New RateBeer Investment

Im with discobot on this one , forums are way better.

But what does he think of my ratings
@discobot fortune

1 Like

Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.

I have to wholeheartedly disagree. In the states, at least, there is an effort to get rid of competitors, particularly the ones making craft beer. ABInbev has been fined for illegal practices meant to reduce consumer access to competing brands. ABInbev has purchased popular craft brands, which is a typical tactic to create the illusion of choice for consumers.

The evidence points toward a desired destruction of annoying craft beer by the big boys.

Also, what is inevitable? Just b/c something was doesn’t mean it has to be. My hope is for a brewpub in every neighborhood and no more giant, centralized, conglomerate, global brew-porations.

6 Likes

It’s inevitable that if you grow a business and someone offers you a huge amount of money then there’s a good chance you’ll take it. If you have shareholders, even private shareholders, when you get start-up investors, this is what many are in it for.

And I disagree with you. AB Inbev’s competitors are not craft beer. It’s Heineken, Asahi etc. There aim is to beat them. The buy bar space. They come in and fit out your taps. in return you buy most of your beer from them. If they don’t have any craft options these days then they will lose out to a rival.

In the UK Heineken distributes Beavertown, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada. They need these options to secure space. Craft is not there ‘rival’ really. they want to win that space over competitors.

2 Likes

I guess I feel the same way as I did when the initial announcement was made. I’ll still keep my ratings here purely for the personal log, but will not support the site monetarily.

1 Like

Maybe not, but for many bars who would take micro craft, they will just go with the Macros craft option.

Ive acepted big supermarkets etc, so if MACRO offers me something i want . ie. a Better RB expereince than i have now(more like what i had a few years back . working offline app) im happy to take it. Its not ideal. But neither is shopping at amazon but i do it too often as in easy

I dont fear for micro , the way i fear for cask. There plenty (in uk at least) of bars that will only take what they think are Great beer. Some time it maybe the beavertowns of the world but along side that willbe the micro based locally

1 Like

I think this is definitely not inevitable and mostly based on what reason you got into the game. There are people that wanted to do this not to get big and rich but b/c they just wanted to pursue this as a passion project (I think of HotD).

AB had a 50% share of the US beer market 20 years ago. They were slaying their traditional competition. Since the craft beer boom, there competition has indeed become craft beer. Probably one of the biggest reasons AB sold to InBev.

I think the issue may be our different perspectives based on our countries. I don’t know how the distribution system works in the UK and what that means for competition. Legally, distribution is separate in the US and not a great marker of competition. In practice, the big boys rarely share distributors but ABInBev has gotten into a lot trouble for illegal practice in preventing distributors from selling craft beer.

2 Likes

I like how he tactfully avoided your questions @cgarvieuk

1 Like

It would be absurd to try and ‘destroy’ craft beer. It’s here to stay and will be for years. They can buy up craft breweries but even when they do they buy big ones and then scale up their distribution. That always leaves space for independents - better ingredients, and better innovation.

And yes, you don’t have to sell up. In the UK Kernel would never sell. But plenty do. It’s a cycle. To believe you can stop that is idealistic nonsense.

I will continue to support craft because it’s generally much better beer, but I’ll also drink other good beer here and there, whether it’s macro or mid-sized or whatever, if they are doing something interesting.

I’ll drink at Goose Island’s UK brewpub occasionally because they are really good beers and the brewer is excellent but I wouldn’t drink GI IPA because it’s a pale shadow of what it used to be because it has been massively scaled up.

1 Like

Yeah. I don’t see why ZX would close the site. In fact, without the proper investment, there would have been more chance that Joet would close the site if it didn’t work well on the future…

They probably intend to add marketing/online distribution in it somehow for sure.

2 Likes

I disagree completely. However, the quality changes are arguably downwards!

7 Likes

Ohhh my i nearly had a heart attack. Till my reading caught up with the 2nd part

2 Likes

Maybe time to update the mission statement then?

"RateBeer is a community of beer enthusiasts dedicated to the pursuit and appreciation of good beer. Our mission is to continue to serve the CRAFT* beer community as the premier resource for unbiased, consumer-driven information about beer and breweries worldwide and to enhance the image and worldwide appreciation of beer by:

Providing a forum for beer enthusiasts to share their opinions of the beers they are drinking, discuss beer and brewing, and discover new beers and breweries;
Encouraging our members to support and promote their favorite brewers and retailers of CRAFT* beers;
Conducting targeted outreach to brewers, distributors, and retailers; and "

*My capitals

That ending “and” looks like something has been axed from the end, by the way

1 Like

image

2 Likes

5 Likes

Maybe the Untappd owners were not willing to sell out their morals and conscience in order for a payout.

Also, because they are a very successful business, no doubt they can get outside investment from better channels rather than offering up their neck to the predator.

1 Like

Had an access database myself, but with an Excel frontend.

Now running it as a webpage instead.

A bit more hassle to get it up and running, but enables some neat stats (like more country splits, although haven’t had the time to get interactive maps up and running yet).

8 Likes

Wow I had no idea you still checked in here!

1 Like

Hi @blipp if this issue is just happening on the forum and not on the rest of the RateBeer site, it might be the setting you have in discourse. To check this:

  • click you icon at the top right and click on the cog
  • Go to Preferences → Interface and there should be an option to select your language

1 Like

The difference was that they got a (more than an) adequate payout very early in the game. Wonder thow they would have reacted had UT stagnated for years with no new sources of funding coming on and no money to develop the site in ways that would secure said funding.

Just sayin’

1 Like