AB just bought Elysian, thoughts?

What are you talking about? We are talking about limited shelf space on all grocery shelves, you are an idiot if you don’t think it could happen to beer.

Originally posted by JMerritt

Originally posted by brenn79
Have you ever walked down the chip aisle and tried to buy a bag of chips what wasn’t sold by Frito-Lay? They own like 95% of the space, control the prices ($4.59 for a bag of freakin chips, seriously?), I worry about the industry we love, i just don’t want that to happen!

How many craft potato chip manufacturers are opening up per day in this country?

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer

Originally posted by beastiefan2k

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer
As a site, at large, I feel that we used to care a bit more about who was making our beer, where the money went, etc. but the more recent trends show otherwise.

I don’t remember anyone taking AB’s side when they bought over Old Dominion. However, craft beer has grown as has the audience of RB. So, its either we have more people and that equates to more opinions or we have new people that think differently.

Some of the folks on this thread who have spoken favorably about AB are not newbies... minds have been changed, and I’m personally curious as to why.

Originally posted by CLevar

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer

Originally posted by beastiefan2k

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer
As a site, at large, I feel that we used to care a bit more about who was making our beer, where the money went, etc. but the more recent trends show otherwise.

I don’t remember anyone taking AB’s side when they bought over Old Dominion. However, craft beer has grown as has the audience of RB. So, its either we have more people and that equates to more opinions or we have new people that think differently.

Some of the folks on this thread who have spoken favorably about AB are not newbies... minds have been changed, and I’m personally curious as to why.

Careful.

Speaking favorably about good beer =/= speaking favorably of AB.

I just so happens that sometimes good beer can be produced by AB.

Originally posted by StefanSD

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer

Originally posted by beastiefan2k

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer
As a site, at large, I feel that we used to care a bit more about who was making our beer, where the money went, etc. but the more recent trends show otherwise.

I don’t remember anyone taking AB’s side when they bought over Old Dominion. However, craft beer has grown as has the audience of RB. So, its either we have more people and that equates to more opinions or we have new people that think differently.

Some of the folks on this thread who have spoken favorably about AB are not newbies... minds have been changed, and I’m personally curious as to why.

Yes, I’m curious also. AB is a predator and craft breweries are the prey. AB will siphon money that could benefit the local communities. AB will use anti-competitive practices such as denying shelf space and taps to crafts. AB is not your friend. WTF people.

I actually read all 29 pages of this thread.

Good debate, guys.

Granted, it probably helped that I was drinking while I read it... ;)

Anyway, I’m not going to take sides, but I’ll just say this- there are a lot price conscious consumers (Either don’t have much money or don’t want to spend much of the money they have on beer) out there who want to buy bold flavorful, and sometimes seasonal, beer in different styles. Some of these small brewers have issues with keeping the prices down or getting their beers into the stores, which means a lot of those consumers will shrug and buy something else.

To the extent that these buyouts can get more good beer into more stores at better prices, it’s a good thing. Where it could go wrong is if the macros drive the micros out of business and then start to either price gouge and/or water down the quality of their products because they’ve driven the competition out of a lot of venues.

We’ll see what happens.

I can tell you there was no chance in hell of me as an east coaster having an opportunity to buy Elysian beer a week ago. It’s quite possible it’ll be on the shelf next to Goose Island at my local liquor store this time next year given the buyout.

I’d never had Goose Island until well after the AB-Inbev buyout, but then it started showing up and I tried a style or two on sale. Mostly, I don’t get it because it’s 50 cents more than some beers I like better or new beers I can try or beers that go on sale more often, and I don’t see 12 packs that save me on the cost per beer, plus there are other beers I prefer, but I wouldn’t have tried it at all if it hadn’t been bought by a micro and made it’s way onto local shelves at places where I actually go and not places I’d have to seek out and drive further and pay a premium per beer for.

Can corporate CEO brewers act like assholes? Sure, absolutely. However, all you have to do is read the label of the Arrogant Bastard Label from Stone to realize that independent medium sized brewers can be assholes, too. And, you know, Stone charges quite a bit of money. Then they offer you an insulting label and a mediocre beer. I had one once and I honestly liked the Sam Adams and Sierra Nevadas of the world better as beers, and I definitely liked the prices, availability, and not being insulted on the label better.

In the long run, consolidation may be bad for craft beer. I understand that argument and the progressive in me wants to agree with it. However, in the short run I just read about all these independent brewers that allegedly make great beer, but that I won’t get to drink because of distribution and pricing, and who’s labels look horrific and can even be insulting, and I think, you know, these buyouts may put them on the shelves, bring down the prices, and class up the labels a little bit. Short run, a win for people like me. Long run? Maybe not. We’ll see.

To some degree, these large corporations are in a no-win situation with certain drinkers. If they just keep on brewing their historical product line, people will say it’s swill. If they buy good craft brewers to sell good craft beer and/or come up with some craft beers or hybrid (Sort of craft, sort of macro) beers in house, people will accuse them of trying to undermine craft beer or something. I mean, anyone who’s read enough of these threads knows that’s true. Either way, someone is going to be cheesed off about any approach they could possibly take to the craft market, whether it’s to ignore it or to join it- some people just want them, I guess, to stop making beer entirely. But, obviously, that last thing is not going to happen.

By the way, one issue that I commonly have with small breweries is that they don’t date their beer in a comprehensible way. If I can’t easily figure out when it was brewed or when it’s "best buy" date is, I won’t buy it, generally speaking. Just the way it is. The macros have started dating pretty consistently. The small guy brewers need to stamp dates on things or I’m not buying in. Have some pride in your beer and make sure people have a way of making sure they are drinking it fresh.

You can’t say "We’re the guys who care about what’s in the bottle" and then leave customers not knowing if it was brewed 3 days ago or three years ago. And, trust me, I see all the time liquor stores that will just sit products there forever until they sell. Earlier this month I walked into a place full of pumpkin beers. I don’t trust anything that doesn’t give me an idea of when it was brewed. The obvious ones sit forever, imagine how long the ones where the date isn’t obvious sit.

The only undated beer I buy these days is if it’s a seasonal mix pack or something that I know was not sold in a given configuration the previous year.

And I see a lot of brewers do stuff halfway, like the bottles get the dates, but the 12 packs don’t, so you can’t see when a beer was brewed unless you buy the 12 pack and open it up. I’ve also seen vice-versa where the 12 pack gets the date, but if you buy a 6 pack you’ve got no way of knowing. The almost invisible ink straight on the bottle method can also be bad either way- I’ve seen some beers that obstensively have that where every single date has been rubbed off, either through condensation or an unscrupulous distributor or liquor store. If I can see it on the bottle, I count it and consider the beer, but I don’t give points for "It was there on the brewery and isn’t there now"- if I don’t see it when I am considering a purchase, it doesn’t help me and I don’t buy it.

AB bought who?

Originally posted by CharmCityCrab
By the way, one issue that I commonly have with small breweries is that they don’t date their beer in a comprehensible way. If I can’t easily figure out when it was brewed or when it’s "best buy" date is, I won’t buy it, generally speaking. Just the way it is. The macros have started dating pretty consistently. The small guy brewers need to stamp dates on things or I’m not buying in. Have some pride in your beer and make sure people have a way of making sure they are drinking it fresh.

You can’t say "We’re the guys who care about what’s in the bottle" and then leave customers not knowing if it was brewed 3 days ago or three years ago. And, trust me, I see all the time liquor stores that will just sit products there forever until they sell. Earlier this month I walked into a place full of pumpkin beers. I don’t trust anything that doesn’t give me an idea of when it was brewed. The obvious ones sit forever, imagine how long the ones where the date isn’t obvious sit.

The only undated beer I buy these days is if it’s a seasonal mix pack or something that I know was not sold in a given configuration the previous year.

And I see a lot of brewers do stuff halfway, like the bottles get the dates, but the 12 packs don’t, so you can’t see when a beer was brewed unless you buy the 12 pack and open it up. I’ve also seen vice-versa where the 12 pack gets the date, but if you buy a 6 pack you’ve got no way of knowing. The almost invisible ink straight on the bottle method can also be bad either way- I’ve seen some beers that obstensively have that where every single date has been rubbed off, either through condensation or an unscrupulous distributor or liquor store. If I can see it on the bottle, I count it and consider the beer, but I don’t give points for "It was there on the brewery and isn’t there now"- if I don’t see it when I am considering a purchase, it doesn’t help me and I don’t buy it.

It’s going to happen, there is nothing we can do to stop it. It’s part of the American dream to start a business and then sell it and be financially secure. It happens in EVERY industry in this country but because we are beer people it bothers us. If this was Boise Cascade & Weyerhauser we wouldn’t give a shit. The day that Larry B. & Joey R sell out I will be worried. Let’s stop berating each other.

Originally posted by StefanSD

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer

Originally posted by beastiefan2k

Originally posted by ContemplateBeer
As a site, at large, I feel that we used to care a bit more about who was making our beer, where the money went, etc. but the more recent trends show otherwise.

I don’t remember anyone taking AB’s side when they bought over Old Dominion. However, craft beer has grown as has the audience of RB. So, its either we have more people and that equates to more opinions or we have new people that think differently.

Some of the folks on this thread who have spoken favorably about AB are not newbies... minds have been changed, and I’m personally curious as to why.

Yes, I’m curious also. AB is a predator and craft breweries are the prey. AB will siphon money that could benefit the local communities. AB will use anti-competitive practices such as denying shelf space and taps to crafts. AB is not your friend. WTF people.