Are you scared?

Question

jc -

SABMIller has been doing it for years. Mostly just local brewpubs admittedly, but a few fulfledged breweries.

Oh, Blue Moon isn't a brewery...it was Coors, now its Miller-Coors.

Answer 1

i am terrified of that, but reality is, money buys. enjoy them while they last, man. thats all i can say to that.

Answer 2

I think SABMiller is a bit of a threat because they've had a bit of a "join us or be pushed off the shelf" attitude (Leinenkugel, Goose Island...) but A-B seems to live in shear denial that craft beer is something people want.  I'm not scared because very much like quality hip-hop as long as there's a demand at all for it then it will live on underground.  I'd love to see craft beer do better and I think these uber-mergers are a threat to that but there's always going to be good beers available, if not, then thank my lucky mash tun I had the foresight to pick up homebrewing ; )

I've personally never had much of a problem with InBev, I think for as large as they are they've done a pretty good job pushing more or less quality products.  Perhaps at a small loss to quality but they can only do so much.  I think the fact that they're based in a region filled to the brim with brewing traditions has shaped a more respectful approach for them.

EDIT:

Didn't catch that you made the Leine point, didn't mean to be redundant.

Answer 3

I'm probably no more scared than you are. I brew my own too.

Answer 4

There's no need to be scared.

One thing large consumer-products companies have learned is MICROBRANDING.  How many varieties of Coke are there? A gadzillion. So that for every taste and preference, they have a product to fulfill it.

Remember when there were only a few beers to choose from? Like Bud, Miller, Coors, etc...  As consumers we rebelled and up came all these micro brews. Now each of the major breweries have multiple offerings for each of their brands. On top of that there are all these microbrews out there. There's bars out there that have a bunch of brews on tap that I've never heard of and I love trying to try them all.

As for your fear that the giant corporations will swallow up all the little ones, that's fine. Because if one sells out, then others will see there's money to be made making their own unique brew. The barriers to entering the beer business are not great (it's not like starting a car company), so that pretty much any joe schmoe with a minimal amount of capital can enter the industry. They won't be able to buy everyone out.

So have no fear my friend. I think currently we are in a golden age of beer brewing, with variety aplenty. And if this doesn't allay your fears, you can buy a beer brewing kit like I did and create your own microbrew.

Answer 5

I've seen many takeovers and the Giants would not change the brand or the formulas IE if they took over Shipyard or Blue Moon or Rogue, they would keep those brands in tack.

I don't see them buying a company just to get rid of them.It wouldn't make sense.

Here's why,

Those same micro breweries would have even more money to start a new brewery ( under a different name of course).

How many times would the Giants have to keep buying up breweries? In essence all they would be doing is funding more micro-breweries.

I agree with some of your points Mayor,

but still, the Giants pay big bucks for these small breweries.

It's a micro-breweries dream to be bought out by a Giant.

But still, that same small guy now how's 100 times more money to do it over and be bought out over again( and make another huge score).

Case in point, I remember the football player John Offendahl.

After he retired from the Jet's he opened a string of bagel stores(17 to be exact). Boston Market wanted to get into the bagel business and decided it would be easier to buy an existing company than  start from scratch.

John had himself a multimillion dollar deal.

What did he do next?

In his clause he had to wait seven years before he could re-open and he did.

He opened his 1st( of a new chain) in Weston, Florida.

Smaller scale then what we're talking about here but some micro-breweries are only worth a few million( same as Offendahls deal with Boston Market).

So even if the "Big Boys"change formula's and labels, what stops the small guy from re-opening another brewery and starting the whole cycle over?

Answer 6

<----Mildly Worried.  

However...to each his own.  I'm still going to drink and serve whatever is put in front of me....regardless of whom is running the company.  So to me, if the formula is the same and they are still making great beer, I say "Go Capitalism".

BTW, what about the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams brewery)....where do they rank (with their half of a percent of the market)?