10 Barrel Brewing Portland Update

FWIW, that was the previous seasonal that was replaced by Pray 4 Snow 3-4 weeks ago. It's fairly common practice for breweries/distributors to sell their "close code" or slightly out of season beers at blowout prices to companies like Grocery Outlet and Winco.

Anecdotally speaking, the announcement has had little (if any) affect on their sales in our place.

 

I was initially going to focus on the fact that in reality, there isn't all that much in your post that's all that inconsistent with what I said in my earlier post. But the hell with that... instead of the milquetoast response I had in mind let's try the following:

The argument you make is essentially the same argument a lot of large corporations like to make that dominate the marketplace in their particular market niche. It's essentially an end justifies the means argument; look at all the good things we do... all the people we employ, all the distributors and retailers that have made a good living selling our product... all the folks that have gone on to bigger and better things after the time they spent learning their craft with us. Maybe we took advantage of our position in the marketplace to kill off a competitor or two (or absorbed them), but hey... it's all in the name of keeping our shareholders happy and our employees employed. It's unfortunate, but we just did what we felt we had to do to maintain our position in the marketplace.

Does that about capture the essence of your post?

So my question is this... At what point does it become excessive? At what point does the end not justify the means? You mentioned the technology companies you worked for, noting that they engaged in some underhanded practices, but that you never felt tarnished or evil yourself... would there ever have been a point that you might have felt differently? How many bad things would these companies have had to do before you would have walked away?

In my experience, most employees have no problem divorcing themselves from the political viewpoint or global practices advocated by their employers. So in what way can someone affect change in a company's behavior? I would argue that public discourse and market place decisions (buying or not buying the product) is probably best, and maybe really the only way, to accomplish that. If that eventually leads to the demise of a company like AB-InBev (hard to imagine, but I guess it could happen), so be it... as I'm sure Ab-InBev would be the first to point out... it's a tough old world out there, and there's always going to be winners and losers. Undoubtedly there will be some other corporate entity to take AB-Inbev's place should they ever go belly up. And who knows.... maybe the new company that takes their place will be a little less rapacious and underhanded than AB-InBev. So maybe in the long run, their demise wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

I think I'll continue to avoid purchasing AB-InBev products (even if the glass of BCBS I had last night DID taste pretty damn good).[/QUOTE]

It doesn't capture the essence because we're writing from different perspectives. You're writing from the perspective of the company. I was writing from the perspective of the people within the company. It's a small but important difference. You said initially that for InBev "beer doesn't matter." My response is that there are many people within InBev for whom beer probably matters a whole helluva lot ... so maybe InBev isn't a single, simplistic thing. I was less concerned with what InBev would say and mroe conncerned with what the brewer would say, or the person researching ways to improve packaging quality, or the new employees from 10 Barrel. InBev may take "credit" for that work and then, yes, it would sound like ends justify the means. Maybe I'm making a big deal about something obvious but it's easy to forget that companies are made up of people many of whom have the best of intentions. It makes it hard for me to condemn an entire endeavor. Wholly rotten companies - like, say, Enron - are as rare as wholly rotten individuals. Probably even rarer since they'll always be an aggregate of different people and motivations. Culture change at companies is slow - there's a lot of inertia. I'm not sure if InBev is proactively trying to change their culture, but it seems like the more "crafty" DNA they absorb, the more likely culture change becomes. Will it happen? I wouldn't put deny possibility considering how the market is changing.

6 months ago everyone probably would have agreed that for many folks at 10 Barrel, beer mattered - the founders, the brewers, etc. But suddently it doesn't matter to them because they have been acquired and they have to meld into the group-mind? I distrust that kind of faith based argument.

That said, your question - at what point do the practices of your employer become so egregious that you can't be affiliated with them any longer - is a good one. Everyone needs to answer that for themselves, obviously. The answer depends in large part on what your next best alternative is, how it feeds your growth, and how those practices are thought of within various parts of the company. I'd also ask is it possible to associate with a company whose reputation is tarnished but wields a lot of power in the hopes that you can have a possitive impact?

 

I understand. I just had not seen 10 barrel six packs in GC before..they also had 6 packs of 21st Amendment Back in Black and Bitter American for $5.99.

 

Instead of "quoting" @John_M & @Kurmaraja, I'll do it this way.

I hate Wal-Mart. With a passion. Back when I was an OTR driver, the company I worked for had a contract to haul various products into WMs distribution centers. Anybody who has ever dealt with these types of places, and particularly grocery warehouses, knows that they are, generally, about the 5th ring of hell. On a good day. On a bad day, about the 65th.

As you might expect, WM distro centers tend to be in rural areas, near interstates. They are often the largest employer in their area. Without exception, the WM employees at those warehouses were the nicest, most pleasant, helpful where they could be, most patient with stubborn-assed truck drivers that I encountered. Without going into too much OT detail, I never hated going to their warehouses, and often dreaded going into the facilities of some "nicer" companies.

That said, I always had to do a bit of soul-searching when offered these loads. No doubt I was getting paid more to carry that product, than more than a couple store-level employees would be getting paid to unload and stock the stuff. I wonder if the owners and employees of the small breweries that ABI takes on do the same soul searching? I'm sure that some do, and are a bit uncomfortable with themselves for cashing the check. Others, perhaps not.

And, when it comes to taking money from ABI, what about craft brewers that have their brews distro'd through an ABI house? In my town, the ABI house carries Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, Firestone Walker, and a lot of local/regional breweries. And ya know what? The reps from that house do a great job getting their craft brands out in front of the masses. They may walk down the beer aisle to grab a 12 pack of Bud Light, and do, but they sometimes will grab a 22 or sixer of craft along with it. If it wasn't for ABI, that beer wouldn't have been there for them to even consider.

With all this talk of boycotting ABI brands, does that extend to craft beer repped by ABI houses? Are any of us going to forego the FW Anniversary beers, just because a Bud truck brought 'em? Are y'all gonna pass on Celebration? For me, the answers are no and no. We all have to draw our own lines. I'm in my shoes, not anybody else's

 

I see this often.. usually a woman will be looking for something for her hubby/boyfriend and i will be there looking over the choices. Sometimes I am asked and i try to recommend a "craft" that wont be totally over the top.
Last time it was a younger gal, she wanted something fr her boyfriend that was "dark" but not bitter ( makes yukky face).
Sh had a 12 of Coors Light for him..i suggested McTarnahans Cream Porter( Portland now)..its inexspensive and very pleasant tasting.
I think a lot of folks do that they will buy their Bud Light then one day decide to try one of am fancy big bottles...most times its nice to help!

 

Oh, I have zero sympathy for the ABI devil. And again, I'm just referring to my local ABI house, Sound Beverage, and the job they do. Some of the reps are beer nerds, and you see them at beer events around town, even if the beer is repped by a different distributor. But, when I can walk into the quickee-mart a couple blocks down the street, and I have two choices of craft beer to fill a growler with, even though their actions aren't altruistic, I still am happy those Sound guys talked that market owner into installing a couple taps.

 

And I know that I don't need to remind you, Matt, that it was InBev/A-B behind the proposed increased taxes that Washington wanted to levy against craft breweries a couple of years ago. And for the rest of the readers out there who were not working the legislature and governor's office like Matt and the rest of the craft beer community in Washington, that was a significant effort by InBev/A-B to try to put craft breweries in our state OUT OF BUSINESS. So don't think for a minute that buying those bottles of BCBS doesn't matter --- you know, it's not like you're buying 24-packs of Bud Light, right? --- you're just giving them more clout.

 

Anecdotally speaking, have you seen any changes in the movement of 10 barrel product?

 

My off the cuff response would have been "very little change", but I had a couple minutes to kill, so I ran some numbers. I compared July (our busiest month of the year "pre-buyout") to last month, and despite sales volume overall being basically the same for both months, 10 Barrel sales are actually up 15%. The $12 bottles of barrel aged pumpkin beer definitely contributed to that bump, but even after factoring that out their core brands are still up a fair bit.

 

That is super interesting. Thanks.

 

Craft beer talk turns to corporate accountability. Like it.

Simply put, IMHO, we can speak about the practices of a company without besmirching the people that work for that company. I put my time and company resources behind a large project to support military families without endorsing the amorphous US military industrial complex in this country. I've worked as an attorney for the Catholic Arch-Diocese (hated this assignment and those fuckers) without losing sight of the amazing work done by all the Catholic relief agencies amd local churches doing great work in our communities. Life is grey.

I was also trained to be a community organizer by Cesar Chavez and RFK and many others who taught me that we do make a difference with our actions and choices. I simply choose NOT to support a company that consistently works to kill craft beer. I have many friends that work for AB-InBev and don't think they are evil. On the contrary, they are good people...who work for a bad company.

Well, that wasn't "simply put" but it reminds me why I love this group. This conversation is about craft beer and craft beer is not simply about craft beer.

 

I went to an event last night at Mohai celebrating the innovative Seattle tech industry, and specifically 10 interesting startups. Budweiser was a sponsor (because that makes sense). They had 2 goose island beers and 2 Stella variants. I'll say it again - F goose island.

 

If anyone was waiting, looks like 10 Barrel Portland is planning to be open next week.

I guess timing this around St Patrick's Day is one way to guarantee a crowd for their future anniversary parties.

 

I didn't dig back through this thread but can anyone tell us how Kelso and Tanya reacted to the news of the sale?

 

I wonder if they will import those two world class douchebag bartenders from Bend? Kidding(?) aside, I really was excited about the idea of 10 barrel in PDX and might still check it out, putting aside my little personal boycott for a day.

 

If either Tonya or Kelso have negative opinions about the sale, they're both smart enough to not discuss it publicly.

 

here's hoping they get crickets!!! ... won't happen but I'm hoping.

 

I have managed to go without purchasing a single 10 Barrel product since the take-over.
They make it easy by selling their six packs higher than almost all their competitors.