Supporting the "enemy"...I broke down

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by BuxMontBeerLover, Apr 24, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. KidIcarus1945

    KidIcarus1945 Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2015 Florida

    Actually Kelli Stargel was quoted during a legislation meeting that she got suggested numbers for the amendments directly from InBev. Not to mention Lewis Bear's company is Anheuser Busch's oldest continuous distributorship.

    I don't think you understand what the bill actually was, it was in favor of 64 ounce growlers. Then Kelli Stargel, Don Gaetz, Lewis Bear, and InBev all got together to throw amendments that were incredibly harmful and stifiling to craft beer in Florida.

    The bill got shut down after that thanks to the House, specifically Dana Young was a big supporter. Not to mention a bunch of brewers went up to Tallahasee to speak their minds to the Senate, even though it still passed the Senate it surely got some notice from the House as well.

    So, the 64oz growlers would have been legal, but direct sales from breweries would have been vastly limited, and guest taps at breweries would have been illegal period.

    To say inBev had no involvement is akin to sticking your head in the sand.
     
  2. horsehockey

    horsehockey Initiate (0) Jul 31, 2014 Illinois

    Regarding your lack of a sense of humor - gimme a break.
     
  3. KidIcarus1945

    KidIcarus1945 Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2015 Florida

    Are you sure about that Peter? I followed the growler bill like a hawk last year, and Kelli Stargel said she got numbers for the amendment directly from InBev.
     
  4. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    A man of high principles!
     
    BrettHead, PatrickCT and zid like this.
  5. AWA

    AWA Savant (1,183) Jul 22, 2014 California

    I still don't get how a publicly traded company is the enemy. Doesn't that make everyone holding stock in those companies the enemy? I have a hard time viewing our nations retirees and common investors as the enemy. And besides, quality beer is quality beer.
     
    BrettHead and Peter_Wolfe like this.
  6. SeanBond

    SeanBond Pooh-Bah (2,880) Jul 30, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Thanks for this. The only insight I can share comes from John Hall, Goose Island's owner/founder, but he was extremely excited and optimistic in signing GI's distribution over to A-B, and said that he wouldn't have done it were he not sure they were going to treat the brand with respect. His point of view was that his beers would continue to be brewed, but would also benefit from the deep pockets of A-B (not to mention their distribution footprint), so that the overall sale would be better for beer drinkers everywhere. And from your comments, it sounds like at the very least, it has improved the lives of some of the people now employed by A-B, which is good enough, as far as I'm concerned.

    Now I can go back to drinking my Bourbon County in peace!
     
  7. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,058) Feb 15, 2010 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    What is humor?
     
    BrettHead likes this.
  8. KidIcarus1945

    KidIcarus1945 Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2015 Florida

    Yeah, I'm calling BS on AB not being involved in lobbying. I witnessed it live when they were quoted as the suppliers of information regarding the amount of produced beer required to fall under an exception to legislation that was harmful to brewery growth.
     
  9. Tsar_Riga

    Tsar_Riga Pooh-Bah (2,965) Sep 9, 2013 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I think the whole "enemy" nomenclature is poor. And even if you think you are ideologically pristine, a little digging elsewhere in your life is likely to yield less than stellar examples of corporate citizenry. Just think what it took to get that gasoline to your tank, and what some companies have done to make that happen to have an idea of what I'm talking about. Don't drive? Well, do you have anything made out of plastic, shipped using a truck, etc.? Our world is globally connected, and capitalism is hardly clean, from an ethical perspective. The best thing you can do is what you can, but it is hardly something to get too superior over.

    I prefer good citizenry in my corporations, but it is only one among a number of factors that play. Cost, in most circumstances, is a bigger driver to me, but as others have said, when it comes to beer, the question is one of taste. If I like it, I'll probably buy it. The reason I don't buy much BMC is that I do not like most of what they offer. The rest is less important, in my view.
     
    PatrickCT likes this.
  10. Peter_Wolfe

    Peter_Wolfe Initiate (0) Jul 5, 2013 Oregon

    I asked our legal department about it, because I don't like the idea of AB bullying anyone anymore than you do. They said they were watching it to protect our interests, but as far as they could tell there was zero issue with 64 oz growlers (which should be obvious to any rational person). I have no idea what numbers Kelli Stargell got or from whom. Guest tap numbers? Barrelage numbers? I know the distributor lobby (of which Lewis Bear is just one of many down there) tried to get things added to the bill, but AB wasn't involved.

    The key point is that someone who wanted to buy a 64 oz growler of craft beer from their local brewery but couldn't isn't going to turn around and buy Busch Light instead. The whole thing was completely irrelevant to AB. However, it was very relevant to the distributors, because 64 oz growlers are popular and every growler represents a lost bottle/can sale. If you're buying your beer in a growler instead of a bottle, the distributors can't take their little tax out of it. If you can't tell, I'm fairly critical of the entire 3-tier system and I view a lot of the distributors as one step away from racketeering because they know we're forced to use them.
     
    LuskusDelph and fearfactory like this.
  11. KidIcarus1945

    KidIcarus1945 Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2015 Florida

    Barrelage number to fall under an exception to the proposed legislation. It was a number that was incredibly low, and Joey Redner himself said would be directly harming the growth of craft beer in Florida.

    It's very relevant to inBev because they have no on site sales or tasting rooms in Florida. Restricting breweries from selling directly to customers for off premise consumption would have significantly harmed the craft beer industry here, while inBev would have been unaffected.

    I find it hard to believe Lewis Bear's company, the oldest company to distrbute inBev, wouldn't have consulted his biggest client before drawing up legislation with the Senate President, who happens to be good friends with Lewis Bear.
     
    BBThunderbolt likes this.
  12. yemenmocha

    yemenmocha Grand Pooh-Bah (4,092) Jun 18, 2002 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Mine has build your own sixpacks of craft beer too. We also have hard liquor and wine. Open in the morning for morning purchases too. :sunglasses:
     
    utopiajane likes this.
  13. Soneast

    Soneast Pooh-Bah (1,635) May 9, 2008 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Surprisingly, you'll find no shortage of BMC sympathizers here. Stockholm syndrome and all that.
     
    Strangestbrewer and yemenmocha like this.
  14. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It is pretty simple to me: drink what you like.

    Cheers!
     
    LuskusDelph and yemenmocha like this.
  15. yemenmocha

    yemenmocha Grand Pooh-Bah (4,092) Jun 18, 2002 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Yes the association is right up there for me too and I see where you're coming from. I'm on the other side of things, though, because I see them increasing the quality of living for lower income people as they provide the exact same products for so much less money, and not just with alcohol. Last visit I came unglued when I saw their Ocean Spray Cranberry was exactly half the price I was paying at Safeway (I have a weak spot for Malibu & Cranberry). If people want to object, then fine, and actually I admire that someone would knowingly go pay double for the same Cranberry juice at Safeway out of principle.

    With breweries, the successful ones with a small set of owners are undoubtedly quite wealthy. Do they pay their employees a living wage and such? I think that if these things matter to us and we care at all about consistency then these issues ought to be looked into for each and every brewery we support.
     
  16. yemenmocha

    yemenmocha Grand Pooh-Bah (4,092) Jun 18, 2002 Arizona
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Isn't it amazing how something so plain and simple can be made so complicated by others?
     
    Hrodebert and gopens44 like this.
  17. Jeffreysan

    Jeffreysan Initiate (0) Apr 12, 2013 Virginia

    Nothing really, it's that I'm anti-social and don't like being among a very large gatherings of people (unless it's at a sporting event) and Costco is always so damn overcrowded that I get more than a little cloister phobic when I'm there, that's all. Beyond that there's nothing wrong with Costco at all IMO. And them not selling beer and wine (as well as other alcoholic beverages) here in Maryland just makes it easier to avoid going there, that's all...
     
  18. otispdriftwood

    otispdriftwood Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Colorado

    If InBev or MillerCoors ever start saying alcohol is absolutely harmless like the big tobacco companies tried to say nicotine was harmless, I would definitely have a problem. But aside from strong-arm business tactics and quasi-deceptive advertising, big beer [as far as I know] has never lied about the health risks of their product.
    If you don't like BMC because they're a big multinational corporation and you own an automobile or a television or buy food at a supermarket rather than grow it yourself, your problem is with big national corporations not with beer.
     
    jlsims04 likes this.
  19. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    When it comes to beer purchasing some folks like to think ‘hard’. In this particular matter I prefer to think ‘easy’.

    Cheers!
     
    yemenmocha likes this.
  20. WelshBrewer

    WelshBrewer Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2013 Oregon

    So far I have held out on principle alone.

    A quote from this article: http://ithinkaboutbeer.com/2015/01/27/ab-inbev-why-it-matters-who-owns-the-brewery/

    “Who cares who owns the brewery if the beer is still good?”

    You should. Yes, Goose Island’s Bourbon County is still great. Elysian Space Dust probably isn’t going to change. 10 Barrel Brewing still employs several famed brewers. Right now, the quality/flavor of these brands is what AB-InBev needs to keep its profits growing. But invariably, something will shift and Carlos Brito will bring out the carving knife. You can already see glimpses of this with Goose Island’s main beers and their movement to AB’s breweries. Yeah, the beer is good now, but for how long?

    And each dollar that goes to buying those “good” beers goes toward the acquisition of another brand. Each bottle of Bourbon County purchased helps fund the effort to tip the scale in AB-InBev’s favor by helping them fund their fleet of lobbying lawyers:



    I'm sure it wont last, I'm close to 10 Barrel, Elysian, Widmere etc so it is getting harder, because they make some good brew, but I'm not there yet.
     
    BBThunderbolt likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.