quote:This is actually the mentality I was referring to. The "brotherhood" is a fallacy for the most part. Sure, some brewers are friends and have come up together, but being part of the "brotherhood" doesn't mean that you're entitled to anything. It doesn't mean that someone shouldn't walk in to a restaurant and try and take over your handles. It doesn't mean someone shouldn't pick up an account where you sell a lot of beer. There is definitely a "brotherhood" among the big guys, but they earned it. They've made it. Expecting this "brotherhood" to be industry wide right now is a recipe for the rants in the article you posted, along with other recent rantings by brewers. Things have changed a lot in 25 years.quote:yeh i'm on board with all of that. Before the hipsters came.. which by my guess was maybe 4-5 years ago? Hard to tell I guess.. anyway, before them, craft beer was 100% supportive of each other, always looking to get their beer, and even their competitor's beer, into more people's hands.quote:The problem is hipsters, entitlement, and the fact that many brewers are huge poons and can't handle aggressive competition. Hipsters can't stand brewery success. They wan't their little place to always be not too busy, but make amazing beer. They don't want it to grow too big and have people in cargo shorts showing up. Or people with their girlfriends showing up to mule bottles. Then there is entitlement among brewers. They think they are entitled to a neighborhood, a style, or some other niche if they are "first." Look at our local breweries like Trinity, Crooked Stave, and Black Project. Trinity thinks they're entitled to every sour drinker in the Springs worshiping them. Crooked Stave threw a fit when New Belgium released plans for an all wild ale taproom right next door. Black Project continually talks down to brewers who kettle sour. Then comes the fact that most brewers are actually insecure, whiny little twatwaffles. They can't stand places who have a more trendy or hyped beer. They cant stand not being in the papers or blogs. They talk endless **** about their competition while simultaneously trying to collaborate because of the dumbass ideology that brewers are all best friends. And then when they do collaborate, they will steal your processes and recipe tweaks.
Man some people are really butt hurt about this.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2016-05-13/cold-front/
"He [a local brewery founder] continues, "You can take the production of every brewery in the city, combine it all, and [Oskar Blues] will still be able to make more beer in that one facility alone. I have a hard time comparing what they are doing to what we are trying to do. If I walk into an H-E-B and I start seeing Oskar Blues in the local craft brewery section, I think that's pretty ****ed up.""
[soapbox rant ahead]
Could someone tell this dipchit that Oskar Blues started doing what 'he is trying to do' 20 years ago, before it was cool, before it was trendy, and because them and others like them were successful at it, this guy can even do what he does today? You would think he was talking about a new budweiser IPA showing up in the craft section. I just don't understand his mindset.
I'm kind of sick and tired of the recent trend of getting on your high horse about the big guys selling out or expanding, or even the big guys who are simply growing and make/sell a lot of beer, and because of this, now they aren't craft. The big guys have been doing this a long time. They paid their dues, and they paved the way for you to be able to even open up your brewery and for us drinkers to have the volume and selection we have. It's very millennial. These brewery owners that started in the 90s are getting older and realize they need to retire in the near future, and they have ability to do so now because of a trend they were a part of from its infancy stage.
I don't know why so many brewers (and drinkers) are becoming so against the big guys.. no frieken respect. Most big companies are big because they've been around a long time and they made beer that people like, and these companies are the reason we even have this thread going today. I have never been against buy outs and growth, expansion into new markets. I totally respect and an amazed at the new belgiums of the world, how they were the ones with the real balls to start their business back in the 80s or early 90s when no one knew what this stuff was.. They struggled for years against the big guys with very few others to join them in the fight.
Anyway.. moral of the day: respect your elders.
Bottom line is a lot of brewers are really bad at business and extremely risk averse. Too often they feel their industry is not subject to the laws of basic business. The breweries you see really thriving from small <1000bbl operations all the way up to players like Oskar Blues is that they are strategic, aggressive, and not beholden to any cliche ideology like "drink local" or "drink small." They focus on making the best beer out there and selling that beer at a higher rate in more places than their competitors who are sitting on the sideline *****ing.
/rant
Now, moreso recently, I'm starting to see backlash, jealousy, and even hate towards what is their own kind, and a separation between the 'brotherhood' if you will.
one comment, regarding crooked stave, I thought they were moving out of there because there was some sort of dispute between them and zeppelin (the developer) about brewing there?
http://www.westword.com/restaurants/crooked-stave-moves-its-brewery-equipment-out-of-the-source-will-keep-tap-room-6045555
Quite honestly, I don't know why people seem to care so much about whether brewers are friendly and nice to one another. I only care about them being professional in the public realm, and friendly to their customers and to focus on making the best beer possible.
), after leaving Ft.C, and moved to source with intentions to be able to brew there.. but zeppelin wouldn't let them.. so the equipment had to be moved back to sunnyside... this is the way I thought it went down anyway. Don't they realize a NB tap room next to them will bring loads of people across his doorstep?
