioned capitalism.. My problem is when it gets into politics.. The bmc lobby here in the south is wealthy enough and politicians are corrupt enough that the beer laws are slanted heavily in favor of the big guys.

Its illegal for breweries to serve beer to patrons in this state. They are required by law to sell it to a distributor first, then buy it back before serving it.

Unless they sell $4 tours with a free 12 oz sample.

As were we, but that has changed for us now. Next up, medical mj. I doubt that one will puff, puff, pass.

 

[Jim311]

Have I arrived too late with my pitchfork?

 

[TheMadKing]

Have I arrived too late with my pitchfork?

Yes, we've agreed... As a rabble..that both witches and ducks are flammable because they are made of wood and that we should start dunking people in ponds and/or burning them

And one guy got turned into a newt.

He got better.