Supporting the "enemy"...I broke down

Actually, as I said, it wasn't a poor beer, it was a disagreeable beverage... sour, unpleasant. I've considered that I somehow got ahold of a bad batch or something, but it was so awful, I haven't been motivated to try it again.

 

Short of Sofie and BCBS, there isn't anything that ABInBev distributes from Goose Island that I like, so it's a moot point. And Sofie is only good in bottles, in my experience. The two times I have had it on draft at two different locations, it was not nearly as good as the bottled version.

So, AB-INBev gets about one 4 pack of BCBS money off me every year if I can find it. If not, they get nothing.

 

Agreed. Also people seem to forget that this was not a hostile take over. Goose Island wanted this to happen. It allowed them to greatly improve and grow their Stout, Sour, and Belgian Style Program.

 

Yea it was definately a bad batch. Its a good middle of the road APA. Like I said not mind blowing but solid for the # and a nice beer in the mixed 12's

 

So you passed up the likes of Stone, Lagunitas, SN, Bells, etc to get Goose Island?

Aren't you just picking one multi-millionaire over another?

People who really care about the small guy should only drink from the source. Local brewers who can't afford to distro.

 

You need to try the sour sister. Althouhg im not sure if they get distro to Cali.

 

I actually got one of each back at the end of 2013. Been cellaring, waiting for the right time to open. But at up to $30 a bottle, they are very expensive.

 

Same. I have the full set of 5. I have only had them at bottle shares and found them to be very good. Hopefully they wernt all 30$ by you. Out here they were like 18, 21, 24, 30, and 30.

 

These are some excellent and often overlooked points, IMO. Wages are often just comparable, competitive labor market wages. Nothing special. Plenty of small or medium or whatever business owners are very wealthy and aren't really the innocent, angelic business owner that the self-righteous "ethical consumers" think they are supporting when they buy their product and snub the large company beer. On top of that, many of these smaller companies have a small cluster of very rich owners whereas some large breweries are publicly traded companies such that the average Joe with a modest amount of capital can buy a few shares every month and participate in the growth, receive dividends, etc. Companies have to be looked at on a case by case basis.

 

Yup....keep what to themselves? They sell out their entire production within days of putting it up for sale. Sometimes hours.

 

Sounds like beer.

 

God, if the Costcos here in Maryland sold Bourbon County I'd happily navigate the throngs of humanity to get it! You lucky beer drinker, you!

 

Goose Island have great beers that are brewed by Goose Island, not by In-Bev. In_Bev simply owns them. Big Frucking Deal. You are not supporting some "enemy" when you buy Goose Island beers. Enjoy your beer!

 

Well, ABI does own some of their distributors, and is actively trying to buy more. And, I think it would be at least a little naive to think that if ABI says jump, the distributors aren't skying. And, ABI houses also rep a lot of independent craft breweries, and they get a good effort from them, but are they getting the best possible effort?

 

The distributor would have still sold the keg that filled the growler, and still would have gotten their cut.

 

I'll pay a little extra to support a local owned brewery

 

And so would I, and I do. One of my favorite places is Civil Life brewery in St Louis; they don't even bottle their beer. The pub atmosphere is very welcoming and old-world-like. My wife and I like to go there with friends and have a pint (or 6) while we play through a board game. There will always be a place for your small local brewery; that doesn't make the flip side the "enemy."

On that note, I'm going to go have a beer.

 

If you look at the world of spirits (namely Scotch)this has already happened to just about every distillery and they're all better for it. In fact the only distillery I can think of that is still fully independent and family run is Glenfarclas, which is cool and I'm glad that they can make it work but if you think that I have a lesser opinion of a distillery such as Lagavulin knowing they were bought out by Diageo (Smirnoff, Guinness etc.). They made the right move and rather than go under like so many others have they can now stay afloat and get their amazing product to a much wider group of thirsty consumers.

For the most part I feel the same way about beer. As long as they don't lose sight of who they are and their intended product then I'm completely OK with it, in fact I'm happy for them. But that's just my two cents, cheers

 

I will (and have, numerous times) pay a higher price for a local beer than for a non-local beer of the same general type. But, this is mostly to try the local beer, and only a small part to support the local business (but, I do admit that is part of the motivation). However, this is not local v BMC, this is local v out-of-state craft.

 

If it is the brewer's own taproom, there is no distributor involved, right?