AB InBev Acquires Golden Road in Los Angeles

Obviously i had heard of Goose Island before the buyout, but they were never in this area. Now they are, infiltrating every supermarket, gas station, brew pub, with their horrible IPA and other swill. I don’t know what their strategy is with this brewery, but if a mega brewer like Ab/Inbev buys them out, they have a plan! They aren’t stupid, it’s all about business.

Originally posted by beastiefan2k

Originally posted by brenn79

Originally posted by beastiefan2k
its hard for me to see the benefit for ABInbev to make this deal (as well as the 10 Barrel purchase).

Easy, shelf space, even if they lose money, it’s all about market share and shelf space!

Shelf space? I have never heard of this brewery, is it something you find on the selves of Ralph’s? Elysian is major PNW self space, 10 Barrel not really. Where does Golden Road fall in this spectrum.

Such pearl clutching in this thread.

If shelf space is what they’re after (and consumer preferences be damned) why don’t they buy the shops? Or is that not legal in the US?

Originally posted by hawthorne00
Such pearl clutching in this thread.

If shelf space is what they’re after (and consumer preferences be damned) why don’t they buy the shops? Or is that not legal in the US?

Makes sense to me. Golden Road built the most effective LA-centric brand on the market and ABI can exploit that to move a shit ton of beer in southern california. There are millions of potential drinkers in the LA area that will soon see Golden Road in every single retail and on-premise location that they frequent.

The push behind getting Goose Island IPA in every account on my area has been pretty mind blowing recently. It went form nothing to the most common IPA in the market overnight. Amazing what ABI distribution and loss-leader prices can do.

Originally posted by joeneugs
Golden Road beers are in a lot of retail locations throughout California. Even some grocery stores. Do you have Trader Joe’s in your area? Golden Road brews the Ol Burro line.

Originally posted by SamGamgee
Makes sense to me. Golden Road built the most effective LA-centric brand on the market

The pattern in the past year seems to be to buy a brewery in a large West coast city where ABInbev has lost or losing market share.

With these parameters, is there another brewery in the West side of the country that is ripe for picking? I don’t think they would go into Colorado b/c its Coors’ backyard. They may want to stay out of Mormon country in Utah. Not sure if they feel threatened by craft in Nevada, Idaho, or Arizona.

However, Montana seems like definitely a place that has lots of craft, lots of drinking, and ripe for picking. Probably looking for a "cool" "IPA" friendly brewery.

Maybe Big Sky or Grand Teton? Also, Cigar City may be a target in the Southeast like someone mentioned earlier in the thread.

Someone should start a "who’s next" thread since this seems to be a weekly thing now.

why is Firestone Walker mentioned in this thread?
which of the A/B Inbev aquitions do you view as the biggest hit to craft beer?
How is the brewpub of Goose Island holding up, wasn’t that still independent of A/B Inbev?

What I’m curious about is will there come a point when they oversaturate their own market. Right now they are giving these craft brewers they have acquired space, to let them be themselves. I think there will come a point when certain brands of theirs are under performing, will they dump them at that point. I think the answer is yes, craft beer changes quickly and I don’t think a big brewer can keep up, they buy massive bulk of let’s say one type of hop, it’s got to be affordable, they buy it on a scale we normal human beings can’t comprehend, per pound is very important, which is where they lose their edge. They are too fixed in their ways.