Red Mosquito

B wrote:

Great book. https://www.joshnoel.net/barrel-aged-st ... elling-out

Here are your former private breweries owned by AB Imbev, if you care to know.

1. Goose Island Brewery
2. Blue Point
3. 10 Barrel
4. Elysian Brewing Company
5. Golden Road Brewing
6. Four Peaks Brewery
7. Breckenridge Brewery
8. Devils Backbone Brewing Company
9. Karbach Brewing Company
10. Wicked Weed Brewing

My wife worked at Karbach when that buyout happened. The transition was good for the employees at the time, but she left to pursue a more fulfilling opportunity before the end of the first year of AB ownership. Still not too much employee turnover, from what I can tell. Our local breweries who are hurting right now seem to be doing more for the community than Karbach, though. FWIW.

I think that book tried to not make the decision for you, but ultimately it sounds like, AB Inbev is going to protect the quality of the beer and probably the brand, but by supporting those breweries, you're supporting AB Inbev's shitty business practices that are meant to corner the market and hurt the ability of smaller brewers to succeed and innovate. I've drunk a lot of Wicked Weed beer since the buy out under the thinking of "Hey, the beer is still pretty damned good," but AB Inbev is going to use my money to crush other small breweries, and I could be giving my money to any other brewer who's not doing that.

I stopped eating Chick Fil-A a long time ago for similar reasons. Sure, that sandwich is damned good, but I could eat at Popeye's or Bojangle's, and then my money won't go to anti-gay organizations. It's not hard to do better.

B wrote:I stopped eating Chick Fil-A a long time ago for similar reasons. Sure, that sandwich is damned good, but I could eat at Popeye's or Bojangle's, and then my money won't go to anti-gay organizations. It's not hard to do better.

Thanks for making the lines shorter.

B wrote:I've drunk a lot of Wicked Weed beer since the buy out under the thinking of "Hey, the beer is still pretty damned good," but AB Inbev is going to use my money to crush other small breweries, and I could be giving my money to any other brewer who's not doing that.

I get that sentiment, believe me. It's hard to live in a city with a sub-par beer scene and spend money on bad local beer (that's also more expensive) than it is to spend on a still delicious bottle of Goose Island Juliet or Sofia for the same price, though. It usually just takes a little bit of beer drinking when I travel to regain that empathy for the local brewers though.

Then I realize my decisions to drink good AB beer over bad local beer hurts the breweries I like in other communities too. That's really when the guilt sets in.

I'm not judging. I currently have Elysian and WW in my refrigerator right now.

Happy drinking, B. We are breaking this bottle out tonight.

https://atgbrewery.com/beer/gnight-ryder/

B wrote:I think that book tried to not make the decision for you, but ultimately it sounds like, AB Inbev is going to protect the quality of the beer and probably the brand, but by supporting those breweries, you're supporting AB Inbev's shitty business practices that are meant to corner the market and hurt the ability of smaller brewers to succeed and innovate. I've drunk a lot of Wicked Weed beer since the buy out under the thinking of "Hey, the beer is still pretty damned good," but AB Inbev is going to use my money to crush other small breweries, and I could be giving my money to any other brewer who's not doing that.

One thing that I thought was pretty important in that book is AB-InBev's graduation to the bold, when they first bought GI and the huge batches they tossed as they were within their taste thresholds but no where near what GI had essentially perfected partially due to "what the hell was an IPA anyway." In that, they also found that the brand is still the almighty as even with all the Chicago brush-back, as incredibly heavy as it was, does not hold a candle against money and marketing at that level. Now, obviously their business practices and the whole atrocity that is the distribution network aided them but really their true colors showed as blatantly "we will win this." This is also more of the InBev side of things as they are more money-grubbing than AB even when the absolute nutter ran it. Also, they do indeed have remarkable brewing systems and labs at their disposal but scaling and learning to scale a new product, that was some good insight.

I was actually at WW as well as the Funkatorium the day before they sold, they mentioned zero in chatting or getting looks around their establishments; I hadn't heard for a day or so as I was traveling back but I haven't touched a WW brew since. I think I have made it pretty clear in this thread that I don't support the macros and in getting information about their business practices brings a lot of that reasoning to light, however they are indeed major businesses and many have many good facets when you get down to it. I speak highly of MolsonCoors BevCo (drilled down to Coors) brewing system in my tours and AB-InBev has truly remarkable labs around the world. But at the end of the day AB-InBev, Constellation Brands, Heineken and MolsonCoors can go fuck themselves and will never see a cent of my money.

Bammer wrote:

Again

So I've had this 2014 bottle of Brooklyn Black Ops since I left a job at a craft beer spot back in 2015. So many occasions to open it, and so many near misses. Almost got into it during Hurricane Harvey a few years ago but couldn't pull the trigger.

Well we finally opened it last night. Carbonation was still there, but I think it was a tad past it's prime. Russian Imperial Stout bottle fermented with champagne yeast. Didn't really know what to expect.

It was very good. Full bodied and complex, but I was looking forward to more aroma and a heavier punch of booziness, I guess.

Feeling it this morning though. No regrets!

durdencommatyler wrote:

That's my kind of IPA right there.

So good!

B wrote:I'm not judging. I currently have Elysian and WW in my refrigerator right now.

My friend's bar just got some Bourbon County in.

Been drinking a lot of Summit Slugfest and Goose Island So-Lo while under quarantine.

ghost wrote:Been drinking a lot of Summit Slugfest and Goose Island So-Lo while under quarantine.

I’ve been drinking a lot of Summit Twenty-One and Saga.

2015 Abyss from my cellar. Absolutely wonderful.

Our 2 local breweries are doing free delivery if you order over $40 (easily), same day if you order before noon.

Time to crack the first of many.

I can't get enough of the NE / hazy / juicy IPAs. They totally renewed my love for IPAs. I was kinda getting sick of them until this trend took off.

doone wrote:Our 2 local breweries are doing free delivery if you order over $40 (easily), same day if you order before noon.

Time to crack the first of many.

Fuck that's awesome!