AB just bought Elysian, thoughts?

http://beervana.blogspot.com/
This sums it up nicely:

4. Big companies have a lot of power in the marketplace and don’t love competition.
You have to be willfully forgetful to acquit Anheuser-Busch of being a malignant force in beer diversity in the 21st century. There were 700 breweries following Prohibition, and A-B (and other giants) ran almost all of them out of business by 1980, when there were only 80 breweries left. They did this by being bigger and more efficient, sure, but they also used bare-knuckle business tactics to dominate distribution, rig local laws in their favor, and buy out everyone they couldn’t drive out. Given a choice between competing against a few other companies in a stable market and competing against a hugely fragmented competition in a volatile market, they would--they have--chosen the latter.

5. Local breweries keep traditions alive.
Companies are people. Here in Portland, I know the majority of brewers in the city. They’re my neighbors and members of my community. They employ my neighbors and other members of my community. That alone is reason enough to at least be prejudiced toward local breweries, but there’s a much more important reason. Beer is one of the most varied products on earth, and that diversity comes from the preferences of locals who, say, favor dark ales in Dusseldorf and light lagers in Munich. There was a mass extinction following the Second World War when cheap, commodified beer displaced more expensive local styles. Dozens of funky, interesting types of beer vanished from the earth. Here’s Frank Boon telling Belgium’s story (from an interview I did with him):

“Forty years ago, this was a time when breweries were closing and all the local styles were disappearing. Everywhere in Belgium. Louvain white disappeared, Peeterman disappeared, [ascot beers?] disappeared. In the 1950s and 1960s they switched to cheaper and technically better beer. In every village and small town, brewers said the only thing we can do is sell the brewery. There is no future for small breweries. If gueuze had disappeared in the 1960s, nobody would ever have imagined to make such a beer. It’s an absolutely crazy way to make beer.”

There are cases in which the existence of one or two single breweries--Dupont, Schneider, Schlenkerla and Spezial--kept a beer alive. These are never multinational conglomerates, but family breweries keeping traditions alive. The more breweries there are--particularly funky little breweries that can make a living by selling niche beer--the more diversity that will survive. Sometimes people denigrate the support for local breweries as mere sentimentality, but the consequences for losing them are not insignificant.

Originally posted by theisti

Originally posted by Reid
Anyway aren’t Elysian and 10 Barrel just part of AB-Inbev now and can be lumped in with Anheuser-Busch InBev page on here?

Appears to have been done already with the standard labeling (AB-InBev)

http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/10-barrel-brewing-ab-inbev/9667/
http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/elysian-brewing-ab-inbev/649/

I can’t read through 35 pages of quibbling. My take on this is that the larger regional brands should be wary of this hitting their bottom line--folks like Stone, Bells, Sierra Nevada, etc.

On the other hand, this may actually *help* many start-up draft only brewing operations by exposing an increasingly larger sub-section of people to craft beer.

I see the future of craft beer moving away from the big national craft brands and people worrying about grocery store end caps, and moving towards an increasing number of brewers trying to make a normal living by increasing market share in their local market, with very limited (if any) distribution. I guess time will tell, but I don’t think a handful of A-B acquisitions will touch the bottom lines of this type of brewer. Stone and Dogfish? Yes, they should be concerned. Your local draft only place where you get your growlers filled? that’s not going anywhere.

Originally posted by douglas88
http://beervana.blogspot.com/
This sums it up nicely:

4. Big companies have a lot of power in the marketplace and don’t love competition.
You have to be willfully forgetful to acquit Anheuser-Busch of being a malignant force in beer diversity in the 21st century. There were 700 breweries following Prohibition, and A-B (and other giants) ran almost all of them out of business by 1980, when there were only 80 breweries left. They did this by being bigger and more efficient, sure, but they also used bare-knuckle business tactics to dominate distribution, rig local laws in their favor, and buy out everyone they couldn’t drive out. Given a choice between competing against a few other companies in a stable market and competing against a hugely fragmented competition in a volatile market, they would--they have--chosen the latter.

5. Local breweries keep traditions alive.
Companies are people. Here in Portland, I know the majority of brewers in the city. They’re my neighbors and members of my community. They employ my neighbors and other members of my community. That alone is reason enough to at least be prejudiced toward local breweries, but there’s a much more important reason. Beer is one of the most varied products on earth, and that diversity comes from the preferences of locals who, say, favor dark ales in Dusseldorf and light lagers in Munich. There was a mass extinction following the Second World War when cheap, commodified beer displaced more expensive local styles. Dozens of funky, interesting types of beer vanished from the earth. Here’s Frank Boon telling Belgium’s story (from an interview I did with him):

“Forty years ago, this was a time when breweries were closing and all the local styles were disappearing. Everywhere in Belgium. Louvain white disappeared, Peeterman disappeared, [ascot beers?] disappeared. In the 1950s and 1960s they switched to cheaper and technically better beer. In every village and small town, brewers said the only thing we can do is sell the brewery. There is no future for small breweries. If gueuze had disappeared in the 1960s, nobody would ever have imagined to make such a beer. It’s an absolutely crazy way to make beer.”

There are cases in which the existence of one or two single breweries--Dupont, Schneider, Schlenkerla and Spezial--kept a beer alive. These are never multinational conglomerates, but family breweries keeping traditions alive. The more breweries there are--particularly funky little breweries that can make a living by selling niche beer--the more diversity that will survive. Sometimes people denigrate the support for local breweries as mere sentimentality, but the consequences for losing them are not insignificant.

Worth putting out that the Goose Island beers in 6 packs cost more than Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada and go on sale less frequently, at least where I’ve seen them. The difference isn’t dramatic, price wise, but it’s there. $0.50 or $1.00 a 6er.

Could AB-Inbev price Elysian way under their competitors to try to increase their market share and possibly run a few competing companies out of business? Sure, they could. However, their most recent similar acquisition has not been used that way. They seem content to just make Goose Island more ubiquitous in more markets, expanding from it’s midwest roots, without really messing with the pricing. I had never tried Goose Island prior to it being purchased by AB-Inbev, but most reports are that the formulas used to brew the beers don’t dramatically differ either.

Craft beer fans didn’t seem to really buy into all-malt Michelob or Shock Top, though the latter sells well to a different market. I think AB-Inbev at that point decided "Hey, if we can’t invent our own version of craft beer in a way consumers of craft beer respond to, why not just buy some pre-existing craft companies and tell them to keep doing what they are doing the way they are already doing?". It might work. How’s Goose Island selling?

Originally posted by CharmCityCrab
How’s Goose Island selling?

Elysian currently does not make 12 packs but I see those in the near future. I expect those 12 packs will be priced just below the Ninkasi and Alaskan 12 packs that are in every supermarket.

Lets see if I am correct in the next 12-24 months.

Originally posted by beastiefan2k
Elysian currently does not make 12 packs but I see those in the near future. I expect those 12 packs will be priced just below the Ninkasi and Alaskan 12 packs that are in every supermarket.

Lets see if I am correct in the next 12-24 months.

Originally posted by CharmCityCrab

Craft beer fans didn’t seem to really buy into all-malt Michelob or Shock Top, though the latter sells well to a different market. I think AB-Inbev at that point decided "Hey, if we can’t invent our own version of craft beer in a way consumers of craft beer respond to, why not just buy some pre-existing craft companies and tell them to keep doing what they are doing the way they are already doing?". It might work. How’s Goose Island selling?

Why It Matters Who Owns The Brewery