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Good for craft beer

#17

This is actually a great example of how a little cynicism with an added dash of confirmation bias plus a sure as heck scoop of fear forms a public opinion.

As much as I respect Jason Notte, his article paints a very skewed picture. This article at All About Beer (arguably the best beer publication we the beer community have ever had in our lifetimes) is a more informational, 360 look and better reveals the complexity of the issue, although I also disagree that AB InBev is “attempting to control the supply of ingredients to the industry.” It’s, in this case, simply trying to fairly allocate supply outside of its own company. Further, every scaling company does all it can to control cost factors for their product and there are dozens of breweries growing hops, creating retail spaces, or starting distro companies. Does this really mean they’re trying to control industry supplies?

http://allaboutbeer.com/south-african-hops/

#18

Similar story in Switzerland, directly from the bar owner: the big brewery lends money to owner so he can start the business, that’s how they get in the “contract”; the contract per se doesn’t limit the variety of beers that they serve, but they need to meet a monthly quota, so if they put too many craft beers on (or sell too many craft bottles) they risk.

#19

Not so long ago @Travlr told me how AbInbev tried to help Cigar City by lobbying over and over for new laws which would prohibit CC to sell their beer at their premises. I’m pretty sure this is just one of many examples out there.

Which brings me to another topic. I wonder what craft beer industry people think about Joes “AbInbev is good” epiphany. I wonder if the brewers and owners of breweries which attended RB Festival in 2016 share his views. I’m sure they do, after all AbInbev makes beers brewed the hard way.

#20

No way am I buying that AB or other large share macros are good for craft beer. Literally, they are competitors in a perhaps not zero, but close to zero sum game. The moral judgements against AB etc. are individually determined. But factually I think we can agree that Bud is competing with craft breweries. We sometimes get myopic here. Perhaps the average RBian would rather drink craft cocktails than cheap beer. But, a huge percentage of craft beer is sold to regular people who just occasionally or perhaps often, want a beer. They can go either way.

#21

Says it all really

#22

“Every scaling company tries to control every type of stuff that costs money in their branch of industry. Does this really mean they’re trying to control stuff that costs money in their branch of industry?”

#23

That’s a matter of opinion. But how can it be “good” for craft beer that they have less access to industry supplies, because AB Inbev is controlling more and more? You didn’t just say “this is competition”, you said they are “good”, which is a whole other level.

#24

Well, in Switzerland it’s at least not ABInbev, just Heineken and Carlsberg dominating the scene… But yes, big beer destroyed the Swiss beer scene in the '80s and '90s. Having no traditional home brew culture either, Switzerland is still lacking behind in quality craft, with only a few exceptions. We might have the most breweries per capita, but also an unusual amount of crappy “craft”.

#25

He used the wrong analogy, here’s a better one:

A dog, a woman, a walnut tree - the more you beat them, the better they be.

Clear now?

#26

compare and contrast:

#27

Did you even read the article in which it pretty much states that AB In-Bev have a monopoly on those hops? Talk about confirmation bias…

But I suppose monopolies are good for business, right?

#28

“We can share some of our hops because we hoarded and played the same game the big boys play but don’t call us not craft because we’re so craft and independent”

Doesn’t make AB-Inbev right, but BBC is the same which is to Joe’s point.

#29

Or BBC bought them before AB or Molson could.

#30

So stop the stock market from selling and buying commodity futures. I think the world would be a better place if we didn’t have jackasses betting on food in front of a computer.

#31

Et tu, Julien?

Sam’s is a big brewery compared to most craft brewers but not compared to ABRatebeer or Molson or Asahi etc. They cant, and havent engaged in anti-competitive practices like the big players, at least not in the same sort of way amd scale.

#32

Who are you quoting there, is this some messed up internal voice - did you forget to take your lithium? You’re certainly not quoting the article, and in fact it looks like you didn’t even read the article.

I can see the :heart: button to upvote posts, but where’s the :troll: button to down-vote ignorant ones like yours?

#33

Dude chill. If you’re aggravated enough by my comments to come out blasting insults like a child there’s a report function in the forums.

@jk and FatPhil. I said above and I still believe @joet is drowning in the koolaid. I’m just stating the part I agree with is that
a) craft beer is now big business. Is it as big as AB-Inbev? No, of course not. But it’s now up there (a quick google search tells me BBC produces enough beer to be something like the 36th largest brewery on the planet at 6M Hectoliters/year not to mention other “craft” breweries like Schneider )
b) big business doesn’t care about feelings, only money. The line is blurred within craft now because buying a 12 pack of Sam Adams is much more like buying a 12 pack of MolsonCoors than it is like buying a growler of something out of the back of some dude’s barn.

#34

Just incredible how one can get ignorant just to defend evil empire. Hope you get paid for this.

#35

Cool, I hope you enjoy sipping your Sam Adams?

#36

You guys need to stop writing “BBC”: that confuses me so much!