Yesterday was a sad day in the beer industry

[mthhurley]

Many of you have heard I'm sure, but Goose Island was acquired by Anheuser Busch/In-Bev yesterday.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-28/business/ct-biz-0329-goose-ab-20110328_1_chicago-s-goose-island-craft-beer-craft-brewers

Now a pure acquisition and allowing them to continue to do their thing could have been fine. However, with the announcement, the brewmaster, Greg Hall, announced he's stepping down next month. So the man behind GI's greatest beers, like Bourbon County Stout and Rare, Honkers Ale...is gonzo. And Anheuser Busch executives will be responsible for replacing that person :hanghead:

One can only hope Greg Hall goes off and starts up his own thing.

Raise a glass for the death (in technical terms in the definition of a craft brewery) of Goose Island.

 

[amsgpwarrior]

That is totally sad to hear. I was in Chicago last November for the first time in 10 years and had my first tastes of Goose Island and was blown away by how good it was. That is all I drank the entire time I was there. One of the best beers I have ever had was the GI beer that was brewed exclusively for Frontera Grill. I have been raving to my friends down here in Texas about this brewery, especially down in Austin where we have tons of local breweries. This is a sad day,........

 

[smokinghole]

I did some reading about this yesterday. It appears to me, if there is any honesty in the releases, that Hall is still the CEO of GI but is just stepping down as brewmaster. So he'll still be there. Also it has been released that AB-In-bev will not be dictating how the beer is made. It sounds to me like a way for them to own a piece of the craft beer prize with a somewhat large established craft brewery.

Of course I'm a little skeptical like you. It's one of those "once they get their foot in the door" things. Maybe it will be a good thing and more of the beers will be more widely available. So people won't get only one bottle per year of BCS or the other rarities they produce.

 

[mthhurley]

The various articles are tremendously confusing since they cross reference the brothers John and Greg. John being CEO, Greg being brew master.

In this article, it says John is staying as CEO:
http://www.examiner.com/craft-beer-in-chicago/goose-island-to-be-acquired-by-anheuser-busch?CID=examiner_alerts_article

A few paragraphs later, there's this :
"Hall will continue to be responsible for Goose Island beer production and the expansion of Goose Island’s Chicago brewery, where production will continue and its business will still be based. Head Brewer Brett Porter will take over Greg Hall's duties as Brewmaster."

But no explanation to which "Hall" is initial referenced at the start of that paragraph.

 

[terrantheman]

That's pretty sad I grew up on GI in Chicago living not very farm away. Like all small craft beer companies that end up getting large(Just being at New Holland over the weekend) these places are fantastic and the food and beer are awesome and now Busch will prolly not keep it up.

 

[cc jefe]

Just read in the red eye that Brett Porter will be stepping into the role of brewmaster on May 1st. He comes over from Deschutes Brewery in Oregon. It seems in the article that A/B wants nothing to do with changing the recipe to anything, hopefully it stays that way.

 

[amsgpwarrior]

I am afraid AB will only screw things up.

 

[mthhurley]

Just read in the red eye that Brett Porter will be stepping into the role of brewmaster on May 1st. He comes over from Deschutes Brewery in Oregon.

WTF? Link please Bobby?

 

[mthhurley]

Nevermind. Found it
*didn't realize that he's been at GI for a year already so just a promotion*

http://beernews.org/2011/03/goose-island-beer-co-announces-deschutes-brett-porter-as-new-brewmaster/

 

[Bsneed51]

I just hope they don't mess with Bourbon County Stout.

 

[terrantheman]

So what do you think about that Mike? As far as the replacement of Brew Masters? In case some of you guys don't know... mthurley is quite the home brewer and some may call him a "beer geek" but I think he's quite the artist. I completely respect what he has to say on the subject.

 

[iCraig]

It's sad to see this happen. Hopefully not much changes. Their beer is damn good.

 

[cc jefe]

So what do you think about that Mike? As far as the replacement of Brew Masters? In case some of you guys don't know... mthurley is quite the home brewer and some may call him a "beer geek" but I think he's quite the artist. I completely respect what he has to say on the subject.

"beer geek", "artist", drunk, it's all the same!!! :rolling::rolling::rolling:

Yeah, it seems like this Porter fella will not allow "anal-bush" to eff around with any of the recipes, the reason for the sale is to brig back some of the beers they had to discontinue due to lack of space and production(which is a good thing). That said, they do pay his salary so if it came down to it, I am sure the employees would follow suit. I have a feeling though, Porter would follow in the steps of his predecessor and step down as well. This guy(Porter) is no joke, his beers have won over 150 awards of the last couple years. Sorry for the over kill of info, just wanted to poke @ Mike :crackwhip

 

[mthhurley]

There was a follow up "damage control" interview with the CEO yesterday..can't find it at the moment. Bobby is mostly on track. They wanted money to grow the brewery and every VC that they approached with a slice of the business, which Bud already had 25% of. So Bud said "let's talk" and this happened.

In my mind, what it does is massively expands GI's footprint. Not sure if that's a good thing though. From a "shareholders" perspective, certain investments just don't make sense to do. Bud may not change the recipes, but they'll help drive the vision of the product line. So will we see a small batch Bourbon County Stout Rare again? Dunno..I have to believe putting out a product like that gets the old "not profitable" nod from the CFO. I envision a dialog like this: "well, we only sold 3,000 cases of BCS Rare last year and it took 10x the effort and 3 years to make, whereas we sold 50,000 cases of Honker's ale and we can churn that out like butter. Let's not waste our resources."

I think it's incredibly challenging to produce good craft beer on a truly national scale. There's only a handful that have even approached success with it in my mind (Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada). Look at Dogfish Head...They can't keep up with the demand and that's because of a silly TV show and their product is not even nationally distributed. Now take GI and Bud and look at it. Having the Deschutes guy in there is really good because they make excellent beers. However recipes are not their problem....Scale will be.

I respect Adam's opinion on this topic a TON more than my own arm-chair quarterbacking.

Lastly, I think more than anything, this makes a big statement about the craft beer industry than anything else. The 3 big brewers are feeling the pains that these little guys are bringing to the market and they are trying to get into the space. They don't have the know-how to make a craft beer and like any giant corporation, it's cheaper to buy the whole enchilada rather than do all the R&D yourself.

 

[Barndog]

Well Said Mike.

 

[sloth]

eh... sure...

 

[Clint]

Although I am not a HUGE beer fan, I commiserate with your loss. Anytime a well crafted boutique brand goes out in any area, it's never good

 

[mthhurley]

eh... sure...

Insightful! Thanks for your input! :applause:

 

[smokinbodybuilder]

I do not drink beer often at all EXCEPT 312 on occassion. Thats really the only beer I can drink and not be miserable.

 

[SkinsFanLarry]

I did some reading about this yesterday. It appears to me, if there is any honesty in the releases, that Hall is still the CEO of GI but is just stepping down as brewmaster. So he'll still be there. Also it has been released that AB-In-bev will not be dictating how the beer is made. It sounds to me like a way for them to own a piece of the craft beer prize with a somewhat large established craft brewery.

Of course I'm a little skeptical like you. It's one of those "once they get their foot in the door" things. Maybe it will be a good thing and more of the beers will be more widely available. So people won't get only one bottle per year of BCS or the other rarities they produce.

....and that Adam is actually what I'm hearing from my local homebrewers.