I voted no. I was bummed when I heard that they were bought out - though I didnt know that InBev already owned a big share of them. I will stock up on Sofie if I find it sometime soon though... I'd rather spend my money on beer from a smaller company that makes beer that is just as good or better. YMMV
Will you buy Goose Island beers now?
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JLem
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passedpawn said:
No, but is success reason enough to support one company over another? What I have been trying to explain about my spending habits is that given my limited resources I need to make choices and given equal quality products I am choosing the smaller (by many orders of magnitude) company.
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Yes, and why is AB successful? Because they've mass-marketed the Light American Lager around the world.
And yes, that is largely due to AB and other capitalizing on the world's market's preference for a light, quaffable beer.
mcwilcr
Well-Known Member
This is a tough one... I really like their Honkers ale and the 312 wheat so as long as AB does not change anything I would probably still buy it when I am in an area where I can get it. My concern is that they will substitute cheaper ingredients and change the beer to some kind of sub-par AB interpretation of of what they think good beer should be.
so really, when I vote NO it is more of a prediction that the quality will not be the same as it once was and then I will stop buying it.
so really, when I vote NO it is more of a prediction that the quality will not be the same as it once was and then I will stop buying it.
That, in fact, is exactly what you are doing.
Personally, neither of the 2 GI beers I have tried ( i have only seen a few here in CA ) impressed me so the buy out makes it easy for me to decide not to try more, my 2 cents first.
Capitalism is great, and I wouldn't penalize them for making a profit or being a "sell out", but as history has shown, once in bev buys something, leffe as an example, ingredients change, recipes change, corners get cut, it's no longer the same beer. If it's a great beer using good, quality ingredients then sure, I'll swallow hard and support the multi national, multi bazzilion dollar company. Hey, good for goose island, he saw a way to make some dough, hopefully retire, and hopefully keep a bunch of people employed. As for the beer quality, my bet history will repeat itself and it's down hill from here. Anyone, please name one good beer you feel is worth drinking, and worth the premium price, made by anyone owned by the big three.
Capitalism is great, and I wouldn't penalize them for making a profit or being a "sell out", but as history has shown, once in bev buys something, leffe as an example, ingredients change, recipes change, corners get cut, it's no longer the same beer. If it's a great beer using good, quality ingredients then sure, I'll swallow hard and support the multi national, multi bazzilion dollar company. Hey, good for goose island, he saw a way to make some dough, hopefully retire, and hopefully keep a bunch of people employed. As for the beer quality, my bet history will repeat itself and it's down hill from here. Anyone, please name one good beer you feel is worth drinking, and worth the premium price, made by anyone owned by the big three.
ChandlerBang
Well-Known Member
^^^^^^^^ This guy.... I don't think 'seething hatred for capitalism and business' quite captures what you are saying. Then again, I can't quite tell what you are saying for the lack of proper spelling. And grammar. And spaces between sentences.
I buy products. I don't ask for a balance sheet or an income statement before I whip out the plastic. I'm also a big fan of capitalism.
Here's a thought. The remaining shares of GI was bought for $40 million? Is that what those numbers added up to? Anyway, $40 million dollar brewery and they are distributed in half the country? Maybe a third? How many teeny tiny breweries are there out there that can't even get their brew out of the county because distribution costs sooooo much. I would like to see BMC take a bigger interest in craft beer. It will increase distribution of smaller brands. As well as shield the industry from wacko fundamentalists that think alcohol is the Devil's plan to enslave the world.
If you choose to not buy a beer because the company may be owned buy a massive corporation, I won't judge. That is your RIGHT in a free society.
~End rant.
ChandlerBang
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Dome555
Well-Known Member
I'll buy their stuff until I notice the, in my opinion, inevitable decrease in quality. Unless of course Greg Hall picks up somewhere else where he left off at GI. I know he's said he's not doing any more beer but I still have hope.
And just to weigh in on the debate or whatever. I also like supporting the little guys as opposed to the giant companies. It's not because I don't like capitalism, it's because I do like capitalism and want the little guys making good beer to succeed too.
And just to weigh in on the debate or whatever. I also like supporting the little guys as opposed to the giant companies. It's not because I don't like capitalism, it's because I do like capitalism and want the little guys making good beer to succeed too.
northernlad
Well-Known Member
Ok, I'll be the guy: You are quite clearly biased on this subject.
Ceasing to buy a product because they were bought by a major company makes as much sense as the dipshyts who were callng on everyone to not buy gas on the 15th.
It will make no difference to anybody but the hardworking folks at the brewery who may (but not likely) suffer from lost revenue from you. I am sure they will understand when you pass them in the unemployment line.
Before you start proclaiming cheapened ingredients remember you are talking about the best brewers in the world whose product has nothing to hide behind except their skill.
The reality is, if you didn't know they were purchased by InBev, you would never know. Now that you do your palate is tainted.
Perhaps Goose Island is better off without you.
I don't drink mass produced American Lager because it is crap and its taste offends me but that has never stopped me, nor will it, from enjoying a beer that happens to have the financial backing of an umbrella.
I wish I had as much time on my hands as you...
I've researched AB Inbev in the past. There are some brands/operations they buy up to add to their portfolio, add capital and leave them be as long as they keep profitable. It's when the cult following diminishes, sales drop, and things go down hill that they get involved. At last, that is not true for every acquisition, but for the most part i've noticed the product stays mostly in tact. If you take a look at the brands they have it is overwhelming, they pretty much own every national beer in every country. AB had to sell off Labatt Blue before selling so there wouldn't be a monopoly.
Just to play Devil's advocate here, look what happened to Blue Moon. Yes, I know it's not InBev, but the principle remains.
I personally stopped buying GI products years ago. Felt the quality of their flagship beers (Honker's, IPA, 312 Wheat etc..) was declining and the only good craft offerings are their over priced BCBS variants, as well as their fancy belgian offerings like Juliet and Sofie.
Not a fan of GI to begin with, that's all I got to say about that.
two_hearted
Well-Known Member
Same here. Honestly, their flagship beers are nothing special. IPA is ok, 312 is disgusting, Nut Brown was good but they discontinued that about a year ago. Their Belgian specialties are apparently good, though I'm not particularly a Belgian fan.
two_hearted
Well-Known Member
Ok, I'll be the guy: You are quite clearly biased on this subject.
Ceasing to buy a product because they were bought by a major company makes as much sense as the dipshyts who were callng on everyone to not buy gas on the 15th.
It will make no difference to anybody but the hardworking folks at the brewery who may (but not likely) suffer from lost revenue from you. I am sure they will understand when you pass them in the unemployment line.
Before you start proclaiming cheapened ingredients remember you are talking about the best brewers in the world whose product has nothing to hide behind except their skill.
The reality is, if you didn't know they were purchased by InBev, you would never know. Now that you do your palate is tainted.
Perhaps Goose Island is better off without you.
I don't drink mass produced American Lager because it is crap and its taste offends me but that has never stopped me, nor will it, from enjoying a beer that happens to have the financial backing of an umbrella.
I wish I had as much time on my hands as you...
A little dramatic don't you think? Best brewers in the world? I mean it takes skill to produce a beer that has nothing there to hide any flaws, but you still end up with a beer with nothing there.
Some people like to believe that there are people/companies out there that value quality over quantity. Seeing a brewery potentially go from producing quality beers to more bland, mass produced versions is a hard pill to swallow. From my experience with their flagship beers over the last 5-6 years it seems that GI is already on that track. I think this is what the OP is trying to say. If GI's beers continually got better this would be a non-issue.
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JLem
Well-Known Member
northernlad said:Ok, I'll be the guy: You are quite clearly biased on this subject.
Ceasing to buy a product because they were bought by a major company makes as much sense as the dipshyts who were callng on everyone to not buy gas on the 15th.
It will make no difference to anybody but the hardworking folks at the brewery who may (but not likely) suffer from lost revenue from you. I am sure they will understand when you pass them in the unemployment line.
Before you start proclaiming cheapened ingredients remember you are talking about the best brewers in the world whose product has nothing to hide behind except their skill.
The reality is, if you didn't know they were purchased by InBev, you would never know. Now that you do your palate is tainted.
Perhaps Goose Island is better off without you.
I don't drink mass produced American Lager because it is crap and its taste offends me but that has never stopped me, nor will it, from enjoying a beer that happens to have the financial backing of an umbrella.
I wish I had as much time on my hands as you...
Perhaps you haven't read through carefully enough or perhaps you don't care and are lumping totally separate posts by multiple people together. Of course I am biased. We all are. We are making conscious decisions everyday and few of those are done with the flip of a coin. I have never said that I am not going to buy GI beers because of cheaper ingredients or watered down flavor. Do I think those beers might head in that direction eventually? Yes I do, but that is a different issue and one that is not influencing my current decision. I have choices. We all do. I expect everyone to choose how they want, based on whatever value system they posses. I'm not calling for a boycott. I have no pretenses to think me not buying GI beers will have an ounce of effect on AB InBev. I'm not trying to have an effect on AB InBev. However, perhaps my meager contribution to some smaller brewery can in some small way help them continue making good craft beer.
You want to support GI and AB InBev? Go for it. It's your choice in this wonderfully capitalistic economy we have here. I have a choice too (that whole free market thing and all) and I (note the singularity there) am choosing to not support them. This in turn allows me to support a different brewery that makes an equally good beer.
You are right that if I did not know GI had been bought out then I wouldn't stop buying their beer. But I do know and now my purchase decisions are more informed and I can spend my beer money to better match my own, personal economic values.
And excuse me for having more time than you. Didn't realize that was my problem too.
I see no need for ab to change anything if sales keep up the way they are...you bet they looked over all the books and projections before they bought GI. GI will still employ their people, and i doubt they will shift their attention from their craft...maybe with the exception of having to clear new ideas through ab.
That said, i see no reason to go out of my way to avoid GI beers...
That said, i see no reason to go out of my way to avoid GI beers...
Pilgarlic
Well-Known Member
AB is an oligopolistic actor in its beer market (not the craft market) and I prefer not to support oligopoly, which is antithetical to free markets. AB also has a strong legacy of massive financial participation in our political system, which I think is corrosive of our political system. There is a thriving, entrepreneurial, competitive, creative market consisting of a huge and growing number of craft brewers out there that I'd much prefer to do business with, rather than with a plutocratic, oligopolistic, anti-competitive corporation that hasn't developed an interesting product in the better part of a century. Oh... for the whoo hahs: please, I don't believe that AB is "evil". It is perfectly rational for them to dominate markets if they're allowed, to, and to buy policy if they are allowed to. They would be fools not to. I don't for a moment believe they are evil; they're behaving rationally in a very flawed system that ought to better regulate huge corporations and their impacts on both markets and politics.
SpanishCastleAle
Well-Known Member
wat
You do realize that if what you say is true, then whatever alternative brewery he doesn't 'switch from GI to' would then be the guy in the unemployment line (and of course, much quicker since they don't have the safety net of a ginormous corporation).
originalben
Well-Known Member
Hey, Pilgarlic..what you said.
;^)
;^)
paulthenurse
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I own a bunch of shares of InBev in my IRA. When they make money their stock price goes up and I make money. I hope you all go out and buy up all the Goose Island you can find. I think that would be just great. I'll understand if you don't buy the Bud Lite. I don't either. Just because a company is 'owned' by an overseas corporation doesn't mean that the profits are going elsewhere. Expand your horizons.
paulthenurse
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Gol darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue purttier than a twenty dollar whore.
PTN
Pilgarlic
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Why thank you, suh!
Chuginator
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This definitely is an interesting discussion. I was about to vote no, but then I read what I wrote and had to back up.
I have no love for InBev - my preference is to support the little guy. However, I wouldn't consider Sam Adams to be a "little guy" and they make some beers that are so outstanding that I cannot resist buying them in quantity. Same with Spaten (owned by InBev).
So if I voted no to GI beers, I'd be a hypocrite.
Still, I think I'd have to say that if I see one I haven't had before, I'd buy one to try it out - can't resist. Other than that, unless it's pretty phenomenal beer, they can be forgotten because it's my tendency to keep money I pay for beer in America (exceptions noted).
I have no love for InBev - my preference is to support the little guy. However, I wouldn't consider Sam Adams to be a "little guy" and they make some beers that are so outstanding that I cannot resist buying them in quantity. Same with Spaten (owned by InBev).
So if I voted no to GI beers, I'd be a hypocrite.
Still, I think I'd have to say that if I see one I haven't had before, I'd buy one to try it out - can't resist. Other than that, unless it's pretty phenomenal beer, they can be forgotten because it's my tendency to keep money I pay for beer in America (exceptions noted).
Okay. I understand what you were saying now.
Much like how certain folks quit buying Redhook after they were partially gobbled up by AB..."sure, Longhammer is a good IPA, but so is Stone"
I never really liked GI that much in the first place, so I will continue to not buy many of their beers.
But I did want to re-visit this statement. Not because of the BIG versus SMALL brewery aspect, but because Longhammer IPA was put in the same sentence as Stone IPA as if they're beers of similar quality. That's surely the most off-base argument in this whole thread. 
I was just in chicago last weekend (ate pizza 6 meals in a row, life was good) and I tried to avoid goose island on principle but chicago is a strange market. Most places I ended up going it was the best option available. If there are multiple great beers to go with and I have a great independent local beer then I would go with it but Goose Island seemed to be up against weak competition in most places so I had no choice. The G.I. ended up being better than most of the other local craft brews that were tapped at the pizza joints so I drank it. Actually enjoyed the Honkers Ale, the rest I found to be forgettable.
I got the sense that GI has been benefiting from a lock in the distro racket in chicago for a while now so I don't see how drinking it now is ethically any different than before. You drink it because the business guys have made sure its the best option available to you in the places you might end up drinking.
I was bumbed that I had a hard time finding three floyds there despite it being brewed 45 minutes away. Maybe I need to get outside of downtown for that next time.
I got the sense that GI has been benefiting from a lock in the distro racket in chicago for a while now so I don't see how drinking it now is ethically any different than before. You drink it because the business guys have made sure its the best option available to you in the places you might end up drinking.
I was bumbed that I had a hard time finding three floyds there despite it being brewed 45 minutes away. Maybe I need to get outside of downtown for that next time.
If the quality of their beer remains what it is, I see no reason to not purchase GI beer if that is the best choice available to me at the time. However, I will always try to purchase local craft beer ahead of large corporation beers unless there is a unique beer to try. I don't mind tasting craft-style beer from the big companies to see what it's like.
paulthenurse
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JLem said:
BUD (NYSE) was at $61.44 a minute ago. Pick up a couple lots and that will at least give you something to feel good about every time you go out and have to suffer through some of their beer cause it's the best thing available at the bar.
rico567
Well-Known Member
I not only inhabit (and hopefully contribute) to HBT, but also have observed that other forums share the tendency for some individuals to become outspoken, personal, and even abusive. This is usually attributed to the anonymity of the Internet- that we will say things in these forums that we would never dream of face-to-face.
I don't completely agree with this- I notice a lot of misunderstandings online seem to stem from some people's impatience- of not reading someone's post and understanding it before they reply. The flip side of this is people who write posts that are vague enough that they may be construed in several different ways, and thus invite others to form views of the issue at variance to the intended meaning of the author. I think the "hit SEND now" facility that the Internet provides may be the vehicle for instant and thoughtless replies. It could be offset if people just use the "preview" function provided by HBT and many other forums, sat back, maybe relaxed and cracked a tube, and re-read what they'd written. Editing is not much fun, but it may be both necessary and productive.
Moving on to the subject of polls, I find that the reason I quite often don't vote (as I did not in this case) is because the choices provided simply don't apply to me......sort of the way I've become about......well, let's not go
here!
Hell yes I'm going to buy it, I can't wait for the next batch of Bourbon County Stout to come out, now with this deal, there's gonna be much more of it available, and available in more places.
I'm fine with mega corps investing in "little guys" to help them grow and both parties to make money great. My problem with in bev is they have a history of buying something for name alone, then making the product cheaper in taste and quality.
Pyramid made a great beer 15 years ago, they started to grow, cut corners, for profit now it sucks. Laguinitas, I believe you can get it coast to coast, "little" local guys up the street from me, they continue to grow and the beer is still great. I guess my point, GI being now controlled by in bev will most likey suffer from in bev cost cutting practices, and that's why I choose not to drink in bev products. It would be great if that turns out to be not true. If they could pump there unlimited cash into craft brew, better distribution for all, better grains and hops at better prices for all, better beer for all. It's just that doesn't seem to follow there past practices.
Multi national company's sending our money elsewhere? Please, my wife's Toyota was made in the US, by US workers. My ford was made in Mexico. It's a multi national world now, and really the suadis and chinesse own it all at the end of the day, just saying.
Pyramid made a great beer 15 years ago, they started to grow, cut corners, for profit now it sucks. Laguinitas, I believe you can get it coast to coast, "little" local guys up the street from me, they continue to grow and the beer is still great. I guess my point, GI being now controlled by in bev will most likey suffer from in bev cost cutting practices, and that's why I choose not to drink in bev products. It would be great if that turns out to be not true. If they could pump there unlimited cash into craft brew, better distribution for all, better grains and hops at better prices for all, better beer for all. It's just that doesn't seem to follow there past practices.
Multi national company's sending our money elsewhere? Please, my wife's Toyota was made in the US, by US workers. My ford was made in Mexico. It's a multi national world now, and really the suadis and chinesse own it all at the end of the day, just saying.
941MxVet
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Been better off with SAM
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SAM&t=1y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=bud
I voted "NO", but GI's not availible in NV to my knowledge anyway.
downtown3641
Well-Known Member
I've never had anything by GI, and that will continue. I absolutely will not support AB-InBev owned products due to the stranglehold on the market they've created by manipulating the three-tiered distribution system.
doctorRobert
Well-Known Member
I only support large multi-national corporations. They employee thousands of people all over the world, offer health benefits and retirement packages to their employees, and offer a quality and consistent product at an affordable price.
What's so evil about them again?
So Yes I'll keep buying the goose.
What's so evil about them again?
So Yes I'll keep buying the goose.
northernlad
Well-Known Member
This must be regional because in my town there is little evidence of this.
Putting aside who actually owns what, my local grocery chain has more of what most of us would consider quality beer than BMC in the coolers. A large regional grocery chain is about 50/50. I would not consider this a stranglehold.
Now, if you find yourself in Texas about all you will get besides Coors Light is a token sixer of Sierra Nevada.
Baldy_Beer_Brewery
Well-Known Member
I've always liked Goose Island IPA. If it was the best beer available where I was buying beer, I would purchase it.
I'd even buy it at Wal-Mart.
I'd even buy it at Wal-Mart.
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