The Beer Thread

[lukethedrifter]

AB just bought a craft brewer in Bend that I haven't heard of. Lots of backlash.

[Freed Roger]

AB just bought a craft brewer in Bend that I haven't heard of. Lots of backlash.

A trend? the Sky is falling? Wouldn't take much for big beer to get a craft beer angle in every market.

As consumer, the concern for me is that it will be harder to get at certain beer and less variety will be readily available at places I typically buy beer - chain grocery store, local bar/restaurants where we go to eat first, with beer options a secondary concern (I don't always get my way)

Big Beer has significant power over distribution, and if they have a craft beer avenue -does that mean we just see their craft beer hogging restaurant taps and shelves?

On my visits to Chicago, I felt this was going on with Goose Island 312 beers. 33rd, obviously, not talking about places like yours. It's more like a sports bar type places we hit with family - the choices were lame...i.e. Ok, just give me a [expletive] Bass.

I am not concerned about good small brewers going away (we may have -gasp- too many already). Concern is I will have to work harder to get to them. I probably seek out good beer more than avg consumer, but things like waiting in line for a release or driving to 5 different stores to get the beer I like is not going to happen.

I feel like some of this Big Beer control over distribution is already playing out. Goose Island 312 and Leine's for ALL! A few years ago, our chain grocery store awoke and realized they could sell fancy beer and I found great [expletive] easily. Maybe I'm jaded, because now it seems some distribution bastards are wielding power and stocking [expletive] they want to unload or that someone gave them a kickback to stock.

Someone on GRB mentioned, it's the Golden Age of Beer - I don't want it to end.

[33anda3rd]

Right. I just can't afford to drink there though I want to.
4, maybe 5, ounces of beer for $7 to $12 is too rich for me.

Yikes, for $2/oz it better be infused with bald eagle heads or something. He said they are doing whiskey and wine there. Any cool stuff in that department?

All his Side Project beers are barrel aged and take months if not over a year to bring to you. They are true labors of love and art and craft and they are worth every bit of what Corey is charging.

[quote'"lukethedrifter"]AB just bought a craft brewer in Bend that I haven't heard of. Lots of backlash.[/quote]
10 Barrel is the brewery they bought. They're a 30K barrels/year brewer. That's good volume.

Stuff like this, eh, some people get bent about it. Goose still makes [expletive] rad beers for the brewpub and through the Fulton & Market series. They're fine. Off Color here in Chicago has a F-You mentality--no hoppy ales, no high-gravity beers, all lost styles--and they are gonna drop a collaboration brew in the first half of 2015 with, ready for this?, Miller Effing High Life. That's right. Chicago's snobbiest nanobrewery is gonna brew a beer with goddamn Miller. Y'know why? Because High Life is awesome and they want to do it. It's going to go all over the country, unheard of for a brewer like Off Color, and it's not going to change what they do (like Goose when AB bought them) in the least.

[Swirls]

Right. I just can't afford to drink there though I want to.
4, maybe 5, ounces of beer for $7 to $12 is too rich for me.

Beer has officially crossed the stupid line.

Imagine what they would charge for a four-pack!

[lukethedrifter]

Right. I just can't afford to drink there though I want to.
4, maybe 5, ounces of beer for $7 to $12 is too rich for me.

Yikes, for $2/oz it better be infused with bald eagle heads or something. He said they are doing whiskey and wine there. Any cool stuff in that department?

All his Side Project beers are barrel aged and take months if not over a year to bring to you. They are true labors of love and art and craft and they are worth every bit of what Corey is charging.

Both of those things can be true. If he's going to have a tasting room/cellar/bar that is open (nearly) every day, that he have some options that aren't so goddam expensive. This is St Louis and that's just reality.

[jim]

Right. I just can't afford to drink there though I want to.
4, maybe 5, ounces of beer for $7 to $12 is too rich for me.

Beer has officially crossed the stupid line.

Imagine what they would charge for a four-pack!

They are making four packs sound reasonable. Think about it - they are charging basically 12-pack money and approaching case money for a SIP of beer. One SIP.

[33anda3rd]

Luke, I think your option in St Louis is to drink in a different place. Corey shouldn't have to offer variety any more than Exotic Motors should have to sell a few Ford Focii along with their Lambos and Ferraris and stuff. I don't mean that as "hey, screw you, luke, if you don't get it" or anything similarly offensive. Just, you can't demand options. It's Corey's decision. He picks options. If business dies, he'll adjust. It's like people who ask to turn the music over to something else in my restaurant. Sorry, we play what we play. You choose to come to us for what we offer, and we don't mold what we do to suit the musical tastes of one of the 52 people seated so the other 51 get the experience they didn't come for.

I don't think he's trying to be anybody's regular spot, I think he's trying to offer up a taste of beer that normally people can't get a taste of. I would love, next time I'm there, to go in and spend $40 on a special occasion for a Pulling Nails, because I can't get the stuff normally except the rare 1 time every 9 months I run into Corey in Chicago and he has some. He stuff is rare and awesome, and it should be treated like a special occasion. When I get one, I hang on to it for a special occasion. By having the prices he has, he is able to do something every business does: fire certain customers. The people who would call what he does "stupid".

[jim]

You gotta' keep the riff-raff out, that's for sure.

[Jocephus]

A Slow Descent Into San Diego It Went
Eno Sarris, December 10, 2014

http://www.beergraphs.com/bb/607-a-slow ... o-it-went/

[lukethedrifter]

Luke, I think your option in St Louis is to drink in a different place. Corey shouldn't have to offer variety any more than Exotic Motors should have to sell a few Ford Focii along with their Lambos and Ferraris and stuff. I don't mean that as "hey, screw you, luke, if you don't get it" or anything similarly offensive. Just, you can't demand options. It's Corey's decision. He picks options. If business dies, he'll adjust. It's like people who ask to turn the music over to something else in my restaurant. Sorry, we play what we play. You choose to come to us for what we offer, and we don't mold what we do to suit the musical tastes of one of the 52 people seated so the other 51 get the experience they didn't come for.

I don't think he's trying to be anybody's regular spot, I think he's trying to offer up a taste of beer that normally people can't get a taste of. I would love, next time I'm there, to go in and spend $40 on a special occasion for a Pulling Nails, because I can't get the stuff normally except the rare 1 time every 9 months I run into Corey in Chicago and he has some. He stuff is rare and awesome, and it should be treated like a special occasion. When I get one, I hang on to it for a special occasion. By having the prices he has, he is able to do something every business does: fire certain customers. The people who would call what he does "stupid".

Well, that he gets to do what he wants to do goes without saying so you could have skipped that. Maybe he can afford to keep the place open when no one comes in night after night. Maybe his help is family and don't need to be paid. Maybe he can survive off a gang of the food crowd coming in on an off night.

So, Side Project Cellar has some really cool beers that I won't be tasting any longer because I don't want to drink 4 ounces of a Grisette for $9.

Good luck to him.