Undercover Boss: Molson Coors

I would like to think a craft brewery or a home brewer could make a better light lager than BMC can. The marketing of this stuff is pretty genius. Hook them early on cheaply produced light lagers and treat beer as something that is cheap. With the lower calorie count, there's the idea that you can drink more. For those who like this style of beer, it's a win-win situation. The problem is lower calorie counts don't mean much when you drink a sixer of Bud Light in a sitting.

 

My post on this topic in another thread but perhaps more useful for convo here:
http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...o-craft-and-their-response.14183/#post-211588

 

I'd assume they treated the show as a big promo for their beer, as such they chose to focus on issues under their control that made their product look good. Addressing taste would have been a losing battle for them so they probably chose not to go their on national television.

Just my .002 cents. I also didn't see the show.

 

The market that bmc has control of is not a market that wants to make their own beer, or search for a craft option they like. the lower calorie counts do mean something if your goal is to drink a sixer of anything in one sitting. coast is the only real factor

 

Let's face it, most people don't wanna be challenged, whether it be food, wine, beer, spirits, TV, movies, books, music, etc. There will always be the lowest common denominator, looking down at us and our "wussy" beer (even though it's usually 2 to 3 times as strong as their frog piss). At least take heart that we're out of the dark ages of the 80's and 90's where the best beer you could find was Pete's Wicked, Killian's, Bass, and Guiness.

 

I don't think you can reproduce craft beer quality at the scale that BMC does. Ever notice that the largest craft breweries generally have the least popular craft beers? At some point something has to give.

Could Founders make 1 million barrels of CBS were money and equipment no issue? I honestly don't think so. Small batch brewing is what makes craft so good.

 

The top three most popular craft beers are Sierra Nevada Pale, Samuel Adams Boston Lager and New Belgium Fat Tire - from the 3 largest craft breweries in the US.

 

Quality beer can be made in large quantities. Poor beer can also be made in small batches. Quantity and quality aren't always mutually exclusive.

 

Should have clarified popular. I didn't mean sales, I meant taste. The only time I would order any of those 3 beers would be if BL and CL were the only other tap handles.

 

That is 100% preferance

 

Yep! The beauty of an online forum, being able to post it!

 

I think it's an all-too-common fallacy here on BA that BMC drinkers are uninformed louts who don't know what they're drinking. Given sales figures and such, and given the extreme bias here, I'd say it's a lot more likely that said BMC drinkers like what they drink and have no interest in craft beer.
And even within the realm of people who drink both macro beers and craft, as Jesskidden astutely points out, using accurate statistics instead of hyperbole and anecdotes nonetheless, the majority of Craft drinkers don't go for the beers that are most popular here.

That said- I think the "idea" of the steady growth of craft beer scares the macro breweries a lot more than the specific numbers. As noted, the numbers should cause the big breweries no concern. 5%-ish? Pffft. What does scare the bigger breweries is the good press craft beer gets (as opposed to the no press macro gets, other than their own ads). The "buy local", or at least "buy american" likely scares them as well, as their massive, foreign-owned companies don't have anything like that vibe. The big breweries see people who are really passionate about craft beer (and well crafted food, and well crafted whiskey, and so on), and know that while plenty of people like BMC beers, not many have that same passion.

The barrel aged sour triple IPA freakshows don't mean anything in the larger picture; but the steady, albiet slow, growth of well crafted, American/locally owned, flavorful and interesting beers... that's gotta scare them, especially in the long term.

 

preferance is totally cool, but it doesn't work when stated as a fact

 

This episode must be on my DVR as I havn't see it yet...

 

I believe Dogfish has tauted that they are now 1/13 of 1% of the entire beer market and they are in my opinion the most distributed craft beer on the market, unless you want to include Sam Adams on technicality! I believe that the big companies are not even worried about losing their market. After all have you ever been to a NASCAR race? Those people arent trying a 90 Minute IPA anytime soon and NASCAR's market is gigantic! Dale Jr drinks Bud and thats good enough for them.

I don't think the goal for small craft breweries is to even get as big as the top guys. Its a craft experience that they brew for! They have loyal followings of people who truely love their beer. Not because a commercial or popularity told them to like it, but because the time and effort put in show through in the product. Using the best ingredients and not just the cheapest allows them to brew great beers that they know will be enjoyed. You would never dump the remainder of a craft beer down the drain but you probably wouldn't think twice if it was a Bud or Coors, and that is what the smaller guys want! The fact that they know someone is out there really enjoying their beer is worth more than the money that mass production brings!

The big guys will be around forever and so will the craft brewers. Each will have it's own distinct market and I think that the BMC's of the world already know that so they just concentrate on making the product they have better.

 

Craft needs to make better session beers. I want something as tasty as Zombie Dust but down in the 4.75% ABV. Might be impossible. Alpine pretty much has it with Hoppy Birthday.

 

BMC drinkers are switching to wine and booze, and some are switch hitting now. That said, the ones who make up the 94% of the beer drinkers in this country drink AAL because they like AAL. Advertising for AAL is based on brand loyalty, and gimmicks, etc. because they have so little flavor there is no down side to switching from the brand that promises you a girl in a bikini on a beach to the brand that offers you graphics on their can that change color when the beer is the correct temperature that you won't be able to taste its awfulness. This is what people want to drink, and that is okay with me if they never stand in front of me on line at a release, or buy the last bottle of my favorite beer at my beer store before I get there.

 

Here is how the big guys will deal with craft beer. They will wait till one of the popular craft breweries look to sell and then buy them. GI is the first domino to fall, my bet is they will snatch up others, could make a play for Bells if it does go up for sale. This is much easier to do then change what they are doing with established brands. There will always be a market for BMC.

 

I think Stone will sell eventually. Who wouldn't? If I owned Stone and BMC offered me say $500,000,000 - I honestly couldn't see myself saying "no, it's about the beer damnit!"