As all the hipsters line up for the next IPA, Anheuser Busch is slowly buying up micro breweries across the United States. Big market brands like AB and MillerCoors now own approximately 18% of the craft beer market. As the craft beer market continues to be consolidated we'll start to see the fickle micro brew junkies scramble to find their new "fav flave". In the end, there will be no where to run and no where to hide.
We shouldn't be afraid of this. The beer will be the same except that it will be more accessible and cheaper. Large scale distributors will be able to scale the production and will not compromise the quality. AB's acquisition of Goose Island Brewery has already been stirring an uproar and rumors of boycott. Reactions like this are silly. Don't buy in to this Occupy crowd. Keep drinking the beers that you like.
Consolidation. That sound nefarious. This makes it easier for the government to control everything. I am waiting for AB-InBev to come our with the Obama brew. One of the articles noted that beer consumption has declined since 2008 aside from a few quarters of growth. I wonder how overall alcohol consumption has changed. Commodity prices are also rising. I found a good website about the beer industry. http://www.beerinstitute.org/
ReplyDeleteThe economy contracted by 1% in the 1Q, the first time since 1Q 2011. Its no big deal according to CNN because it was due to the weather http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/29/investing/gdp-economy/index.html?iid=SF_INV_River
The economy has been averaging a quarterly growth of 2% since 3Q 2009. Of course this number vastly underestimates economic growth since the government vastly underestimates inflation. If you use the methodology that was used before all of the changes made in the 1990s for the purpose of making inflation appear less, economic growth would be -5% or more. http://www.shadowstats.com/article/no-438-public-comment-on-inflation-measurement The GDP chart is shocking: the economy is 3% smaller than it was in 2000. If you want a real update on the economy see this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhAlbH-jtPo&list=UUIjuLiLHdFxYtFmWlbTGQRQ
This bleak economic news should motivate you to work hard at your new job. You are going to have to work hard and be well above average to keep a job. The worst is still ahead.
Well, the hipsters drink Pabst, which means whatever they think can be dismissed as idiotic.
ReplyDeleteWhat matters is taste, so Bud has a lot of work to do. The precedent of Blue Moon could be the shape of things to come, but just think before Jimmy Carter deregulated the beer industry (wow, he's a Libertarian hero!) the major industrial breweries owned all the market!