Constellation Brands to Acquire Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits

We all should have seen this coming when Raj & Howard were seen drinking Sculpin on "The Big Bang Theory" a couple of weeks ago.

 

That was my first WTF from this. Maybe being from the East Coast I underestimate the size of BP but that is a lot of money. I wonder what value the actual physical assets have.

After reading more of the thread ...sales of around 50 million. They paid 20 times sales!!!!!!!!

Damn I wish I had opened a brewery.

 

Good for them! Cant believe it was for a Billion with a B. Crazy money. As long as the beer remains good I dont give two shits who owns them. Good beer is good beer.

 

Oh no! Not Ballast Point too! I'm not saying I will stop buying their beer, but it just makes it harder to support them now. I don't want to give up my Sculpin, Grapefruit Sculpin, Victory at Sea and Calm Before the Storm!

 

Because some of us are not just supporting "craft" beer, but more importantly the craft beer culture. How many more acquisitions happen before it starts to fade?

 

I just checked the 5 year trend for the stock of 'BUD' (AB Inbev). It has been steadily climbing year over year, starting at $58 in 2011, to $122 today. It's funny how a lot of people make comments that these guys don't know what they are doing, and are not doing anything about craft taking away market share. It seems like they know exactly what they are doing.

 

Everyone should drink what they enjoy. Many small, medium and large breweries make some great brews. I enjoy drinking brews from small and large breweries that are well made. However, it is important to understand a main aspect of the craft market designation in the U.S. is to identify the small and independent microbreweries that are now +4000. Through our working together at the state guild level and at the national level we try to make sure their is fair and equal access to market for every brewery and not just the big ones. That means working to have consistent laws on taprooms, carry out and distribution from state to state. While much has improved over the last 30 years there is still work to do and to make sure we do not see all the improvements that make it possible for the small, local brewery to thrive rolled back in the future.

 

This. It shows that enough money is being made by the smaller breweries to not only be on the radars of the big brewers, but that there is enough staying power in the specialty beer marketplace to be worth them investing.

 

my consumption of BP has been slowing down quite a bit. victory at sea will always have a place on my shelf, but i find myself passing up everything else they do for cheaper, "craftier" alternatives that turn out to be equally as good.

the buyout doesn't change much for me, i was already past paying such a premium for their beers

 

What a way to start the week.......audibly said "what?!" at work when I read the amount. Crazy. I get it. But crazy.

 

The way I understand it is that AB is only currently making money on production of Grupo Modelo brands to Constellation. Constellation investing huge into the Nava brewery and hopes to 100% supply Constellation. Constellation already paid for the marketing/import rights by buying 50% from Barton and that agreement is in perpetuity. So in my mind, IF Constellation can ramp up production at Nava there won't be a dollar going back to AB and the Ballast Point thing is moot in regards to AB.

Not directed at you but another thing to realize is that Constellation's revenue is only 50% generated by beer. The rest is wine and spirits.

 

I wonder what this means about their potential expansion with a second brewery in Richmond.

 

Hopefully Ballast will keep the integrity of their brewery and keep creating a variety of great beers under the help of this corporation.

 

Man that SEC filing is quite comedic, after the fact.

Sales and Marketing

We employed a salesforce of over 50 professionals as of June 30, 2015. Through this network, we target a differentiated approach that emphasizes relationship-building and story-telling in place of traditional sales tactics


They mention their story, history, and culture more than 15 times throughout the filing. What's gonna be that story now? You can't just call yourselves sell outs.

Sadly in reality, consumers are naive and stupid. The informed (us here) will be the minority for sure. Their "story" can move on without a hitch I guess

 

"So in my mind, IF Constellation can ramp up production at Nava there won't be a dollar going back to AB"

Please explain how the ramping up of Modelo's sales (regardless of where its being produced) does not increase the value of Ab-Inbev's 100% ownership of the Modelo brands.

 

This.

 

Some of you all are crazy for being upset at this.

It is a billion fucking dollars. You cannot say no to that.

 

I wonder how this affects the "economics of local beer" and all that implies.

 

If this brings Victory at Sea and Calm Before The Storm to all the places where you can find Corona/Modelo I'll be happy.