Do you drink beer from macro-owned craft breweries?

The other option is homebrewing.

I live in an area which has excellent choices of beer both local and non-local but the majority of the beer I drink is my homebrewed beer. Homebewing has the features of:

• Your beer is guaranteed to be fresh
• You can brew beer styles that are not commonly produced and made available. I homebrew Classic American Pilsbers, Altbier, Grodziskie, Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager), ...
• You can tailor the beer to suit your personal tastes; if you like Equinox hops you brew using Equinox hops
• etc.

Cheers!

 

I think I said it last time you posted that story, but I wouldn't call an offer to buyback seasonal stock (to keep old beer off of the shelves and out of distributor warehouses) anti-competitive, unless of course you broaden the definition of anti-competitive to be "breaking any law or government policy". In which case, I'm going to have to call out a Cincinnati self distributing brewery, one of their drivers got pulled over and got a speeding ticket last week. Damn their anti-competitive behavior!

 

I am convinced that you and I will never see ‘eye-to-eye’ on this topic but what the hell, I will waste some time here.

When AB swings a deal with wholesalers to buy tons of product with the promise to buy back old product they are ‘disturbing’ the supply chain balance. The wholesaler will buy more product under that deal and the wholesaler will then ‘push’ that excess product to their retail accounts. The wholesaler does this since this is a no/low risk proposition for them since they know they will get compensated at the ‘back end’ if this sales promotion does not optimally pan out.

I prefer that normal market conditions would operate throughout the entire brewing industry supply chain whereby the end customers obtain the beers they desire.

In this particular instance the AB Marketing & Sales group made a decision to influence the normal supply chain process and they did so illegally.

Have a nice day.

P.S. I did not post this story before, it was @jesskidden who posted this in a previous thread.

 

Sometimes I get dragged to bars where there really is no other option. It's either straight up macro pisswater, or macro owned craft. I will choose a goose island ipa over a bud light or similar any day

 

I'll try it if I haven't had it before for ticking purposes, but I'm sure not ever spending money on any of that shit.

On the other hand, there's probably something much better I can be drinking.

 

Not only do I NOT drink from a Macro owned brewery I wouldn't insult any of my friends by serving them a beer from one either. Quality over Quantity life is just too damned short to drink inferior mass produced swill.

 

I used to love the Harpoons, Shocktops and Blue Moons of the beer world, but with so many great craft breweries in the New England area why drink pretty good beer when you can have great beers that are made with pride.

 

Unfortunately with the Government's constant intervention there is no such constant as normal market conditions.

Congress makes the laws and Federal Agencies are empowered to promulgate Rules and Regulations to implement those laws. Agency Regs are rules though, not laws, and may be changed, modified or done away with over morning coffee. Agency heads are political appointees (change with each new Administration) and are legally mandated to report actual violations of the Law to the Justice Department who then decide how to proceed.

Anticompetitive activities are against the law though and have been since Theodore Roosevelt's Administration more than 100 years ago.

 

It would appear that we are entering the realm of Schoolhouse Rock and learning about how government works or perhaps doesn’t works!?!

Yup, there are three branches of government:

· Legislative (they enact the laws)

· Executive (their alleged job is to enforce the laws)

· Judicial (they interpret the laws – court cases)

While there may be laws on the books concerning anticompetitive activities they have little meaning if they are not conscientiously enforced. Maybe this was a specific episode of Schoolhouse Rock?

I tend to doubt it though.

Cheers!

 

I had to look up Schoolhouse Rock, maybe I should get out more.

 

That would certainly broaden your perspective.

 

Doubtful, but I certainly would spend more on beer.

 

It would have to count right? And this is probably the best example that we should follow the best beer out there regardless of where it is coming from! If you truly have a problem with the companies or their practices then by all means, you dont' have to buy the beer. But you'd be excluding a massive list of great breweries.

 

@TheJermis posted previously:

Soon after Boulevard was purchased by Duvel Moortgat, Julia Herz and the Brewers Association issued a statement declaring that Duvel, while based in Belgium, met the BA's criteria for their definition of a craft brewery. As such, Ommegang, Boulevard, and now Firestone Walker are still considered craft breweries.

"Julia Herz, craft beer program director at the Brewers Association, has ruled on the matter: “Yes, Boulevard is still a craft brewer meeting all three pillars of our definition even with new parent company Duvel ownership.” New York brewer Ommegang has retained its cred after being acquired by Duvel, which is a good sign."

Cheers!

 

If the beer is good and I enjoy it then I don't care who makes it. Cheers

 

On your rundown, I had no idea that some of these pretty major craft breweries are now owned to some extent by 'large entities'. Not a fan of it, but it's reality. Hey, Busch, Schlitz, and Pabst were all micros once - this is an endless cycle. The small area breweries selling beer from their farm and such are my heroes. And brewing fantastic beer. Until Amazon owns EVERYTHING, we're okay....

 

I don't boycott. I will drink a macro from time to time. But I will go with independent preferably. Small and local if that is available.