what if ab and inbev started making quality brew

are they still bribing people to not serve craft at bars? punishing distributors for carrying craft?

if so, i would boycott them.

not everyone dislikes BMC solely due to how shitty stuff like bud light tastes.

 

They already do.

Spaten, Franziskaner, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Goose Island, and a couple of others I wouldn't kick out of bed...

 

I wouldn't know because I wouldn't taste it.

I won't drink Goose Island and I won't drink any other brand that they acquire. I will not line the pockets of the evil empire.

 

no, i wouldn't buy anything from anyone "regardless of their business ethics," unless i'm forced to ('forced' a touchy word there, but whatever).

however, if BMC started working together with small breweries to bring up the whole industry, employ more people, get better beer out everywhere, i would support them. i don't hate them because they're big, i hate them because i love craft beer (and support small business).

(i do, however, think that getting big would entail that they already are or will become evil, inevitably, due to how money and power work, but that's a side issue... if i'm wrong about that, and BMC turned into great companies, that would be a win for everyone--but a "great company" doesn't destroy all the competition and become a monopoly, contrary to what many of the naive armchair economists on this board occasionally seem to believe)

 

Why only AB-InBev? Why not include the Sapporo, Miller-Coors, Heineken, and Schincariol brands too?

 

Barrel aged bud light or a bud lambic?

 

reminder: this is probably not going to happen, since A-B et al know that most of their profit comes from fizzy yellow beer. unless they're idiots, they'll try to grow the giant share they have, not compete with the 1 percenters.

it may seem like bud would sell more beer if it tasted like pliny, but it wouldn't.

edit: it makes sense to dabble in the craft niche, but i don't see the profit incentive to mess around too seriously with craft beer when you make billions on your flagship...

 

I don't get why people hate In-bev as a company and no other companies. Are you all also boycotting Oil companies and Microsoft, and Google?

 

Um, please put the pin back in the grenade.

Really, I've often wondered the same thing myself.

 

the question for them is: "do bud (et al) sales rise and fall dependent on marketing, taste, etc?" a related question is: "to what extent does the overall economic climate influence macro beer sales?" craft is too small and niche to reflect the general economic situation of the united states, but BMC sell to virtually everyone.

i don't think the rise of craft has much to do with the fall of macro. i think the marketing is uninspired, and people are probably less beholden to it (less TV watching, more internet, etc). if they (like the entertainment industry) were adapting their marketing techniques to new technology better, they would sell more beer. they pretty much have the flavor down (tastes like piss water to me, but other people love it). clearly if they're losing sales, they're messing up somewhere, but it's not because they're failing to make IPAs.

the point being that adding a RIS to their line-up is unlikely to be the answer to their slumping profits. if it's just a symptom of america's failing economy, there may be no answer.

 

Craft breweries are about money too. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They see a market and capitalize on it.

 

even worse.... Apple.

 

despite naive, revisionist cynicism like this, the truth is that many craft brewers are (wait for it) passionate about making great beer. this leads to the surprising outcome of (wait for it) innovative, high quality beer getting made.

"yeah but they just do it because they think it will make money!"

i have to go urinate--BUT I'M JUST DOING IT TO MAKE MONEY. i feel like listening to some music, BUT I'M JUST DOING IT TO MAKE MONEY. think it over

 

Not sure where I said they weren't interested in quality. Keep drinking and getting meaner. I love people like that.