The end of craft beer

[Beer-lord]

Or so they say.................
http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/10/state ... erica.html

[Dawg LB Steve]

Don't see it happening here locally anytime soon, too much market here that has not been "tapped" so to say. Not as saturated as other parts of the country.

[Kealia]

"They are feeling around for a weakness," warns Magee of A-B InBev's recent acquisitions, "to find out how they can destabilize craft so they can get back to the business they would like to be in."

Which is marketing, not brewing.

[dbrowning]

Craft beer lives FOREVER here at
YELLOWHOUSE BREWING

[mashani]

So they buy up big micros that are willing to sell out. Say nothing will change blah blah. Then they water down the product some years down the road and it becomes garden variety swill... ok, so lets say this is inevitable.

Then what? People like me will simply stop buying those brands of formerly craft beer brands and start buying other brands that are still true craft beers. And the new ones that will start up to fill the void left behind those that went "macro".

They chop off one big head and a bunch of new smaller heads sprout to fill it's place.

So... where is the end... the only end I see is those brands that turn to macro *$I%$.

The only way they win is if retail stores that sell lots of craft beer drink their cool-aid and keep all the shelf space for those macro craft beer replacements. Which I don't see any real craft beer selling store doing, unless people keep buying it. Which means that they drank the cool-aid too. Which means they don't give a crap about craft beer, only "brand". So I don't think many of us drink that cool-aid. At least I like to think so. Maybe hipsters will fall for it LOL. But they don't drink craft beer anyways, they drink PBR. At least around here.

[Pudge]

Sounds to me like the article was more about renaming "craft" beer. The words "craft" and "macro" just don't seem to be enough to categorize the different breweries out there. I read it more as the end of "craft" beer.

For the record, I think brewing is becoming more and more local. It is drifting away from a national and/or regional thing. I don't have to go see what is sitting on a shelf. I have my choice of local pubs each with some decent beers on tap.

[philm00x]

Hey, if commercial craft breweries all up and keeled over, I'd still be brewing and drinking my own.

[FedoraDave]

I'm not buying it, either, for the same reasons Mashani put forth. In some ways, the conundrum arises out of the fact that the beer industry in this country was stabilized by the domination of the macros for so long. Since the craft revolution, the landscape has changed, so it's kind of rolling with a different tide. There are ebbs and swells; a brewery gets larger and larger, and reaches a tipping point, as the article pointed out. So they look to a source of money to help them with larger distribution and expansion. Or the macro buys them out and does it for them.

But along with that comes a new micro just starting up. The article mentioned an average of two new breweries starting up every day, or some such. Those guys are local, with little or no distribution. Ever had a Defiant Medusa IPA? No, of course not, because it's a little brewpub here in my hometown, and they only just started bottling and distributing on a local basis.

I also agree with Pudge that the article seems to be saying "Craft" as a descriptor is simply not enough any more, which is also a good thing, and points to the success of the independent and merging smaller breweries.

I always thought it was sort of odd that the definition of a craft brewery was defined by the organization in which it exists. Self-definition can sometimes involve some smoke and mirrors.

[CowboyKyle]

what i find interesting is to consider what bud and miller will do to fight back... or more importantly, what can they do? as noted, if they buy up and proceed to envelope a craft brewery, changing it to their model and potentially ruining it.. they have not acquired that portion of the market they presumably where hoping to gain... but can they really just let it ride? Someone who now buys a craft beer, will in all likelihood not change that preference. if you change the product they buy, someone will make a new craft brewery that will fill the void. So bud/miller essentially will just be dismantling craft breweries if they change them, rather than actually gaining market share.

further, bud/miller just cannot expect to do anything but lose more share by remaining with their standard products. I don't think the craft beer movement has peaked... so the next decade will have more and more craft drinkers emerging. Really, in my opinion, the only thing they can do is buy stock in the larger craft breweries, let them continue to grow by their own models, and hope it works...

[Pudge]

Bud and Miller can fight for shelf space, but it isn't all about shelf space anymore.

[FedoraDave]

Good point, Pudge. There's a lot of diverse ways of getting craft beer besides going to the 7-Eleven and picking up a sixer.

[Whamolagan]

Whatever, some people just need to have something to say. There are infinite combinations of beer to be made. And for over 5000 years people have been drinking beer, I don't see the slow down

[SomeGuyBrewing]

Of the changing landscape, Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione says, "We will quickly see which breweries are truly passionate about beer, or are just serving a master who is focused on money."

Some craft breweries will sell-out. Some won't. I'll usually try to avoid the sellouts if I know who they are. Craft beer will continue to grow. The Macros will continue to buy the ones they can. This is the beer business of today. Business as usual.

[Kealia]

Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with somebody selling out - in a way.
For example, a guy starts a brewery because he loves craft beer. He does well and his brewery becomes very successful. A larger company comes along and says "I'll pay you <insert number here>" and the number is attractive enough that he does it. Good for him - that's America. That's also what is happening in some cases.

When it's an investment agreement like Lagunitas/Heineken or Firestone/Duvel that is simply funding further growth and expansion it seems like a win-win. I'm happy for them and will keep drinking the beer unless it changes.

When it's an actual buyout and the recipe/ingredients change I feel sad (as a homebrewer and craft brewer) that "the man" took somebody out of the game, but at the same time it's hard to fault somebody for being successful and cashing in on that. Life is too short. If somebody wanted to pay me enough to retire and go hang out with friends and family or spend more time with my hobby I'd do it, too.

I think there are enough breweries popping up to counter the ones being assimilated by larger breweries and corporations. And the ones that are bad will fail soon enough so we will continue to have plenty of choices.

I'm not sure of my point now....I'm just sort of rambling to myself.