Which is why Elysian will be dropping off my choices.
P Hickner
I take a different position on this issue. I can’t blame AB for buying big into craft. It just becomes a question of sustaining quality but by keeping on the team one would expect it to work. Maybe I’m biased though. As a St. Louis native I want AB to stay strong, even if they are InBev now.
Can’t say I ever liked Elysian so this specific purchase doesn’t bother me. Only time will tell whether there is any adverse impact on quality (same goes for 10 Barrel, which I greatly prefer).
I’ll steer towards independents myself. Hair of the Dog & Upright next weekend in Portland.
Agree. I have always thought Elysian was “just OK”- There are a few others that are in this class- i.e. Ninkasi, and honestly 10 Barrel has never really rung my bell.
If this were Fremont, Fort George, Boneyard, or something in that league, I would be far more worried.
10 Barrel had that terrific S.A.M. IPA last year, as good as any beer I had in 2014. American Stout is very solid IMO.
Elysian is always solid, but more importantly was a pioneer in Seattle. Without Elysian there is no Fremont. I’m bummed.
Michael
It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction the locals have to their pubs. Since the 10 Barrel acquisition I understand that their Bend pub has been relatively empty, where it used to be a 45 minute wait to get in.
Time will tell, Rick, but I doubt the pubs will lose business. Their target audience isn’t beer geeks. The folks in the SoDo pub, for example, are likely drinking AB in the stadium.
Michael
Dick Cantwell has worked for a long long time & I can’t fault him for cashing out when the time is right.
Get ready for Great Pumpkin ads with scantily clad witches this fall.
I dunno, Anthony. There’s cashing out and then there’s InBev. They’re still going to make Loser, slogan and all.
Michael
If we had seen them make GI retire the Bourbon County line and/or the sisters, I might look at it differently. They’ve actually expanded those programs under InBev.
The Craft Beer Alliance/Widmer has an association with InBev & are now brewing Workhorse for Laurelwood as a contract brewer which has meant 12 oz bottles & much fresher IPA for Seattle. Workhorse used to be one of the worst offenders for stale beer on shelves.
It has become very difficult for locals to compete with Fremont & Bale Breaker. I can’t fault the man for retiring.
Fair enough, fair enough. I don’t know what his cash out options were, so tough to judge. I never like it when my favorite band signs to a major either, feels like there should be a better way to get a payday.
Michael
I liked what Greg Hall (son of the founder of Goose Island) had to say about this
Gregory Hall
January 23 at 9:59pm · Pullman, MI ·
Hey all you Subaru driving, Facebook posting, Apple using corporate haters. Go quit your corporate job and live naked in the woods. Elysian Brewing will continue to make great beer (and put into a corporate bottle, like every other brewer large and small) no matter who owns them. Same brewers, same water and malt, better hops (nice to be in the from of the line). Cheers to you Dick Cantwell and David Buhler, for having the guts to start Elysian 20 years ago, the fortitude to turn your passion into a successful business and the giant set of balls to take the next step. A thousand pints in your honor.
I knew folks were upset about the 10 Barrel sale, but I find this surprising. While 10 Barrel is not the best brewery in Bend, it is top 5 IMO and they had a nice location and solid food. Plus, the best breweries don’t serve food (Crux), have seats (Boneyard) or regular hours (Ale Apothecary). I figured beer geeks may stop going, but the tourists would still flood the place. Deschutes must be even harder to get into now despite the recent expansion.
I agree with Michael that It would be shocking if there were an adverse impact on Elysian pubs. All the Seattle beer geeks that might care about a corporate takeover likely weren’t going to Elysian a whole lot to begin with. A pioneer that deserves credit, but has been pushed out of the geek limelight over the past 6 years by the new generation - Fremont, Black Raven, Ruben’s, etc. FWIW I’d bet most locals think of Elysian mostly for their numerous pumpkin beers and the associated festival.
Questions, and my own answers-
Has a corporate acquisition ever resulted in the improvement of a craft beer?
Not to my knowledge.
Has a corporate acquisition ever resulted in degradation of a craft beer?
It will take me a long time to complete a count.
Has a corporate acquisition resulted in no perceptible change in quality?
Yes, but with small brewers getting better all the time, standing still is falling behind.
Whether it is wine or beer, supporting the emerging innovators is in the interest of the aficionado.
P Hickner
Boulevard’s sale to Duvel has had a seriously positive impact. They now have increased distribution, better product and have started canning. They were really losing focus before IMO (and I lived in KC at the time).
Just a data point.
I suspect we’re all the type to look for the best version of something. That will typically mean supporting innovators and independents. That said, Dom Perignon 2004 is, I think, a really good champagne, regardless of LVMH’s ownership and massive production numbers. Same can be said of others. Bordeaux puts out some quality product at huge quantity too, even if pricing at the top end is reprehensible. I’d argue that beer is a product far more reliant on process than any quality wine (even BDX…) and therefore should allow for better maintenance of quality at high quantity than wine any day.
Moreover, larger brewers are smart businesses. They see the writing on the wall and they are going to invest heavily in craft. If they want to keep the share of the market that they are buying with these small brewers (or grow it) they will have to respect the quality. One way to do that is to leave the same people in charge and make good choices if replacement is necessary. The beer landscape in the US has changed drastically in the last 10-15 years and will continue to change. Don’t know if people thought that the large brewers would ramble off into the sunset allowing a new locavore paradigm of brewing to become the norm, but that simply isn’t going to happen. In the end there will always be new breweries to follow but I’m sure we’ll also see large brewers buying greater interests in quality craft brewers.
I’m not much interested in Bourbon County but IMO there has been major degradation with Sophie and Matilda. These were staples in my house but after buying lots of 4 packs over the last year, I have stopped buying.
Jason
This is pretty ridiculous. Is he saying that all corporations are equivalent? That investing in William Morris is the same as shopping at Whole Foods? It ain’t.
You can defend A-B on its merits, but claiming that we are all beholden to corporations so we should all stop complaining is not a good argument.
Michael
If you haven’t already- try Juliet, Halia, Gillian & Lolita.