What to do when your favorite brewery has gone over to the Dark Side...

[NCChiFan]

InBev purchased Wicked Weed Brewing... I'm still depressed by the move. I spent a couple nights a week on average at the Brewery and now many of my friends have turned their back on WW for becoming part of the "enemy". InBev is seen as anti craft beer and worse, they purchased from Miller all of its Hops farms in South Africa and are now refusing to sell any excess hops on the open Hops market again to the detriment of Craft Brewers (though more overseas, these hops rarely make it to the states but it will drive up hops pricing).

Wicked Weed is without a doubt one of the strongest Sour Beer brewers in the Nation and the largest by volume on the Eastern seaboard. A beer style that I love. This is just depressing me to the point of posting here about it, because I love to share...

 

[Hawkeye OG]

InBev just continues to eat up the market. You're a big Sour beer fan? I've had a few, but you can only drink like 1 or 2 at a time it seems.

 

[LordKOTL]

That sucks man...

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Happened with Goose Island a few years back, but I haven't seen a drop in their quality as of yet. It's also recently happened to Ballast Point out of San Diego, and Lagunitas. But with both of them it's too early to tell if there will be any drop off in quality.

 

[AussieBear]

InBev purchased Wicked Weed Brewing... I'm still depressed by the move. I spent a couple nights a week on average at the Brewery and now many of my friends have turned their back on WW for becoming part of the "enemy". InBev is seen as anti craft beer and worse, they purchased from Miller all of its Hops farms in South Africa and are now refusing to sell any excess hops on the open Hops market again to the detriment of Craft Brewers (though more overseas, these hops rarely make it to the states but it will drive up hops pricing).

Wicked Weed is without a doubt one of the strongest Sour Beer brewers in the Nation and the largest by volume on the Eastern seaboard. A beer style that I love. This is just depressing me to the point of posting here about it, because I love to share...

you say fuck south africa mane.. and be like aussie.. i got an opprtunity for you mane... be any hops in oz? of course dey be .. oh you dont even have to deal wiff me...they be online..

 

[Ares]

you say fuck south africa mane.. and be like aussie.. i got an opprtunity for you mane... be any hops in oz? of course dey be .. oh you dont even have to deal wiff me...they be online..

I would order hops from you, and you would send me weed, and you know it.

 

[AussieBear]

I would order hops from you, and you would send me weed, and you know it.

weeds betta for you.. wish i was in the weed game.. oz will catch up one day to legal weed.. they pushing medical now.. but them oldies are set in they ways and are fighting.. and those kingpins like they money as is..... i cant remember the last time i even smoked... probably the last day i was in murica 7-8 yrs ago.. gd.. its been dat long..

 

[Ares]

weeds betta for you.. wish i was in the weed game.. oz will catch up one day to legal weed.. they pushing medical now.. but them oldies are set in they ways and are fighting.. and those kingpins like they money as is..... i cant remember the last time i even smoked... probably the last day i was in murica 7-8 yrs ago.. gd.. its been dat long..

Loophole/business idea.... crossbreed weed and hops.... brew a beer that fucks you up twice over.

 

[Camden Cutler]

you beer snobs are the worse

 

[NCChiFan]

InBev just continues to eat up the market. You're a big Sour beer fan? I've had a few, but you can only drink like 1 or 2 at a time it seems.

Huge, my problem, they go down like Soda... I can consume them by the 750ml bottle... And they tend to be higher gravity due to sitting in barrels for prolonged periods of time.

 

[Ares]

you beer snobs are the worse

worst*

#GrammarSnob

 

[BearFanJohn]

Heineken just bought Langunitas, too. Happens in the wine business. Small winery (or sometimes just a vineyard) gets bought out by Gallo, Jackson Estates, Trinchero, whomever, and you wonder what is going to happen. If you bought the beverage because it suited your taste, and it continues to do so, then keep drinkin'. If they change it, and that is almost always for the worse, quit buying. If you were drinking it for the people or because it was one of the little guys and because you liked it, now you have a conundrum. There are no right or wrong answers here.

Most of the time the buyer, the huge company, says something like, "we bought for the quality and we want to keep the people in place who produced it". Yeah, right, for a while until some bean counter thinks they have a better idea.

 

[AuCN]

Loophole/business idea.... crossbreed weed and hops.... brew a beer that fucks you up twice over.

Dude's Brews in Colorado beat ya to it. Well not the whole crossbreeding thing, but adding CBD to an IPA.

 

[Burque]

My take is this. I have no problem buying beer from a bought up craft brewery if the beer is still good. That being said, I like to support the local guys, and here in Albuquerque, if a brewery gets bought out there are dozens more that are doing an awesome job of producing top quality beer that I can support.

In fact, some of the bigger local breweries that haven't been bought out are too damn busy so I go down the street, find the fresh new spot where they are making something special and start over. There will always be a local spot producing quality so long as there are people willing to seek it out. Dialog Brewing in ABQ is one of my most recent favorites, they are running about 4 sours at any given time that are all awesome not to mention pretty much everything else they do is fresh, unique, and delicious. It is a block and a half from Marble Brewery which is one of the long standing big boys of the Albuquerque market. A hop down the road and I am not feeling crowded out and I get to meet new brewers and be part of another emerging brewery.

Sucks that you lost a local to a major brand, however congrats for WW for making such a quality product that the demand got the attention and ultimately dollars of the big boys. Awesome job for them. If Inbev fucks it up the brewers there can always go start a new project and do something new, innovative and better than what they were doing at WW. Ultimately people are doing it for the love of beer and the fact that they can make good money doing what they love. When the money gets big enough it is really hard to ignore and I know most people would have a very hard time saying no to a buyout that is going to allow them financial security for the rest of their lives.

 

[policeman]

Is the thread title racist?

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Should 't this be in the Bears forum....:shrug:

 

[Crystallas]

You buy another beer. Why are you married to a single product? I doubt you can explore the whole world of beers and taste all of them in 10 lifetimes. You may (likely) be surprised and find things you like better.

 

[Monster]

Try them all...
So many beers... so little time!

 

[Tjodalv]

Just start drinking Three Floyds, they make better stuff anyways.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

My take is this. I have no problem buying beer from a bought up craft brewery if the beer is still good. That being said, I like to support the local guys, and here in Albuquerque, if a brewery gets bought out there are dozens more that are doing an awesome job of producing top quality beer that I can support.

In fact, some of the bigger local breweries that haven't been bought out are too damn busy so I go down the street, find the fresh new spot where they are making something special and start over. There will always be a local spot producing quality so long as there are people willing to seek it out. Dialog Brewing in ABQ is one of my most recent favorites, they are running about 4 sours at any given time that are all awesome not to mention pretty much everything else they do is fresh, unique, and delicious. It is a block and a half from Marble Brewery which is one of the long standing big boys of the Albuquerque market. A hop down the road and I am not feeling crowded out and I get to meet new brewers and be part of another emerging brewery.

Sucks that you lost a local to a major brand, however congrats for WW for making such a quality product that the demand got the attention and ultimately dollars of the big boys. Awesome job for them. If Inbev fucks it up the brewers there can always go start a new project and do something new, innovative and better than what they were doing at WW. Ultimately people are doing it for the love of beer and the fact that they can make good money doing what they love. When the money gets big enough it is really hard to ignore and I know most people would have a very hard time saying no to a buyout that is going to allow them financial security for the rest of their lives.

ABQ, Denver, and Grand Rapids have the best craft scenes going.