John Laffler is leaving Goose Island to start Off Color Brewing

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by jdhende, Nov 27, 2012.

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  1. foobula

    foobula Initiate (0) Dec 14, 2009 Illinois

    Not to mention the Fulton & Wood series. BTW, is that over now? Seems like it's been a couple of months since Casimir hit with no word of the next creation
     
  2. danimalarkey

    danimalarkey Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2008 Illinois

    Source? Did they ever get back to via social media with numbers?
     
  3. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    Cherry has never been released before, so 10 X 0 = 0...

    As for Coffee, when I was back this weekend it didn't seem like there was any shortage of it, even though stores were still doing only 1 bottle per person.
     
  4. mdomask

    mdomask Initiate (0) May 27, 2012 Illinois

    Perhaps some of us have observed similar transitions in other industries and are more reasoned in our concern.

    If AB knows one thing about brewing, it's making a consistent product day in/day out. Assume that 2012 BCBS becomes the gold standard for production. They'll likely be able to replicate it without too much issue. The sours are less certain, since they have a more "when they're ready" feeling.

    Here are the potential risks to GI, as I see them:
    • Morale slump
    • Additional turnover
    • Less freedom for experiments
    • "Good enough" culture (vs. a culture of excellence)
    None of these are specific to the Halls or Laffler, although those fears may have played a part in their decisions. More likely, InBev was one factor among many, with a desire to do something new the biggest factor.
    So, yes, a high-profile departure makes me concerned. I just don't sing the doom and gloom song without good reason.
     
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  5. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    I dunno, but I got to try Casimir at Bavarian Lodge and I thought it was excellent.
     
  6. Steimie

    Steimie Maven (1,404) Jan 7, 2012 Michigan

    Yep. This is why I just went down to Walgreen's and grabbed a 4pk of KBS.

    Sorry, but that's not how all great craft brewers do it. Would it be nice if they did? Maybe. But they don't. It appears GI did quite a bit to get more BCBS and variants to Chicago this year, but I'm not sure they could ever saturate that market with those products.
     
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  7. WillCarrera

    WillCarrera Initiate (0) Oct 11, 2010 Ohio

    What about Cantillon, who ships a huge bulk of what they make outside of Belgium, or the Bruery or Deschutes who ship a lot of their limited stuff across the country? You're just holding GI to a different standard and being all pissy cause you wanted more Cherry Rye to yourself.
     
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  8. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    C'mon man, he said "great" craft brewers :rolling_eyes:
     
  9. Bay01

    Bay01 Initiate (0) Nov 19, 2008 Illinois

    They better not kill it before Two More Weeks gets released
     
  10. BreakingBad

    BreakingBad Initiate (0) Sep 17, 2012

    I disagree with your logic. If you want a reference look at bramble last year. There was an extreme shortage of cherry. Yet they ship it out all across the country. They need to learn that limited beers like this should go to their hometown first then ship out. That's how all the great craft Brewers do it, and how it should be done. It's not about making more. It's about allocating what they made correctly. If people outside IL want cherry they should have to come to Chicago like people go to surly for darkness or FFF for DL. That's just my opinion though.
     
  11. BreakingBad

    BreakingBad Initiate (0) Sep 17, 2012

    Cantillion is very easily available in Belgium. Its scares here across the ocean. How it should be.
     
  12. BreakingBad

    BreakingBad Initiate (0) Sep 17, 2012

    No need to be caty man. Still don't know why u got a vendetta against me.
     
  13. MarkIntihar

    MarkIntihar Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Michigan

    So they should just tell their other accounts that they've spent years building relationships with to fuck off? Goose Island is on a completely different scale than FFF and Surly, so those are bad examples. FFF and Surly predominantly supply one urban area each, which is why they can get away with keeping it all at home.
     
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  14. WillCarrera

    WillCarrera Initiate (0) Oct 11, 2010 Ohio

    Not their limited stuff, they're shipping probably >80% of Zwanze outside the country, and the US got a huge portion of Foune this year.

    Has anyone else here seen Groundhog Day? Ok campers, rise and shine...
     
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  15. Steimie

    Steimie Maven (1,404) Jan 7, 2012 Michigan

    Again, and I really can't stress this enough, this is NOT "how all the great craft brewers do it." That just simply isn't true.
     
  16. JackHorzempa

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

    “If AB knows one thing about brewing, it's making a consistent product day in/day out.”

    That may certainly have been true of AB when it was just AB. Now that we have an entity called AB-InBev it appears things are different? Below is what I posted in another thread:

    “I'm still confused as to why AB-InBev will absolutely positively 100% for sure ruin Goose Island.” I am not 100% sure that AB-InBev will ‘ruin’ Goose Island and I genuinely hope that they don’t.

    “And margins be damned you can't mess with the taste, because as soon as it tastes bad I'll stop recommending it.” Well, reducing margins is unfortunately a genuine concern. There is recent history that AB-InBev did this with Beck’s (which is now brewed in St. Louis). They have also taken other steps to reduce costs in their beer making. I posted this previously:

    It all jibes with Anheuser-Busch's intense and aggressive focus on profit at all costs. Here are some of the moves made by CEO Carlos Brito to shore up profits, according to Bloomberg Businesweek:
    Shifted the brewing of Beck's from Germany to St. Louis, alienating fans who said the taste was weakened.
    •Laid off 1,400 people, or 6% of its American workers.
    •Sold the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks.
    •Made its labels smaller, the glass in its bottles thinner and cardboard packaging weaker.
    Used broken rice instead of whole grains in its beer, something previous management would not do.
    •Cut the number of employee BlackBerry phones and told execs to start flying commercial.
    Cut purchases of high-quality hops, like those from Germany's Hallertau region, in favor of cheaper hops.

    Above is from: http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=05e1af69-653a-40f1-9c7a-7b72498f6afe

    Let’s all hope that AB-InBev does not make the same ‘mistakes’ like they did with Beck’s recently but it would be imprudent to just think that Goose Island is different and the quality of Goose Island beers is of upmost importance to AB-InBev vs. maximizing profits.


    Cheers!
     
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  17. BreakingBad

    BreakingBad Initiate (0) Sep 17, 2012

    Alright i didn't know that. I will take your word
     
  18. immobilisme

    immobilisme Initiate (0) Nov 8, 2005 Illinois

    From the Sun-Times article: 'an upcoming beer Laffler has tentatively titled “I Think That Stripper Really Liked Me.”'

    Too much time hanging out with Jeppe from Evil Twin?
     
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  19. Crusader

    Crusader Pooh-Bah (1,651) Feb 4, 2011 Sweden
    Pooh-Bah Society

    If they had any sense they'd use the cache that the brand has acquired up until now whilst expanding their sales and market penetration, then at a later stage once the market share is large enough to their liking they can start to tinker with ingredients and the production to get better margins out of the now increased volumes. I think they will give it a few years at least to build a stronger base which wont be affected by fickle craft beer enthusiasts before they start to alter the product, something which will undoubtedly ruin the cache and pricing power of the brand. So basically for now things might be alright, but down the line one might start to worry. With this minute brands time has to be considered an investment in itself.
     
  20. danimalarkey

    danimalarkey Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2008 Illinois

    And I hope the labels turn out to be just sharpie doodles from Laffler -- I'd like to see what the label would like for that beer.

    As for any hard feelings, let's all just remember -- Bro, it's just Beer, so let's just Chill out.
     
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