Comments on: A-B, Goose Island in talks

By: Crohan

Crohan — Thu, 18 May 2006 15:48:10 +0000

I don’t think this is a situation of AB trying to buy a micro brew because they cannot make specialty brews themselves, because I think they’ve been fairly successful in some of their recent innovations, i.e. Michelob Amber Bock and Honey Lager. This is more about seeing that Micro brews have become increasingly popular to the masses, and they want to make sure they maintain their market share, and they can do that by distributing another companies product. I sincerely doubt they will change the formula of Goose Island’s product.
AB is a great company, and it’s employees are practically treated like royalty. I can only wish I got free passes to any AB theme park every year, and massive discounts on food and drinks at those parks as well. I do not know a single person who works for Anheuser Busch who is unhappy. The average bottling plant employee makes 60k a year, and they have great benefits! Stop acting like AB is some mean bad nasty giant company. They have a business to run, and try to make good business decisions, and never back down from innovation, unlike some other large brewers in this country. They’re always willing to hang it all out there to see what happens, and that strategy has served them well.

By: Brookston Beer Blog » Blog Archive » Euphemistic Craft Brewers Alliance Swells Its Ranks?

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:00:43 +0000

[...] Goose Island, on the other hand, does appear to at least be in talks with A-B. As long ago as last December, the Chicago Tribune reported as much. As mentioned in Stan Hieronymus’ Beer Therapy “Goose Island president and founder John Hall confirmed as much, but said discussions have been limited to ‘distribution issues.’ He declined to comment further on the nature of the talks. I saw Will Turner, who’s a Bay Area brewer who now brewes for Goose Island, at CBC but I didn’t get a chance to ask him about this. [...]

By: david

david — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:47:46 +0000

take it as a compliment. clearly AB sees something in goose that they can’t replicate on their own. to that end, there is no incentive for them to mess with success. AB does have access to an amazing network of distributors which will help goose become more successful but all those distributors are all independent of AB and they are hungry for some diversity in their portfolio and will support goose with maximum efforts.

By: tim says

tim says — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 22:37:27 +0000

Ya! great idea, when a.b. took over red hook brewery , the beer went from great to poor! a. b. sales have been down, so they are trying new ways to whore the little boys to make the big a.b. even bigger, remember when a.b. decided to get into the potato chip business ( eagle snacks) didnt do so well, now did they? sold to frito lay and now its bye bye. the rich get richer and the poor get poorer! amen brother!

By: meethawk

meethawk — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:39:53 +0000

i would worry that it would end up like henry weinhard’s that just disappeard, when i believe hielmanns took over. the beer itself just changed. i could see that happening to the goose. i hope john makes the wright call. my dad went to school with him i would hate to see them change anything, but i heard fat tire is going a-b also.

By: ttoadee

ttoadee — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:28:19 +0000

A-B usually wants a percentage of the company (look at Redhook)…so it starts out as just a ” we supply the trucks” deal, but eventually they are a major shareholder and start to effect the way the beer is made. I think anyone who deals with A-B will find it increasingly difficult to not get taken over by them or chewed up and spit out.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:06:30 +0000

Distibution is just that. we are not talking about AB taking over production. For years this has happened to soda companies. Dr. Pepper is an independant company and has been distributed by Pepsi. The same with Barqs Root Beer, Barqs however is now done by Coke. The product doesn’t change just how and who moves it from production to your store.

By: John

John — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 01:55:56 +0000

Why all the hate against AB , just curious , I cant get Goose Island , where I live so what if they distribute it , oh and to Beer Nut Celis was ruined by Miller brewing not AB.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 10:42:25 +0000

As a Chicago native I have to say this immediately troubled me. But now that I’m living in the northwest I notice that some markets are definitely closed off to offerings from outside markets. I would love to see something out here other than Goose Island Oatmeal Stout, as that’s all many stores carry. I’m just not sure I want it at the expense of Goose Island carrying the A-B stigma. It’s a tough choice. Do you go for the great distribution deal so you can be placed in national grocery stores? Or do you struggle on your own to break into markets that are, for lack of a better term, isolationist beer snobs and maintain some pride & dignity while doing it? I hope and trust that John Hall will make the right move here.

By: Benjamin Henning

Benjamin Henning — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:36:41 +0000

Kansas man here I get goose Island alot of the other micros from around the country some not all. I have a fear as a craft brew drinker and lover of any small to medium brewery level beer that if AB gets ahold of these brewerys it won’t be long and they will all fall to the pressure and change there formulations to please the mass’s. Instead of pleasing the small select group of us that enjoy a good beer not the mass marketed cheap made swill that they already sell well cause thats all people know. AB just wants to get into the craft brew the easy way by buying out others well I say Hell no we won’t go. Thats ok I can have what ever beer I want Cause I can still brew my own at home.