Do you guys buy much if any beer from brands that are now at least partly owned by mega-conglomerates or are you hardcore boycotters?
As for me, I buy 15 packs of Founder’s All Day and Golden Road Wolf Pup regularly and also make an occasional Lagunitas and Urquell purchase. Not to mention I love Firestone Walker beers which have just gained N.C. distribution. I think that’s it (that I’m aware of). How about you?
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If a beer will be a new tick, and it actually seems to be something that will be nice, I probably won’t worry about the mega issue. I am very fond of Duvel-Moortgat, and I don’t really consider them mega. I was very down on Heinekens, wouldn’t buy one ever I think, but I love Lagunitas, and this mega takeover doesn’t seem to have harmed them. Goose Island? Something went funny there. Don’t buy it any more. Tho a rare BCS would be an exception.
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Ticks only if I haven’t had them before, and singles only if that’s an option. A few and getting fewer exceptions.
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I have a soft spot for Anchor and Founders.
I sometimes buy stuff from the Heineken catalogue, as the own the biggest breweries around here, but I really try not to. My biggest issue is not ordering from a distributor that is now 70% owned by Heineken as they’re the distributor for a lot of big craft breweries, national and international, in Austria.
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Even when ticking, I usually don’t buy such beer, unless it’s the only or most interesting tap option (quite rare). There are too many interesting other options these days, at least where I live, so why bother?
If one is on the table, of course I’ll tick it.
Among the exceptions: I buy ~3 bottles of Founders a year, country ticks regularly are part of the evil empire, and I drink Duvel maybe once a year.
call it magic, but I really have managed to not order from them since they were acquired. But I am not sure how long I’ll be able to keep it up, since they used to be my only source for some ticks I really cared about.
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I have nothing against buying corporate beer so long as it is not AB Inbev. I generally do not buy any corporate stuff as a pretty big number of it is directly from breweries. At bars, there is usually something better than AB Inbev or Heineken owned beers. The exception would perhaps be country ticks or beer in country dominated by a conglomerate. I may also buy a really shitty malt liquor every few months.
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Same here…i gave up my boycott one time in the last 3 years and i felt bad about it.
no Ab-INbev the others if there is nothing else worth drinking
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Just my premium membership.
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I avoid as much as possible now. I make exceptions for notable beers or difficult country ticks, things like Founders’ special releases that make it to the UK (KBS, CBS etc.) I still get as they’re good. Overall I don’t think there’s much macro owned stuff that even interests me though so it’s not difficult.
Like Klemens and Stefan I do boycott shops owned by macro, in the UK this is thankfully limited to just one (Beer Hawk) and despite them improving their range I still don’t think they’re all that great (and there’s a few notable breweries never stocked there), I just had a quick look on there and noticed a lot of IPAs that are way past their best, so they still didn’t improve on that front. So unlike in Austria this is very easy to avoid, we have a plethora of independent shops to choose from.
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All Day is usually in my frige. Didn’t know ABI owned them now so I guess I’ll be lookin for a new drinkin beer.
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Much more than I should. I suppose I turn a blind eye to Founders.
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As far as I know Founders is not owned by ABI. If nothing changed recently Mahou has 30% stake.
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yeah. I would consider Mahou-San Miguel a large conglomerate.
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I think he meant to reply to @sloth a couple of posts above who said he didn’t know ABI owned Founders, and was correcting him saying it’s Mahou and not ABI. But yes, still a large conglomerate either way.
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Just ticks on my end. I’ll buy these Devil’s Backbone mixed cases because it’s a bunch of new ticks when they come out. But generally I’ll make some effort to avoid if given better choices
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I don’t consider it at all. I usually just ask myself: Do I want to drink this beer? If yes, I buy it.
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In general, I tick, once only, and I share that widely.
However, Saku’s (Carlsberg) baltic porter can be delicious, in particular when they do special editions. I drink those every now and then, as I don’t mind them receiving a data point that says “your dark stuff is still good”. The beer world would be a poorer place if they were to cull those brews at the behest of bean-counters.
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I haven’t boycotted and won’t, honestly. Founders will always have a place in my fridge no matter who owns it unless quality is significantly decreased. Lots of Belgian and German offerings are now under AB-InBev, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop drinking Spaten or Hoegaarden. At this point, all I care about it quality. I work in optical, we have a similar situation happening with a conglomerate called Luxottica. But they own very nice frame lines, so I’m not going to trade quality for pride.
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I should add another point. I find it very rude when corporations like AB Inbev maintain super high prices for beers. Goose Island bottles should not cost that much now that economies of scale should make ingredients, distribution, and everything else cheaper. That is one of the main reasons I won’t go for it, regardless of the quality of BCS or Sofie.
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