Goodbye, Michelob Original Lager.

Not that it should be ignored or that I would try to persuade you to buy AB beers, but as someone that has been directly impacted by their tactics for almost 10 years now, I still will buy their beers. I've seen enough crappy stuff from craft brewers that I'm just going to drink what I like because I don't have time to vet every single one equally. From taking advantage of employees, partnership disputes with hostile takeovers, sexual harassment in the work place, bribing distributors (yeah, it happens at the small brewery level too), tap handle bounties, keg theft, lying about ABV, ingredients, recipes, etc, all of which I would rank as being equally as bad or worse than anything I've seen from AB, I just don't see how I could try to take a moral stance by boycotting AB and not do so with a large number of craft breweries as well and frankly, I don't have the time to dig and find out which ones should be boycotted if I were to try to take that high ground.

 

Maybe Eric the clown has some ‘words of wisdom here’!?!

“You should forget it. You’re living in the past man”.

Cheers!

 

Yup, my memory does indeed still work despite my 'advanced' age!

There is no way that I can personally condone the business practices of BIG beer in the past but IMO Weedy (@honkey) applies some proper context in that it was (is) not just BIG beer that conducts business in less than morally favorable ways. Should I stop purchasing Founders beers as a point of example?

FWIW, Weedy and I have a similar stance here in that I do not 'boycott' AB brewed beers. Instead I purchase beers I enjoy drinking (e.g., BCBS).

Cheers!

P.S. The whole Eric the clown allusion was more intended for levity (tongue in check) reasons.

 

How I wish this lineup was still around. InBev made a Big Mistake.

Cheers disgruntled Michelob Lager fans.

 

Personally, I think that's the best reason to not buy their stuff, but I certainly wouldn't try to persuade you on the other stuff. I just happen to believe that their beer is generally good and that even with their sometimes shady practices, it's not worse than we see from anyone else in pretty much any business or industry. I also find it pretty easy to compete with them even when I was dealing with some very prohibitive laws that worked to their advantage back in Alabama.

If you said you were going to (at least for the reason I think you're referencing), I would urge you to see if you could learn more about it... There was a lot more to that story than was told or than will ever become public. The knee jerk reaction for a lot of people (including myself) was to blast away and it's sad that people (again, including myself) react that way with little to no information available.

 

I have to laugh at the number of people standing in line with a wad of cash they will soon hand over in the Bourbon County release lines who fervently "hate" or "boycott" AB. That said, I understand.

In Chicago, beer is pretty cutthroat. I hate Reyes for their role in chasing Bell's (they and Boulevard are now with the AB distributor and doing well) out of Chicago. New Glarus was chased out via Southern Wine & Spirits, and still haven't returned to our state, a big loss.

Larry Bell addressed his problems with Reyes Distributing both and Illinois, and now in Virginia and in recent ask me anything thread. I either buy the brands they carry direct from the breweries, or avoid as best as possible. There are brands I no longer drink without leaving the state. It's sad, but thankfully there are great alternatives. It's takes time and effort to avoid larger beer corporations and distributors, as their lineups and contracts continuously change. It's easier to boycott a company such as Amazon / Whole Foods, since they are easily identifiable and you can find alternatives.

 

Haha, and I was going to reply to your post by saying, "He probably drinks BCBS..."

And then...

@John_M no ill will though, I get it. Just having some fun.

Yes, thank you. This is exactly how I feel as well. It's good to hear that from someone in the industry.

You also left out the most egregious crime of all that a craft brewer can commit...labeling a beer a "Pilsner" that isn't even close to one.

Exactly. I extend this out to any business or industry as well. I don't have the time or energy to sift through ALL the information for every business I purchase products from, whether it's beer or a car. And who knows who owns who these days.

Also...

There's no way to know the entire story, in any instance. We're only privy to the information that leaks to the media.

I'm not going to make a purchasing decision based on only SOME of a story. And this is on a macro level, not specifically just the Founders incident.

 

Agree. Loved that bottle the perforated foil and twist off cap. Last memory of that bottle was late 90’s.

 

They always had a standing bet at my corner tavern in the old neighborhood. If you could get all of the red, you got a free beer. Never saw it happen.

 

Plenty on the shelf in Minneapolis.

 

Bought a 6pack. It does have a good malty taste with an appreciable hop bitterness. I like it.

 

Bill i always liked the Michelob Light better also,i think you had mentioned that also, I never see that bottle ,is it also on the shelf out there in the west?

 

You will do fine with Yuengling. Come on up in the winter for a visit.

 

Yep, I preferred the Michelob Light but haven't seen it in years. I wish it was as available as that damn Ultra.

Edit: I see 2 reviews in 2019 then it goes 2018, 2017...

 

@honkey
Weedy, Dreher's finally made it up to Phoenix this week and my palette wanted me to send along a message to you to thank you for all the time you put into making this one of the best lagers i have enjoyed in my 40 plus years of enjoying beer! Cheers! Tom

 

Glad you were able to get it up there and glad you enjoyed it!