Standard procedure is that you want as few people as possible on both sides to know what's going on.

Quote:

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I've railed against their monopolistic business practices and been infuriated by their specifically anti-craft ads and never thought I'd be aligned with a corporation with which I have such fundamental issues.

But what's allowed me to make peace with all of it is that from a practical perspective, our beer is being made to the same specs, by the same people, in the same place, with total autonomy and greater resources than we will have had before.

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So the concern that they will continue to crush other craft brewers (and use the karbach acquisition to monopolize shelf/tap space) has been alleviated because they paid your bosses millions of dollars to make beer for them?

BSD said:

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Quote:

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I've railed against their monopolistic business practices and been infuriated by their specifically anti-craft ads and never thought I'd be aligned with a corporation with which I have such fundamental issues.

But what's allowed me to make peace with all of it is that from a practical perspective, our beer is being made to the same specs, by the same people, in the same place, with total autonomy and greater resources than we will have had before.

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So the concern that they will continue to crush other craft brewers (and use the karbach acquisition to monopolize shelf/tap space) has been alleviated because they paid your bosses millions of dollars to make beer for them?

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I said I made peace with it, not that I don't still consider it an issue. I've been working to build something for myself at Karbach, so I'm not about to throw everything away and start from scratch.
Would you have me quit my job and disavow the work my friends and co-workers do? We're family.

Gotcha. That's cool that you have your own thing going there. I don't blame you one bit for wanting to continue what you've started. It's the American way. As I said in my earlier posts, I would have totally sold out at that price, too. But I'd realistically expect people to be pissed at me for potentially screwing over the other small guys who are trying to make that dream come true. But hey, business is business. If the roles were reversed here and I was in your situation, I personally wouldn't have called that "making peace" with it as much as I would call "taking advantage of the situation." That's me, though.

Oh, and I hope the family feeling stays around. Based on my experiences, the family atmosphere dissipates once your are absorbed into multi-billion dollar company. That's why I went to work for a smaller firm years ago...who just got bought and back into the corporate world I go. They've promised our division will remain intact but I know how this goes. Ugh...

Good luck to you, sir.

I can't speak for everyone, but I knew when we got a company-wide e-mail on Wednesday at 5pm, regarding an employee meeting the following morning to announce "exciting news." I had no reason to believe anything about a sale prior to that, but anyone could objectively see that Karbach was an ideal acquisition for ABI or whoever and normally exciting news would just be included in the email. Most people seemed pretty shocked, that it was actually happening though. The atmosphere at the brewery meeting was very funeral-like before it began. We then got to grieve by being yelled at by Internet tough guys.

Ya I get that it would be ideal to keep as close at possible but was just wondering if there were any rumblings beforehand. Stuff always seems to find a way to trickle through the workplace.

Also did I miss the figure it was bought for?


Sidenote: I will also be in the reed arena lot at some point Saturday if anybody wants to get together.

BSD said:

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Gotcha. That's cool that you have your own thing going there. I don't blame you one bit for wanting to continue what you've started. It's the American way. As I said in my earlier posts, I would have totally sold out at that price, too. But I'd realistically expect people to be pissed at me for potentially screwing over the other small guys who are trying to make that dream come true. But hey, business is business. If the roles were reversed here and I was in your situation, I personally wouldn't have called that "making peace" with it as much as I would call "taking advantage of the situation." That's me, though.

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I realistically expected people to be upset with Karbach, obviously, since I was as upset as anyone posting about it online. But I don't realistically expect people to be pissed at me personally, no.

And why shouldn't I "take advantage of the situation?" College grads doing jobs they'll probably get bored with and leave after 6 months of the real world make more than I do; why shouldn't I be rewarded for sticking it out if I believe in our product?

Inspector Spacetime said:

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BSD said:

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Gotcha. That's cool that you have your own thing going there. I don't blame you one bit for wanting to continue what you've started. It's the American way. As I said in my earlier posts, I would have totally sold out at that price, too. But I'd realistically expect people to be pissed at me for potentially screwing over the other small guys who are trying to make that dream come true. But hey, business is business. If the roles were reversed here and I was in your situation, I personally wouldn't have called that "making peace" with it as much as I would call "taking advantage of the situation." That's me, though.

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I realistically expected people to be upset with Karbach, obviously, since I was as upset as anyone posting about it online. But I don't realistically expect people to be pissed at me personally, no.

And why shouldn't I "take advantage of the situation?" College grads doing jobs they'll probably get bored with and leave after 6 months of the real world make more than I do; why shouldn't I be rewarded for sticking it out if I believe in our product?

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There's a lot of good people at Karbach, and I know that its a tough situation for you all. I don't blame you for taking advantage of the situation.

We got a similar note from AL regarding this, and i think it alleviated most of my concerns. Here's an excerpt:

...In an effort to not speak on impulse or emotion, I went on radio silence to clear my head and contemplate my next move.

...

Some of you have drawn a line in the sand and fundamentally believe that this may no longer be the team for you. The thought of losing any of you tortures me more than you can possibly know. But, I understand and respect your choice and decision. I pray that I did a good job for you and thank you for being a part of this epic adventure. Let's ride bikes sometime and tilt a pint any time you'd like. Please let me know if you fall in this group so I can thank you individually.

I give you my word:
If I, XX, ever see the quality of Karbach beer change or diminish; or ever find that I no longer have the resources to effectively and meaningfully lead this team and continue to change cycling in Texas for the better, rest assured that will be the day that I will find a new avenue of employment.

I invite each of you to continue riding with me in the 2017 season. I love each of you and still firmly believe that the Karbach Team is the greatest team ever. I am blessed and privileged to ride with each of you.

Inspector Spacetime said:

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BSD said:

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Gotcha. That's cool that you have your own thing going there. I don't blame you one bit for wanting to continue what you've started. It's the American way. As I said in my earlier posts, I would have totally sold out at that price, too. But I'd realistically expect people to be pissed at me for potentially screwing over the other small guys who are trying to make that dream come true. But hey, business is business. If the roles were reversed here and I was in your situation, I personally wouldn't have called that "making peace" with it as much as I would call "taking advantage of the situation." That's me, though.

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I realistically expected people to be upset with Karbach, obviously, since I was as upset as anyone posting about it online. But I don't realistically expect people to be pissed at me personally, no.

And why shouldn't I "take advantage of the situation?" College grads doing jobs they'll probably get bored with and leave after 6 months of the real world make more than I do; why shouldn't I be rewarded for sticking it out if I believe in our product?

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Dammit. I should learn to write more clearly. Let it be known that I don't expect anyone to be pissed at you for a business decision your bosses made. Anyone that is pissed at you for that needs their head examined. When speaking of selling out at that price, I was speaking as the owner...and expecting people to be pissed at me...the owner. (and let it be known that I think most people mad at this deal are idiots that don't know what they're mad about..just throwing out the standard"sell-out" moniker without knowing where the genuine anger lies).

So moving on to the taking advantage thing... I never said you shouldn't take advantage. I said I personally would have worded it differently if I really did have strong feelings about the things AB Inbev has done to the craft brewing world.

I hope that makes it clearer. Sorry for the confusion.

heading out to Honolulu next week for work. Should be free in the evenings. Can't remember if I solicited beer suggestions last year when my wife and I went or not. Went to zwanze day at a gastropub but other than that don't really recall any other notable spots. Anyone have any suggestions?

A little of both. I've had all of the TG offerings but haven't had this particular year of assassin so I'll probably just drink it. I know lots of people that will open a TG stout just becasue on a Tuesday and lots of others that never open them and only use them to trade and get stuff they want to open.

I've read lots and lots of BSD posts between this and the wine thread over the years so I wasn't sure if you were attacking me somewhat or if it's just me being in defensive mode the last week. I know youre not that kind of poster.

Has anyone actually been to this? Just trying to figure out why it is $125/person.

Wow that's pricey. Better be one hell of an event

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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Has anyone actually been to this? Just trying to figure out why it is $125/person.

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Because they can.

I rarely see beer dinners in my range anymore. Except BJ's.. there's are still $35.

I used to ***** at Rockwell's pricing theirs at $65-$75.

MW13 said:

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Ya I get that it would be ideal to keep as close at possible but was just wondering if there were any rumblings beforehand. Stuff always seems to find a way to trickle through the workplace.

Also did I miss the figure it was bought for?


Sidenote: I will also be in the reed arena lot at some point Saturday if anybody wants to get together.

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The smallest transaction that ABI has reported is $126MM. Given that there was no value reported here it has to be less than that, but there's no way to know how much less. If you wait until February when ABI reports, you could probably get pretty close to figuring it out.

Inspector Spacetime said:

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I've read lots and lots of BSD posts between this and the wine thread over the years so I wasn't sure if you were attacking me somewhat or if it's just me being in defensive mode the last week. I know youre not that kind of poster.

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Nah, I only attack closed minded posters. You're good here.

Thanks for the input IS!

Chipotlemonger said:

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Reminds me of home, and spending a sunnier evening out at Jester King... good cherry farmhouse.

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How are you liking Nashville? Seems like a really cool place to move to.

Overcarbinated maybe?

I am enjoying It out here. It has been fun exploring a different beer scene, and it's a beautiful region.

There are also actual weather seasons here (so far).

What part of Nashville? Buddy of mine moved to Franklin a few years ago, and we stayed with them for the Vandy game last year. Seemed like a very nice area. Couple of breweries there, too!

Chipotlemonger said:

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I am enjoying It out here. It has been fun exploring a different beer scene, and it's a beautiful region.

There are also actual weather seasons here (so far).

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South central Appalachia region is pretty much just as high as Denver on my list of where I'd want to live. We chose Denver because I had a lot of family here, and O&G seemed to be booming here at the time. Without that, we could have easily ended up there.

I went to TN, NC and northern GA quite a few times growing up, very fond memories. Want to go back.

My dad's cousin's family has a lake house near Asheville, and they all do a 'cousins' trip about every 5 years. Wish I could join in!

Kyle98 said:

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What part of Nashville? Buddy of mine moved to Franklin a few years ago, and we stayed with them for the Vandy game last year. Seemed like a very nice area. Couple of breweries there, too!

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I am near midtown, within the 440 loop that runs around the city, towards West End.

Have found some cool local beer bars, haven't been to any breweries yet since moving here but plan to. The high/low gravity laws suck.

And it sounds like I'll be making an Asheville trip in the Spring sometime.

Just realized there are lots of redundant thumbs up posts on this page. I'm trigger happy.

Anyone coming from Houston for the game tomorrow? I've got a bunch of beer that I need to get to maca.

Chipotlemonger said:

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The high/low gravity laws suck.

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What are they there? They aren't 3.2 are they?

Ah, cool.

Mantra Artisan Ales out in Franklin was pretty cool. They had just opened when we were there around this time last year.

Asheville area is gorgeous, up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Biltmore is worth a visit.

NColoradoAG said:

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Anyone coming from Houston for the game tomorrow? I've got a bunch of beer that I need to get to maca.

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I am

I'll have a thank you beer for you if you could help out.