The Constellation Brands story died down, but The Beer Temple Podcast covered it on their latest episode. Basically there is a relationship between Constellation Brands and Half-Acre, but not an ownership stake. Constellation paid for and owns the fancy pilot brew system Half-Acre has, they also employ a brewer on site to run it. When not in use by Constellation, Half-Acre can use it as well as the brewer. That seems to be the extent of it, not an ownership stake in Half-Acre itself, they just own the pilot brew system there. This is more or less what was claimed initially, but the word "invested in" was used which could suggest there was more to it. Constellation is headquartered in Chicago so it makes sense they would want to find space in Chicago.
Not enough questions have been answered to convince me otherwise. Why wouldn’t Constellation put the pilot system in one of their breweries?
They don’t have any breweries in Chicago AFAIK, but their headquarters are here. The license is named to their marketing division, which is also based here. Probably more convenient for them.
Again, I’m not seeing this from a logic perspective. Is the marketing team driving brewing at Constellation? Why would they need a local pilot system after all this time? Are the brewing decisions all being made by suits in Chicago? The only reason I could see, and I don’t think it makes sense, would be if they are experimenting with recipes to make their beer cheaper- trying new ingredients, etc to get the same flavor for a better per oz price. Seems like they could have done that in house somewhere if that was the case. Plus, if they were involved with HA, wouldn’t they cover it up with a harmless sounding story?
On the other hand, if they bought part of Half-Acre, they would need to report that in their quarterly reports as a public traded company no? Certainly if that was the case it would have been noticed and reported on. Also if they owned Half-Acre why would they need their own brewers license to brew there?
You are right. Constellation owns Mexican brands in the US (Corona, Modelo, Victoria, Pacifico). For the basic beers they probably rely on the ABInbev recipes used for the Mexican market. Constellation is able to develop independent brand extensions not derived from ABInbev products. Corona Sunbrew might be one. Since Constellation doesn't own a US based brewery, the HA facility could be used for developing more brand extensions for their Mexican brands. Setting up a small test brewery at one of their Mexican breweries would be much less convenient. FIFCO did similar brand extensions of their Labatt US portfolio independent of the Canadian brands. Those new products were contrary to ABInbev's Labatt Canada's wishes, but the divestment agreement allowed FIFCO latitude to use their imagination (three Blue Light flavored versions). FIFCO owns the Genesee brewery in Rochester, NY, where they can do their test brews and production.
The tin foil hats on this board are wild. Not every agreement is a conspiracy signaling or hiding some ulterior motive. Sometimes businesses just conduct business.
Yea. Peoples thoughts on a message board regarding the business decisions from one of the biggest, and most successful, brands in Corpo Beer are fun to read though.
What do you mean? Maybe you're the conspiracy theorist, you ever think about that? Who's being defensive?
