Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Yeah pretty sad i really enjoyed goose island and now i will boycott it also . The corporate beast has no soul their for makes crap beer

To play devil's advocate here just a bit: keep in mind that this wasn't a hostile takeover of GI by AB. So it's not really as evil empire as it sounds on the surface.

Goose Island and the money behind them knew the brewery needed to expand and wanted to come up with lots of $$ to do that. AB was already "managing" their distribution anyway. So from their point of view it made sense so they approached AB.

That said, I still don't like it. But I also know from experience that if you want your business to grow in a big way it takes a lot of cash. That means you sometimes have to make choices you may not be ecstatic about.

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I'd probably be a lot more upset if this was Bell's or Surley. I don't drink much GI now anyway.

Randy makes a valid point. What it shows me is where Goose Island is focused. Since I don’t drink much GI it doesn’t bother me that much. Honestly, the Bourbon County Stout is one of my least favorite imperial stouts that most others get so excited about.

Other brewers have the same dilemma and opportunities. A demand much greater than they can meet and expansion takes large amounts of cash required to do so. Difference is between the breweries that say we will expand how we can but not sell our soul. AB has approached many players in the industry and been turned down. You know Dogfish has been bombarded over the years and I am sure Bells and others have had to say no based simply on principle. I applaud those that keep focused on what is really important with their breweries. Ironically, I saw a Simpsons episode yesterday where Bill Gates agreed to buyout Homer’s new internet company. When they agreed to a “buyout” a couple of big nerds broke all Homer’s stuff and Bill Gates said I didn’t get rich by writing a bunch of checks. At best, not much will change for GI but we all know this will not lead to better or cooler new beers.

I like the guys that say we don’t have to keep growing. It is OK to run a brewery and hit a point where you don’t want to get any bigger. I know when I dream about my own microbrewery it is just that, micro. A place that makes good beer, is just big enough to give my friends a cool place to work and provide a decent living. Big profits and riches are not a part of the plan. Just really good beer and good times.

And Matt makes valid points too.


Remember folks, Goose Island was started as a business to make money.  Certainly, they wanted to make money by making good beer, but at the end of the day, it was about cash.

To them, this was the next logical step in their growth.


Also, I agree with Matt.  BCS is my least favorite of the "oh-my-God-it's-great" imperial stouts.


-Jim

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Don't get me wrong, I'd have much rather they stayed as they were, or gone with a different buyer.  But I can't blame them for their choice.  To quote my favorite beer-related song, "opportunity knocks once, then the door slams shut."

-Jim

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You all need to stop defending the dark overlord, the evil deamon is out there and coming for our beer!

I do see some valid points, even though I disagree with them. I don't think the pure motivation behind Goose Island is cash. I want to open a brewery myself, not because it would make me rich, as most don't get there, they may have a nice livestyle but certainly not rich.

They could have opened Goose Island Sock company instead, but most likely it was started for the same reason I would like to do one. To make your passion your job, and to be able to get up everyday and go to a job that you love to do and are passionate about. Yes money is certainly a factor, but I would say only equally important to the beer. This is most likely why the head brewer resigned.

AB is about profit margins and captial, to them beer is merely a line on a graph and they don't care as long as it nets them money. That is my problem with them, They do not intent to stiffle the beer makets, it is a by product of there greed and them trying to maximize profits, which every good business wants to do.

Yep, which is why you will start to see corn or rice in 312 very quickly. And honker's will suddenly taste like that "american ale" crap they came out with after inbev bought them.

hoboscratch wrote:Yep, which is why you will start to see corn or rice in 312 very quickly. And honker's will suddenly taste like that "american ale" crap they came out with after inbev bought them.

I don't think they will at all, the last thing they will do is even advertise there ownership of the beer. They will use it as a tool. They know that craft beer consumers are not very fond of their brand. Which is why they have beers out there that they own that you have to look really hard to find there involvement. Did you see "Beer Wars", the "organic beer" part made me laugh. When they went to look at the location it was brewed it was a budwiser plant somewhere.

The big brewers are not really breweries. They simply sell a product which is really a commodity meaning it is easily substituted with other similar products. They market their commodity heavily and really don't care about it as long as it is similar and they are producing it at the lowest cost possible. I only see myself drinking GI when I have to, like at a concert where they only sell AB products. Of course, I can always buy a coke and make it better with my flask. Long live the real breweries!

BrewHound wrote:

hoboscratch wrote:Yep, which is why you will start to see corn or rice in 312 very quickly. And honker's will suddenly taste like that "american ale" crap they came out with after inbev bought them.

I don't think they will at all, the last thing they will do is even advertise there ownership of the beer. They will use it as a tool. They know that craft beer consumers are not very fond of their brand. Which is why they have beers out there that they own that you have to look really hard to find there involvement. Did you see "Beer Wars", the "organic beer" part made me laugh. When they went to look at the location it was brewed it was a budwiser plant somewhere.

But like you said before, its all about profit. Who knows though. I have to agree with what we've all pretty much said though, at this point buying GI is about like voting for a president. The ol' "well at least its not as bad as that" process of elimination.

hoboscratch wrote:

BrewHound wrote:

hoboscratch wrote:Yep, which is why you will start to see corn or rice in 312 very quickly. And honker's will suddenly taste like that "american ale" crap they came out with after inbev bought them.

I don't think they will at all, the last thing they will do is even advertise there ownership of the beer. They will use it as a tool. They know that craft beer consumers are not very fond of their brand. Which is why they have beers out there that they own that you have to look really hard to find there involvement. Did you see "Beer Wars", the "organic beer" part made me laugh. When they went to look at the location it was brewed it was a budwiser plant somewhere.

But like you said before, its all about profit. Who knows though. I have to agree with what we've all pretty much said though, at this point buying GI is about like voting for a president. The ol' "well at least its not as bad as that" process of elimination.

Yes, you right, it is all about profit for those kids, but like pointed out here, they are buying these types of breweries to hold there market shares because the craft breweries are taking more ground each and every year. If you can not be the competitor buy them then beating them is no longer important. If they change GI products to be Bud like products, then they will be defeating themselves as then they don't have products to compete with other craft breweries.

I don't think InBev will change any of the beers GI makes. As said they want this addition to their lineup. They may stiffle some creativity at worst. Time will tell.

If you don't think A-B is evil, rumors are circulating that they coerced the Discovery Channel to cancel Brewmasters. I'm sure we'll hear more about this in coming days, unless the witnesses suddenly disapear...
http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2011/03/3 ... -big-beer/

"To operate a profitable brewery which makes our love and talent manifest" people planet and profits. - Kim Jordan, CEO of New Belgium Brewing Co. source: DesMoinesRegister.com 2/27/2011 Creating a great work place. There is more to beer than just stockholders wanting to make a quick buck ,beer is for humanity to enjoy it is a art to be treasured.

I say we start an A-B lynch mob and march on headquarter!