"Crafty" brewers coming on strong?

Of the ones you mentioned, New Albion Ale I found to be a very good session beer. Audible Ale is just an average pale ale. Nothing special but pretty decent. I cant agree about Leinenkugel though. Their "normal" beers (non Big Eddy) really are very medicore. I was excited about Hoppin Helles and the hop presence was minimal at best. The best macros I liked this year were Newcastle's summer and fall seasonals (Bombshell & Werewolf). For macros they were pretty good.

 

As you may recall, I shared your impression of the Shiner Oktoberfest compared to several others I tried this year. (Can't speak to the other two.)

So I think you've made a resonable suggestion here. As a brewer, even if your largest market share is going to continue to be Adjunct Lager drinkers its hard to ignore the demographics of Craft beer growth and sales declines of Adjunct Lagers. So if you want to keep your sales stable or in growth mode you go to where the business is rather than close your eyes to the data and hope that the trends will go away.

I also think the three examples you've given can be supplimented with others. In PA there is a family owned brewery almost as old as Yuengling that has begun adding periodic releases of some quite nice craft style beers to their line up.

Edit: However, I don't think the "crafty" is needed since these breweries can't really be accused of concealing their ownership the same way some think has been done with Blue Moon. (But I also don't agree with it there since if you care to know you can easily find out the ownership of Blue Moon Brewing. It’s a matter for public record even if not listed on the label.)

 

Thing is up here Leinenkugel's beers arent everywhere. Their distribution up here isnt the best. Ive never seen Canoe Paddler for example or any of their Big Eddy's line.
I can just drink Long Trail instead which is slightly better than Leinkuguel and is cheaper and is found everywhere here. I remember I visited a bunch of stores and they didnt even have the Leinkuguel fall variety pack and the one that had it, it cost 16 bucks! So yeah Id rather just drink Long Trail instead.

 

One thing I noticed about faux craft and pricing is that Shock Top is always cheaper than Blue Moon. A Blue Moon 12 pack will be like 15 bucks usually and a Shock Top 12 pack will be a few bucks cheaper. Found that to be interesting.

 

Have You tried their snowdrift Porter its one of my favorite beers ever along with fond memories of drinking it with close friends

 

Since when is New Albion Ale "crafty"? It was made by Boston Beer Company. Did I miss something?

 

Big Eddy Ryewine Ale from Leinenkugel's was pretty decent, and it's just too bad that it was brewed by a Crafty brewery, because some Craft Beer purists* might even like it if they tried it.

(* But I understand the nature of 'personal boycotts.' Oh well. )

 

Terrapin is "crafty"? Is this whats being said or am I misreading the post?

 

I was rather impressed with Yuengling's Octoberfest, I would put it right up there with Sam Adams and Spaten.

 

Passed on Shiner's Oktoberfest this year, glad to hear people liked it. Audible & New Albion did nothing for me. I've had a few Shock Tops that were worth another go. And I would certainly do some Big Eddies if in a jam.

 

Bought a 12 pack of Audible for 10.99 in NH the other day, a great beer to fill the fridge. I also thought New Albion was great. My taste definitely lean to beers that aren't beers that fill up the threads around here. I can't remember the last time Ipswich(solid, long time NE craft)was mentioned around here, yet Clown Shoes who uses their brewery is talked about every half hour.

 

I don't really dig the whole "crafty brewers" label. If you brew good beer you brew good beer regardless of your size. Audible Ale is a fav. for me. Soo cheap. Like $1.99 the first time I picked up a bomber of it. Insanely sessionable too.

 

Precisely, I'm tired of hearing how a craft beer has to associated with a microbrewery. Anyone who states that should reread their sentence and try to determine the context makes any sense. If you don't like larger breweries, that's fine. But making craft and brewery size mutually exclusive is clouded logic.

 

sometimes there is just more going on than the quality of a given beer in the choices you make.

as a rule i simply always try and support the local, organic, sustainable options.

there is such a thing as an entity which is TOO BIG for the PUBLIC's General Well-being.

in fact, by the simple virtue of an organization (such as BMC.... or McDonalds or Coke or Wallmart) being so big, so world dominating and maintaining a monopoly-type high market share -- they are bad for everyone.

let's just take up some incredibly obvious points

1. budweiser needs such an incredible amount of "ingredients" to make their product they perpetuate bad agricultural practices. mono-cropping more and more land is a big corporate endeavor that only takes and gives nothing back. (think of the coal company stripping a mountain down to seal level for the ore inside. or mcdonalds burning up the amazon for more land for hamburger cattle to graze on.)

2. budweiser brews in key mega-facilities around the world and then trucks their product far and wide, burning small-country size amounts of petroleum every year.

3. the mega-corporate beer companies priced out all the local breweries 40 or 50 years ago... offering an incredibly cheap, bland product. their business model is simple: volume and price point. they want to offer you a tasty IPA for 4.99/6pk. how does that sound?

while one of these big beverage companies may indeed come up with an acceptable ale, i have zero interest in seeing them succeed. they want to get into the CRAFT BEER GAME because they are losing shelf space and market share. i will not open my wallet to help them ever again.

"the stock price MUST GO UP! at all costs."

see also: Fourloco