ot: crowdfunding to buy out Anheuser-Busch

[54ny77]

Whoever came up with this pr campaign is brilliant.

If anyone thinks it's serious, might want to check your BAC.

[Vientomas]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

Whoever came up with this pr campaign is brilliant.

If anyone thinks it's serious, might want to check your BAC.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articl...illion-to.html

"It should be noted that due to the somewhat satirical nature of this crowdfunding campaign, the BA isn’t actually accepting donations … excepting if they somehow, magically make it to $213 billion, the odds of which are astronomically small. With that said, they are rewarding those who pledge to make a contribution (a symbolic contribution) with free swag, which involves a choice of stickers, hat or shirt. So in reality, the headline above could read “The Brewers Association is giving away free hats and shirts,” which is fine with us."

[FlashUNC]

What's more insufferable, fans of a band that breaks big, or fans of a local craft brewery that sells to a brewing conglomerate?

[chiasticon]

Originally Posted by staggerwing

Look, I love a good malt beverage, but can't figure out how long the current craft brewing bubble is going to last. There are over 40 breweries, within 30 miles of my house (List here, if interested), with another 10 or so slated to open in the next year. About half, serve an OK at best product, and a good number don't seem to understand business. The intersection between those two groups is not as complete as one might wish.

pretty good synopsis. my wife and I used to get super excited when we'd travel and would seek out local breweries and plan which ones we could hit while in town. often we could hit 'em all. now you have to either research what's worth your time/money, or just go to whatever's nearby what you're already doing. because there will be something.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

What's more insufferable, fans of a band that breaks big, or fans of a local craft brewery that sells to a brewing conglomerate?

This Venn diagram probably has a lot of overlap.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by chiasticon

pretty good synopsis. my wife and I used to get super excited when we'd travel and would seek out local breweries and plan which ones we could hit while in town. often we could hit 'em all. now you have to either research what's worth your time/money, or just go to whatever's nearby what you're already doing. because there will be something.

I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. Much of the last 100 years history is the story of centralization (bunch of reasons for this, but mostly it is just economies of scale). To see something moving in the opposite direction is a nice change of pace.

[jh_on_the_cape]

did you do the oct 14 ride? was it fun?

I really like Jack's Abbey. They sell that, Wormtown, and Lawson's Sip of Sunshine at Gillette stadium now! great beer selection there.

Originally Posted by shovelhd

https://www.facebook.com/Pedal2Pints/

This ride only scratches the surface of the western/central MA breweries. It is an abundance of riches around here.

Louis,

If you like Belgians, here are a few more for you to try.

La Chouffe
Westmalle Tripel
Ename Tripel

I just got back from Belgium, and those were my staples.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by BikeNY

Is this a joke?

How about the craft breweries just don't sell their business to Inbev?

Kinda. From the donate section:
"I agree that we'll be in touch if somehow, miraculously, against every odd, the $213 billion crowdfunding goal is reached. (We don't expect to be in touch.) No credit card needed. We trust you're 21 or over."

[ergott]

Not related to the original satire fundraiser, but...

https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer...cts-craft-beer

It has to do with the tier system and how you are allowed to bring your beer to market. One problem is you can't get shelf space in many supermarkets unless you are being distributed by a company like Clare Rose (NY). You can't get distributed by Clare Rose unless you sell your company to Inbev.

You're basically stuck at a limited level of production distribution unless you sell to a bigger company. I don't begrudge any craft beer company if they sell. Goose Island is a good example of a great brewery. Locally we have Blue Point that also makes some great stuff.

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by jh_on_the_cape

did you do the oct 14 ride? was it fun?

I really like Jack's Abbey. They sell that, Wormtown, and Lawson's Sip of Sunshine at Gillette stadium now! great beer selection there.

No, I did the summer version. I ride these roads a lot and have visited some of the tap rooms, but there were a few new ones to me. For that alone it was worth it. The food at the end was just OK.

[Ralph]

I like a good beer like everyone else. But....I can find that at the grocery store for a little over a $1 a beer. I don't enjoy going to a craft beer brewery and having a few beers for 5-7 times as much. Maybe I just don't get the big deal of craft beer. To me....beer is pretty much beer. My sons say I don't get it LOL.

[ergott]

Originally Posted by Ralph

To me....beer is pretty much beer.

thud

(That's the sound of me collapsing at the desk)

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by ergott

thud

(That's the sound of me collapsing at the desk)

Well....I admitted my sons say I don't get it.

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

...

Anyway, AB InBev owns a bunch of different brands. Some of them are positioned as 'craft', just like Colgate owns "Tom's of Maine". I personally think it is a little dishonest. ...

I did some strategy work for Coors a few years back and they told me a cool story about one of their "craft" beers. They did all the usual branding that made it look like it was made by some hippies in an old VW Van, buy they also put the GPS coordinates of the brewery on the label. So, if you just read the marketing, you would think it was a craft beer, but if you put the GPS into Google, you would see it was made smack dab in the middle of the Coors plant in Golden.

I always like that. Give the people who want some fantasy with their beer a good story, but give the fact-based among us enough data to easily know where it was brewed.

[benb]

Some of these negative comments about the craft/local brewers sound like they come from die hard Bud/Coors/Bush-type beer drinkers?

We have more brewers than you can shake a stick at around here. 99% of the time it's all much much better than the big company stuff, even if you count something like Sam Adams as "big company stuff".

It's total golden age as far as I'm concerned.. I don't drink heavily.. but I am still sticking with the plan of never ordering the same thing twice if I can help it and almost all of the time I can find something on the menu I've never tried and it's almost always great.

Makes this whole campaign seem like nonsense too. Your favorite small brewery sells out, no big deal, 500 more will rise up to keep you happy.