Do you drink beer from macro-owned craft breweries?

Recently, Lagunitas came to town. Been forkin' it over to them like it's going outta style. Lots of good brews. That Hop Stoopid was the shit! I'm expecting BP any day now, so, I can't, in good conscience, not give them my money, too. That would just be wrong.

 

If it's good then I'll buy it.

 

Yeah I'll never stop drinking Firestone.

 

Thanks for the response and I think you bring up an excellent set of points. I could have clarified further with my venting about wanting less mediocre and more of the good stuff that is trying to expand (or is bought out by BMC). As we are all painfully aware, the best testing beers aren't necessarily from the most successful breweries financially, distribute the furthest, etc. I have other examples resembling yours locally where their beer isn't all that good but they have catchy names, cool bottle art, local following, a killer dog patio and eye candy servers, etc.

Perhaps we have differences of opinion on the following aspect.

I think there's a healthy percentage of the better breweries that have not maximally expanded regionally or nationally but could do so and likely be successful because their beers are very good, highly rated, award winning, etc. (for the right reasons, to keep things short). Take that top tier in mind. Go look at those threads where the theme is "which brewery do you wish distributed in your state but doesn't?". For me, I think this is an unfortunate aspect of the industry that could be improved. Now one step further. It was one thing to be sad that Arizona did not have Bell's. That Arizona did not have Victory. That Arizona did not have Founder's. But what really pisses me off is that now that they're here, they're not getting the tap presence they should and shelf space that they should because there's so much gosh darn overcrowding from other breweries (more on that in a moment).

I realize local markets vary, but the ratio here is quite poor if we're going to talk good new local ones vs. mediocre and below. Really bad. From others' comments in other threads about the buying local movement, it's not uncommon to hear that concern. Getting that stuff off of shelves is itself an independent problem. But if solving the problem in the previous paragraph involves a shotgun approach that unfortunately takes out some of the good local ones with the overwhelmingly high percentage of not so good ones, then I don't have a problem with that. If the ratio wasn't so horrible, then I would be more concerned. And, honestly, given the current beer scene with popularity of rating sites and ticking, I am very skeptical that the often-called "gems in the rough" are going to go undiscovered. Perhaps I have too much faith but I think they will be discovered and get due recognition.

So, I'm seeing so much mediocre (or worse) stuff on taps, on the shelves... and not enough of the better stuff in a market, that I'm going to be favorably inclined to approaches that help skew things back towards the best beers being on taps, on the shelves, etc. In the future I would like the ratios more towards the best beers on taps in more places. I fear that the future is going to be more like today where each metro has curiously so many tap handles of mediocre local stuff and a more mainstream consumer base that doesn't know the difference.

 

You mean the guy who's actually going by the book?

 

I keep a stock of regular drinking beers in the fridge outside of my normal selection of <insert awesome craft stuff here>. Sam Adams samplers, Ballast Point if it's on sale.

 

The problem with the antitrust and predatory business practices law "book" is that it is written so vaguely that going "by the book" can cover a very wide range. And, to tell the truth, enforcing it is usually more a matter of pandering to the public than anything else. (all of this is JMO, of course...)

 

The truth about the book is there is no book.

 

I truly hear what you are saying here but... you do realize that "best" is subjective, right?

Well, thank goodness I don't live in that metro! I get to drink on tap Hill Farmstead, Russian River, Victory, Tired Hands, Firestone Walker, ... beers in my "metro" area.

Every time I read your posts on this topic all that I can think is you really need to move out of Arizona. Having stated that I do recognize that there likely a number of circumstances for why you could not move from Arizona to a better US beer region (and there are many) but to post like your region is 'representative' of the US craft beer market is simply not the case.

If you have the ability to relocate, please do. If you can't well....

Cheers!

 

If it tastes good, it is good.

 

As long as the beer is still good, I don't care where it's coming from or who made it. I do have my own little personal boycott of Rogue just because of some really bad business practices I've heard combined with some really overpriced beer, but that's the only brewery I have any kind of vendetta against.

I don't really buy for a second that macro breweries will entirely push out micro breweries. Look at what's going on with mom and pop stores being pushed out by Walmart...those places might have gone out of business, but a lot of owners have moved to websites like Etsy or Craigslist. There's a market right down the road from me only open on weekends where small businesses can rent a stall and sell their goods there; it's a hell of a lot less overhead to pay and it allows people that couldn't afford to run a store to still do business. And because it's a market that focuses so much on local produce and goods, the people there do pretty well because of the target audience. So Walmart didn't really change much other than how the business was done, now it's all either online or in a setting where there's a focus on local products. These macro acquisitions might change how the craft beer business is run ("might" being the key word), but it'll never completely kill it.

 

Any beer rep with any experience could bring you a laundry list of these.

 

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require a higher standard of proof than beer rep anecdotes.

 

I try not to... but if it happens, it happens. I'm not going to sweat about it. I mainly try and avoid Anheuser Busch. After watching their tv commercials openly bashing craft beer, I don't feel they should get away with being successful at selling it.

 

All the time Phife.

 

While I understand what you're saying there is no compromise involved because the beer has not changed.

 

That presumes I only purchase things based on the quality of the product alone.

 

Super. My experience and the experiences of people I trust is all I require. Never support that company, never will.

 

Not a fan myself, or of the slash and burn corporate raider tactics of Mr. Brito and his ilk.

 

I've found fairly good agreement from others in other parts of the country that are also not known for being a craft beer metro or state. Some examples above in this thread in fact. Lagunitas mention. Also above in this thread:

Indianapolis not a small metro.

There are states that are only now getting distribution from breweries like Stone and others. I've never said that Arizona is representative of the entire U.S., but there is some significant resemblance to quite a few other states, especially some in the South. The topic is therefore worth discussing with a broad audience.

From another angle, sometimes it's as if the people who live in top beer states seem to think their situation is representative of the US craft beer market but that is simply not the case. Many metros do not have a single local brewery like Victory, Founder's, Bell's, Russian River, etc.

I love living in Arizona on the whole and I love our distribution from other states. I feel bad for those who live in states with similar local brewery circumstances but don't have our good distribution. Now those are the people that should consider moving.