A Large German Brewery Is Opening a U.S. Production Facility

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by M-Fox24, Jun 27, 2019.

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  1. invertalon

    invertalon Pooh-Bah (2,065) Jan 27, 2009 Ohio
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    Could be for many different reasons. If I recall reading about it, wasn't the price a bit high compared to other establishments in the area? What works for one city may not work for another. It's a gamble, for sure... Hofbrau made in work in multiple cities throughout the US.

    I think in the right city, with the right atmosphere, pricing and offerings (food and such)... They could be successful.
     
  2. anfield86

    anfield86 Pooh-Bah (2,594) Nov 21, 2006 New Jersey
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    Paging Augustiner, Aying, Mahr's, Schlenkerla, Weihenstephan....if any one of those guys came here I'd dieeeeeee
     
  3. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
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    How about Trumer? ;-)
     
  4. thesherrybomber

    thesherrybomber Initiate (0) Jun 13, 2017 California
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    Their only product is a kosher pilsner? At least according to BA
     
  5. EmperorBatman

    EmperorBatman Zealot (717) Mar 16, 2018 Tennessee

    This has worked out quite well for the Austrian brewery Trumer when they set up a brewery in California. I was wishing that a similar endeavor would be undertaken on the East Coast. I hope their eventual distribution from this brewery expands wide and outside the Carolinas - currently I live in that awkward sliver of the East Coast between all the great German-style breweries in NC to the south, and Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts to the north, and I can't really get beers from any of them except Devil's Backbone in VA.

    I also have to express some similar hesitation about the brand. Trumer makes an excellent Pilsner, and I think that's a big part of their success. They've also done quite well in both Austria and America by blending into and cooperating with the craft beer scene, as well as tapping into youth culture and the hipster aesthetic. I wonder how Gilde will do it?
     
  6. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    The Trumer brewery in Berkeley, CA brewery is owned by The Gambrinus Co. of Spoetzl [Shiner] fame (as well as formerly Pete's and BridgePort, both now defunct). They briefly imported Trumer before the brewery was built as they had for Moosehead and Grupo Modelo/Corona (the latter, where they made their money).
    According to PR at the time, it was a joint venture between the two firms. It seems that Gambrinus licenses the brand and brewery names for the US market, and gets technical support from the Austrian brewery.
     
  7. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
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    The upstate of South Carolina and Charlotte areas are full of Germans and German companies, not the least of which is BMW. German and German style beers thrive in this area.
     
  8. invertalon

    invertalon Pooh-Bah (2,065) Jan 27, 2009 Ohio
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    Me and you both…
     
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  9. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,291) May 30, 2005 Michigan
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    Thanks, I didn't know that. North Carolina has been on my 'places to visit' list for a pub crawl, so I'll be looking for the German-related places as my priority.
     
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  10. HouseofWortship

    HouseofWortship Pooh-Bah (2,629) May 3, 2016 Illinois
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    As I stated earlier, this concept isn't going to work at a production level, it will only work as a niche brewpub. To get the production brewery off the ground they would have to compete with the macro lagers on price at which point if there were any traction macro would just increase the quality of their lagers and push them out and take the space with their larger advertising and marketing budgets. If people thought the German style lager market was that great you'd see more players in it right now. My guess is the CEO needed an excuse to justify his living in the US and came up with this concept so he can spend more time with his family...
     
  11. anfield86

    anfield86 Pooh-Bah (2,594) Nov 21, 2006 New Jersey
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    Well, Trumer is an Austrian brand. Their mistake, not mine :laughing: :wink:


    But yeah, absolutely I'd love to have them here in the East (as I alluded to back on post #12). Cheers!
     
    #31 anfield86, Jun 28, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2019
  12. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
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    Olde Mecklenburg in Charlotte and Red Oak near Greensboro make very nicely authentic beers.
     
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  13. unlikelyspiderperson

    unlikelyspiderperson Grand Pooh-Bah (3,862) Mar 12, 2013 California
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    I don't know why they'd have to compete with bud and the like on price, wouldn't they just have to compete with the other german lagers (that are imported) on price? and they would obviously dominate those on freshness. Also not sure when we've ever seen the american macro brands 'just increase the quality of their lagers' as a response to competition so that seems like an odd strategy to predict
     
  14. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
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    What? You don't like next door neighbors? :wink:
     
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  15. Lyleb80

    Lyleb80 Initiate (0) Feb 27, 2019 Arizona

  16. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Gilde apparently escaped from the Borg (7 of 9?).

    They were acquired by Inbev (prior to AB). AB-Inbev sold them to the TCB Group in 2015. TCB us a German brewery group, with 2016 production of ~5.3 million barrels (which, if they were American, would qualify them as a "craft brewer" according to the BA guidelines). They may have exceeded 6 million barrels by now, though. (Information from wikipedia).
     
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  17. HouseofWortship

    HouseofWortship Pooh-Bah (2,629) May 3, 2016 Illinois
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    Same way InBev increased the quality of their sours, barrel aged stouts and IPAs- buy the knowledge through acquisition and scale it.
     
  18. unlikelyspiderperson

    unlikelyspiderperson Grand Pooh-Bah (3,862) Mar 12, 2013 California
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    So you're suggesting that it would inspire the macros to buy a craft brewer that specializes in German styles?
     
  19. HouseofWortship

    HouseofWortship Pooh-Bah (2,629) May 3, 2016 Illinois
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    To reiterate what I said previously- I don't believe there is a market for a 500,000 barrel craft lager production facility as proposed by Gilde. If that kind of market were to suddenly develop then macro is going to want a piece of it or have competition to prevent it eating away at their bottom line which is primarily lagers. I leave the speculating up to you on which one would work best, but there are plenty of historical examples.
     
  20. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
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    They are likely to be exporting to South America and elsewhere.
     
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