Boycotting 10 Barrel & Elysian

But, from a purely business point of view, competition is inefficient. Monopolies are very efficient. I suspect that Inbev would love to be a monopoly.

 

As if we needed another reason to be concerned about InBev, this recently from Texwild (Fremont Brewing) in another thread:

"Barrels are getting harder to come by (due to InBev and the former Goose Island - RIP) but we are working angles to double production again to offer our Oregon friends some next year."

So an entity as large as InBev could really put a crimp on high-end craft brewing by making used spirits barrels very expensive. They have the means to buy every barrel they can find if that's what they want to do.

 

http://www.elysianbrewing.com/great-pumpkin-beer-fest/

this is tonight. two major notable breweries absent: avery and fremont. otherwise, looks pretty comparable to previous years.

 

IIRC Russian River and Allagash have been consistent attendees in the past and are conspicuously absent. Would having Blue Point, Goose Island, and Golden Road show up be a little too on the nose?

 

yup, you're right. RR and allagash have been consistent attendees.

i really wanted to see the whole inbev line-up there. at least we'll get pumpkin-a-rita.

 

Hmmm. I'd rather be at Fremont.

 

No Cascade also. Pumpkin Smash is excellent once again this year.

 

Independent craft breweries matter. It's why this site exists. Word.

 

This thought isn't fully formed yet, so grains of salt.

What might it mean for a company like Pabst? They don't own a brewery, most, if not all, of their stuff is brewed at SAB plants, if they merge, and Inbev decides they don't want to brew competition beers for their "budget" brands, where else could Pabst have all their brands brewed? There's been some talk of somebody buying back the Ranier brand, and bringing production back to the NW, but that hasn't happened yet.

 

Pabst is going back into brewing in Milwaukiee, right? I can't imagine why ABI wouldn't continue that turnabout in popularity.

 

Inbev doesn't own it. Why produce a beer for another company that competes with your own product? Inbev could seriously damage all the Pabst brands: PBR, Ranier, Olympia, Lone Star, and more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pabst_Brewing_Company

If Inbev buys SAB, and if they end the Pabst contracts, where could Pabst get all those beers produced?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anheuser-Busch_InBev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABMiller

 

I did not research PBR as a holding company, & therefore assumed ownership by SABMiller. Hence the including of them in the alleged sale.

I understand the concern far better, now.

 

Antitrust maneuvers aside, the brand loyalty in that segment suggests to me that ABI would rather keep making money from Pabst drinkers rather than shutting down the brand and hoping to convert those drinkers to another brand. Once they own it, it's no longer "competition." If the choice is between shuttering it and selling off the brand for compliance, I could see them thinking "if we can't have it no one can," but otherwise I think bottom-libe folks would prefer to keep revenue from the people who are loyal to the brand.

 

They will, @Bitter_Better ; but just to keep other craft offerings off the shelf. Here's the big picture..... AB can produce and market kegged beer at cost, which is around $85 to $90 per half barrel. Your average micro needs to get between $120 to $240 per half barrel to be profitable.

AB/InBev is an International company with assets in nearly every country. They have very deep pockets allowing them to acquire unprofitable and profitable breweries alike. They can control brewing resources, control or monopolize keg prices, undersell the craft products at the commercial and retail levels.

Once AB/InBev moves production of select craft beers to their Mega Breweries (we're talking 3.2 million barrels/year capacity), they have the ability to distribute large quantities nationally. Great news for the consumer, bad news for the small craft brewer like Dog Fish or Russian River. That kind of production power also threatens breweries like Sierra Nevada.

Laws are in place that prevent breweries from selling their product for less than the cost of production. Small breweries cannot afford, nor do they have the capacity to undersell a Goose Island IPA produced by an AB facility. Add to that the fact that in some states, AB/InBev can own beverage distributorships and you now have a producer that can dictate to a bar, restaurant or tap room what beers are available.

This thing with InBev is about controlling the market. And yea.. JMO

 

More of where my point was, & I'd worry if I drank those lagers. They certainly have a crafty niche market.
I'm too sensitive to the sulfur notes in them to really enjoy it...w/o more bittering. Doug Fir Logger & pFriem Pilsner are as light as I go...on rare occations.

 

I mostly agree, and, like I said, this thought is only half-formed. But since Pabst, as a company, is somewhat of a paper tiger, what happens if they do lose access to large brewing facilities? Would Inbev then try to buy the brands that Pabst now owns? Just say screw it, and put (for example) Busch out there at the PBR/Ranier/Oly price points?

Then there's the logistical side of things: there's already a back log to try to buy new kegs, what about cans/bottles? Would Inbev have the muscle to convince the container suppliers to reduce availability of cans and bottles? I suspect that while a can company makes a tidy sum selling a few palates of cans to a small brewery as needed, their bread and butter has to be the big breweries. Coors has their own can manufacturing facility, so if they get spun off in the process, they'd be OK. It's not just the liquid that's on the table here.

 

Playing w/ the devil got me a $10 fill of all-2-row malt & 450 lbs of fresh Cascades brewed by two great brewers...I'll ride that wave until it breaks. It's top 3 freshies, for me.
Have a feeling that lone can of Cowiche will leapfrog into #2, being 5 days old @ enjoyment.

 

And......... Wait for it!!!!

InBev just bought Miller for $104B.......

 

I've read this post several times. I still have no idea what the hell is being discussed in it. Carry on Broski.