Forget Craft. Let's Try Transparency

Oh sure those guys too. They have a right to speak and others the right to ignore.

 

Bullshit. I don't see InBev breathing new life into the run down parts of my city. I see hard working men and women doing this because it's what they love when I got to my local breweries. I see my money helping people just like me when I order my beer. Nobody at InBev gives a shit what my name is, or how my family is doing. All they want is my dollar. Even if all other things were equal (which they aren't) this is reason enough for me to go independent.

 

Are people at Boston Beer Company doing those things for you? How about Sierra Nevada? New Belgium?

 

they can object. I worked in the automotive industry for over 15 years. quality standards are alot higher on higher end cars, hence the price tag and the time and attention to details and quality of the parts. you cannot compare a toyota to a lexus nor a handcrafted brew from, say, hill farmstead, compared to the "stuff" that comes from the big 3. when producing a large qty of anything, the time and attention to the details and quality of the ingredients are going to change due to market demand, market nitch and a price point to the target consumer. I want to know who made my beer, their business practices and know that I am getting what I pay for.

 

And you know the business practices of every brewery from which you buy beer and who owns and/or invests in them?

 

Lost me after the first sentence. Tap water would be a better choice.

 

CBA certainly does not describe their merger in those terms - although, who knows what really goes on between AB and CBA.

Their Annual Reports have been pretty open about the relationship in the section called Relationship with Anheuser-Busch, LLC (pg 8) as well as other comments under the Risk Factors sections like:

• We have a continuing relationship with Anheuser-Busch, LLC and the current distribution network that would be difficult to replace.
• Our agreements with A-B may limit our ability to engage in certain activities and investments.
• A-B has an influential voice in decisions of the board of directors and shareholders.

I didn't realize (or maybe I forgot?) the current agreement between CBA and minority owner AB states that CBA "...must obtain A-B's consent before acquiring another brewer if the purchase price exceeds $30 million..."

Anyway, CBA claims the merger that created the company traces back to their first formal partnership when, in 2004, Redhook signed a licensing agreement to brew Widmer Hefeweizen for the eastern half of the US, and soon after they created what was called the "Craft Brands Alliance" * as a JV selling/marketing partnership for the western US.

* Although, that name suggests AB-influence given AB's "Import Brands Alliance" division. Not sure which came first, however.

Now, what goes on behind the scenes at CBA's "kid's table" at AB - who knows? It'd be easy to say that the current concentration on The High End makes CBA seem like AB's redheaded stepchild... if it wasn't for the even less discussed Coastal Brewing Co., the JV between AB and Fordham/Old Dominion.

 

Lets get some numbers here... The Fort Worth MillerCoors brewery produces up to 9 million barrels of beer annually and employs 545 employees according to their website.

Rahr Brewery in Fort Worth produces around 20,000 barrels annually, and employs 33 or so employees.

There would have to be 450 breweries the size of Rahr to produce the same amount of beer that the one MillerCoors brewery produces. That would be an employed workforce of close to 15,000 people putting money into 450 communities.

Now that wouldn't actually happen because the production would not be as efficient so there probably wouldn't be 9million barrels PURCHASED.

BUT the standard Goose Island offerings are produced at breweries with efficiencies of scale comparable to the FW MillerCoors brewery I was saying. They are producing enough beer to supply all of the casual dining restaurants and more. If craft beer was pushed to those locations by the distributors instead of these Goose Island products then there would require more breweries to produce it instead of the single ABI one. There would be a lot more employees working to produce the beer because they cannot make it as efficiently as the ABI brewery does... They just do not have the equipment or process control to do it.

This is a false sense of choice though. No matter where you go you find the same Goose Island, Blue Point, 10 Barrel options. It would be greater choice if you had smaller breweries competing and providing different options in their place. There would be choices wherever you go because there would be different providers.
Someone may think they have choice if they can choose between McDonalds or Burger King. But then they go to another town and the only choices are McDonalds or Burger King. They go to a different state and the only choices are McDonalds or Burger King... Is there true choice between what to eat in this case or is there just the illusion of choices were closely manipulated by the people with the power to make the choices for you.

Facts never matter to people who just stick their fingers in their ears so they can't listen to people telling them facts.

Lexus is a single brand created by Toyota. It is produced the same way as other Toyota automobiles but with specific designs and features that are perceived as luxury.
Audi may very well handbuild their automobiles... Porsche also did a lot of manual building... But they also didn't have a single car pass their quality inspections after production until 1994 and had to be reworked by a department dedicated to that in order to pass the inspection. These quality issues were not passed onto the customer but just being handbuilt isn't a guarantee of quality.
But generally luxury cars are not really more handbuilt than other cars. There may be handstitched leather but otherwise the cars are built just as much on automated assembly lines.

ABI is just now beginning to understand what craft beer drinkers are wanting. In the craft beer infancy they assumed that people didn't care what they had as long as it wasn't a lager. The CBA breweries made simple unassuming beers that brought new people into the scene but bored people who had better beer. BUT now they are realizing that people see through the charade and they are making sure that companies like Goose Island are keeping their extreme beer program while they are moving the standard products to the big breweries to crank them out extremely efficiently.

I've never heard people complain about decreasing quality (other than infections which happen to everyone) from the limited offerings by Goose Island such as BCBS, and the sisters.
BUT what is unknown is have the standard offerings changed perceptually? Is Honkers the same now that it's being brewed on drastically larger systems by a different team of people? I don't know. There really isn't any way for any of us to know. I don't think there has been any purposeful changes to the beers. I don't think there has been ingredient changes to cheapen the beer but it's almost impossible to transition a beer from one system to another with entirely different operators and keep it tasting exactly the same.

 

I'd agree with your analogy, if we lived in an alternate universe where there was a small brewery in every area producing beer for just that area and breweries weren't allowed to grow larger than that, but it doesn't work that way. There are small breweries that produce beer for the local area, regional breweries that produce beer for a larger area, and national breweries that produce beer for the entire nation. Smaller breweries are less efficient than larger ones, but there are far more smaller breweries than there are larger ones. There's not much that's going to change that.

According to whom? Just because you are giving money to the same company doesn't mean that each beer in their portfolio isn't different and doesn't represent a choice.

 

Yes of course there are different sizes of breweries. That was partially the point. But the larger point is that every Chili's or Applebees didn't suddenly decide "Hey, I think our clientele wants an IPA" and then choose Goose Island IPA. The demographics haven't suddenly changed it has been pushes from the companies to dominate those outlets. But even then the pushes to get more beers out there are not pushes to get ANY beer on there but only specific options that are only those owned by the big corporations.

Is it true choice that I can go to one restaurant and get Honkers Ale, 312 Wheat, and Elysian Space Dust then go to the competing restaurant and get the exact same options, or go to the movie theater with the bar and get the exact same options?

It is an illusion of choice because there's nothing I can do to change it. I have the exact same choice wherever I go unless I go to specific outlets...

I know you'll say don't go to those chain restaurants (and I really don't), but these outlets COULD be providing actual choice... In fact in my specific area there were often times that Rahr beers would have been found at these outlets before the High End started claiming every taphandle. Deep Ellum IPA used to relatively common at places that didn't have a full craft focus... But those spots are disappearing and being replaced by an illusion of choice.

I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist. I am not saying you should boycott the big breweries. I am not saying that we can hurt the pocketbooks of the big breweries by stopping drinking their beers.

But as individuals you can help support the small breweries. If small breweries can still sell their beers then they can still make money to survive... But people need to understand that the small guys need support.

 

How do you differentiate "handcrafted" in a blind tasting of beers in the same style.I'm assuming you've done this and are 100% accurate all the time.

 

I'd be anxious to hear about this, as well.

 

And this is different than other industries how?

They could, but they're not fuckin' gonna.

This is a "vote with your wallet" argument. Next thing you'll be saying is, "Why don't stadiums and arenas have more craft beer?" or "Why don't more bars carry craft beer?". It's because not everyone wants to drink craft beer nor do that want options. That's why they're eating at Applebee's.

Just curious, but why should I feel motivated to help small breweries survive? Especially if I have no vested interest in them. I find that there's PLENTY of beer out there already and I don't need more choices.

 

I can't say I frequent their taprooms. I can say New Belgium seems to share my love for the proletariat, independence, and the environment so there's that.

 

FYI, Sierra Nevada has had a strong commitment to minimizing their impact on the evironment from the Git-Go. Their Mills River facility creates hardly any "waste" at all. They even take steps to re-use the CO2 generated in fermentation so they don't have to buy much if any to use for force carbonation.

BBC has, for years, had a strong commitment to providing support, mentorship and and guidance to folks wanting to open independent small breweries. One effect of that can be seen in the 5 breweries that participated in brewing most of the beers that make up the mixed pack called Brewing the American Dream.

So there's a lot more going on that you are giving credit for.

 

Not insinuating that you said that they weren't, but . . .

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/betterworld/sustainability.html

http://www.molsoncoors.com/en/responsibility

 

I never said it was different. That doesn't make it right or wrong though.

The reason I do is the exact reasons that I've specified previously. Breweries in my community employ people in my community and provide them money to spend on other business and more.

If breweries have to close because not enough people are drinking their products because it's easier to just go with the High End's options then those employees will be either unemployed or competing for other jobs when they already are not all that plentiful. I want my community to have a robust economy so I want to support them when I can so they can hopefully survive and provide even more to the community..

 

Your assumption that all places such as Applebees only offer GI and only other ABI choices makes you seem to be a conspiracy theorist. My wife occasionally enjoys Applebees and there's a kid in our extended family who likes to have his birthday celebration meal at Applebees so his parents don't disappoint him.

I turns out that neither of the Applebees I've been to over the last year of so fails to offer local on-tap options such as an IPA or other beers from local breweries. It is not the case that every Applebees offeres only High End beers on tap.

 

Yes, I was focused on well known examples of what some craft brewers are doing for their communities. Not intending to exclude the big kids.

 

That is certainly a respectable thing to do, but I don't know of any community that will sink or swim due to the presence or absence of a small craft brewery or two.