John Hall steps down as president of Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch Craft Advisory Board established

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by Todd, Nov 16, 2012.

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  1. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,254) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    Staff Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Just in this morning from A-B, who also confirmed shortly after that John Hall is stepping down as president of Goose Island to take a new role as founder of the Anheuser-Busch Craft Advisory Board. Tony Bowker (Goose Island’s COO) and John Guerra (A-B) will be joining Hall on the board. Andy Goeler (A-B) will be taking over day-to-Day operations at Goose Island.

    ***

    Our company’s role in the high-end beer segment is growing and enabling us to reach a new and growing consumer base that has wide-ranging beer tastes and interests.

    To help guide this growth, we are proud to announce the establishment of the Anheuser-Busch Craft Advisory Board, with John Hall, founder and president of Goose Island, and Tony Bowker, Goose Island chief operating officer, as its founding members. John Guerra, vice president of North America finance for AB InBev, also will sit on the board, along with both of us.

    As John and Tony assume these new roles, they have announced they will move out of their positions at Goose Island. John and Tony have been a team for years, working from the small beginnings of Goose Island to launch an unknown, but well-crafted beer. Seen as trailblazers in the craft beer industry, John, Tony and the Goose Island team have won legions of fans with their distinctive beers, and the admiration and respect of many in the industry. They are at the center of the Goose Island story, and these brands will carry their mark forever. The Goose Island team is well-prepared to carry on Goose Island’s mission and long-standing tradition of fine-crafted beers.

    We will continue to benefit from John’s advice on the brands, as he shares his passion for innovative, creative beer styles. Tony will continue to advise us on the business aspects of Goose Island, tapping his wealth of experience with the operation. We are grateful to have their continuing imprint on Goose Island.

    Stepping into a new role at Goose Island will be Andy Goeler, who has served as vice president of Import, Craft and Specialty for the past five years at Anheuser-Busch. Andy becomes president and CEO of Goose Island reporting to Paul, effective Jan. 1,

    Andy is a seasoned veteran with 30 years in the beer business at Anheuser-Busch, leading brands small and large and with broad experience in sales. Andy has been working with the Goose Island team for the past year to help expand the brands, satisfying the demands for Chicago’s favorite beer among beer drinkers in the Midwest and Northeast. Now, he will take on further expansion of the brand nationally, growing the brands the right

    Andy has led the growth of Shock Top from its infancy, while taking established global brands, such as Stella Artois and Beck’s, and bringing them to new levels in the United States, carefully maintaining a consistent, quality brand position. Before the Goose Island partnership in 2011, Andy served on the board of the Craft Brew Alliance, owner of Kona Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing, giving him great insights into the craft beer segment. Andy holds two masters’ degrees, one in marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J., and one in international business from Webster University in St. Louis. He also completed the advanced marketing program at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

    Replacing Andy as Anheuser-Busch vice president of Import, Craft and Specialty will be Adam Oakley, reporting to Paul, also

    Adam most recently served as director of Mission 6 brands. He joined Anheuser-Busch in the United States in 2010 from the UK team of AB InBev, where he led the resurgence of the Stella Artois brand. Adam managed a broad portfolio of brands and a team of marketers in Western Europe. He brings creative brand-building expertise and extensive brand management experience, having held positions at Diageo, Colgate-Palmolive and News International Newspapers. Adam holds a post-graduate marketing diploma from Bristol Polytechnic and a degree in mechanical engineering from Leeds University.

    We are pleased to use the great talents and knowledge of all these colleagues for the further growth of our beers. Please join us in congratulating and supporting John, Tony, Andy and Adam as they move into their new roles.

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  2. firesign3000

    firesign3000 Initiate (0) Nov 24, 2010 Ohio

    This is the end of Goose Island as we know it. Soon A-B will tamper with the recipes and it'll become just another crappy A-B brand like everything else they touch. Sad.
     
  3. Brew33

    Brew33 Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2007 Ohio

    Doesn't matter. BAs will piss and moan about this and talk about how GI has sold a little bit more of their soul and I still won't be able to get a single bottle of BCBS this year because those same people will be chasing those AB trucks they claim to hate so much....
     
  4. bugdoc

    bugdoc Initiate (0) Apr 4, 2011 California

    And so it begins...
     
  5. danimalarkey

    danimalarkey Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2008 Illinois

    What begins, exactly?
     
  6. mdomask

    mdomask Initiate (0) May 27, 2012 Illinois

    Just a guess, but the fear is that what supposedly happened to Becks will happen to GI now.
     
    neophilus and Centennial like this.
  7. Franch

    Franch Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 District of Columbia

    i don't exactly buy into the hysteria of "AB takeover of GI is going to make everything mediocre and in 5 years BCBS will use artificial bourbon flavor and be 7%" but damn if that wasn't the first thing i thought of.
     
    avenuepub, kemoarps and ChicagoThor like this.
  8. Auror

    Auror Pooh-Bah (1,641) Jan 1, 2010 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    Would love it if the press release actually said what the "Craft Advisory Board" is.
     
    pixieskid and Gash like this.
  9. Pahn

    Pahn Initiate (0) Dec 2, 2009 New York

    you guys have a big batch of "big companies don't buy up little companies because they believe the littler companies' strategies are better than their own," i-told-you-so's coming to you.

    re: people complaining but you can't buy bourbon county stout because those same people bought it all, 1) you're imagining it, 2) get better at the simple task of buying beer.
     
    ShogoKawada likes this.
  10. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,215) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Am I reading news about a brewery or a corporation?
     
  11. CBlack85

    CBlack85 Pooh-Bah (2,298) Jul 12, 2009 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    an advertising corporation that happens to make beer...
     
    zrbeer1579, Lantern, JulianB and 11 others like this.
  12. Goosey

    Goosey Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2012 Missouri

    I could probably live off of Founders, Bells, Great Divide, Odell, Deschutes, Fantome, Pannepot, Stone, Boulevard, Firestone Walker, Unibroque, all of the trappist brews, Evil twin and Mikkeller, and a handfull of others that are readily avaliable to me, and not changing anytime soon. If GI goes down in quality, I will be sad, but also, will maybe spend less money on beer, but as of now I am still ISO BCBS variants, as well as the new Night Stalker, and Big John releases when they come out. On a positive note, looking at Anheuser-Busch's financial's, in 2011, they paid out $3,088,000 in dividends, and stock is currently trading for $82 per share, so maybe now is a good time to invest???
     
  13. tjensen3618

    tjensen3618 Savant (1,225) Mar 23, 2008 California

    Wait and see what the future holds.

    If I get my hands on a pack of BCBS this year, I will enjoy it just the same.
     
  14. Brettlovesbeer

    Brettlovesbeer Aspirant (246) Feb 7, 2011 Massachusetts

    The guy may have multiple business degrees but he doesn't have a single brewing degree. Treating beer as more of a business and less of a culinary art is what made BMC. I hope craft brewers never lose sight that great beer is an art and science, not money.
     
  15. ShogoKawada

    ShogoKawada Initiate (0) May 31, 2009 Pennsylvania

    like we didn't see this coming? I don't see what the big deal is.
     
  16. dpjosuns

    dpjosuns Initiate (0) Dec 8, 2009 Illinois

    hahahahaaaahahaha
     
  17. Holmes698

    Holmes698 Initiate (0) Mar 7, 2009 Pennsylvania

    Seriously....is this really a suprise? *toilet flush noise*
     
  18. sukwonee

    sukwonee Initiate (0) Dec 13, 2011 Washington

    Maybe they will start upping the ABV on GI beers like they're doing to their bud light-variants... BCBS Platinum...
     
  19. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,215) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    That's what it looks like. Toss me a cold goose, brah.
     
    JxExM and RochefortChris like this.
  20. mechamifune

    mechamifune Initiate (0) Jan 26, 2008 North Carolina

    In the end, for me Goose Island is one of dozens of great breweries whose beer I enjoy. If we *lose* Goose Island (so to speak) I won't mourn it but so much. As it stands I think it will be an interesting test case to see what happens. With the press release itself it is kind of interesting and ultimately telling that they talk up so much of Andy Goeler's training in business and marketing. Not to imply that someone taking over Goose Island shouldn't have a good deal of training and experience in these areas, but it would seem to be relatively clear what the point of emphasis is going to be going forward for the company. That being said, I certainly find it within the realm of possibility that Goose Island will continue to make good beer going forward with little to no change in quality.
     
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