Sam Adams & Dogfish Head merger

I don’t know how to feel about this…

Mostly I wish there was a way of seeking out small brewers. Nothing against huge breweries, as long as they produce great beers, but sometimes I just want to support the little guy. The “independent craft brewery” logo is no longer useful in that regard, and honestly hasn’t been for some time. This merger doesn’t change that fact. But this combined company is now one of the “big guys” that the little guys struggle against. Maybe it’s time for a tiered logo system?

I congratulate Boston Beer company on their success, but it’s time to recognize that they’ve outgrown the incubator system.

Well that’s interesting. I think it’s a smart move in regards to going up against big beer. I’ll bet they will be buying up other breweries as well. I guess it’s better than selling to inbev. Hope they remember their roots.

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I think the Independent Craft Beer logo is still very meaningful. If I see that on the box (and it’s not a Sam Adams box) then I feel confident I am buying from a small craft brewer. I do occasionally buy Sam Adams. It’s just that, since the introduction of the logo, I’ve considered them too big to qualify as a small craft brewer. I expect they are the reason for the 6 million barrel limit to display the upside down bottle. That is a lot of beer! But that number might not be high enough for them. In 2018 Boston Beer produced 4.3 million barrels and Dogfish expects to produce 300,000 this year. So with a bit of grown or another merger they will exceed that limit.

I am ambivalent on the merger but as @brew_cat says it’s better than selling out to the InBev monopoly.

Any thing beter than inbev. It will mayby balance out the power. Into the beer brew world

Gonna atach to to the extra tap i created for stout. Will finish the keg by my self.

For some perspective we brew 10bbl batches and are average size for Columbus area. Most are 7bbl - 15bbl. We’ll likely be around 1500-1600bbls this year. So 6mil bbl?

Spirits are still surging ahead. Beer and wine have been slipping, as they allude to.
Ballast Point has apparently been hemorrhaging red ink of late. 200 million in losses written off. Green Flash is dead. Stone lost their lederhosen in Germany apparently…hmmmm San Diego Theme here?

Honestly I don’t buy a lot of either breweries beer…not exciting and all their IPAs fall a bit short( my subjective opinion) but I respect both Koch and Calagione.

I haven’t been buying much of the big stuff, other than some wimpy stuff for my wife… Yeah a Yellow belly once in a while… Just had to buy a 6-er of PBR that the white writing on the blue medallion was missing… Novelty right there…
Seems our local brewery has got their new “steam” powered brewery figured out and the brews are coming up in flavor…
Sam Adams still isn’t worth a look over here… It could be tasty right there… Dogfish… well, that doesnt even show up here…
I’m not against these “big shooters”… They know how to make money… The little independent guys, I’ll support because they’re just trying to make a living… Just like I’ve been doing for the last 40 years… I’m not getting rich, not going to be a world traveler by any sort of the imagination… Yet, we’ll be comfortable in our way… Sneezles61

I had a friend in advertising that told me Coke had calculated global stomach capacity and was worried about its biggest competitors rice and various beans. As far as local stomach capacity the big brews have a lot to worry about around here. I’ll get a Boston Lager or Rebel IPA from the corner store if I’m bored with my other choices but when I’m out I’ll always go local.

At the big supermarket here they got nice selection of craftbeer. Once a while buy a 6 pack of beer from a small brewery in holland. At least feel i suport the small ones

Look there are a lot of people who like good beer but can’t afford to drink the small market stuff. If Boston beer can compete on price I’m all for it. I feel that at least they are Civic minded and try to give back some

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I agree with Brewcat. There is a need for craft brewers of a larger size and scope in this world. These two companies were groundbreaking in craft beer and helped introduce many of us to “better” beer. Were it not for Dogfish Head I would never have known what an IPA was.

I think they both still make good relevant beers for the mass market at a reasonable price point.

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I’ve got nothing against either company or the merger. I think it’s time though that the BA’s “Independent Craft Brewer” seal starts to differentiate “small” and “large” Independent brewers. There’s no way that 6 million barrels is “small” Yea, Yea, it’s “only” ~3% of US sales. I’d still like to go through the local bottle shop and see see who’s the little fish in the pond. When traveling, finding some brewery that produces 10k or fewer feels like an adventure.

it’s like restaurants. you have mom-and-pops, then there’s independent small chains, where the owner may have half a dozen locations, and there’s the nation-wide chains. I love Outback, but when work sends me out of town for a week I don’t want to eat at a joint that’s available at home.

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One thing that I do not like about these supposed small craft breweries is the marketing that is like big (really big) breweries. The distributors set up an end cap in the grocery pushing their pretend craft beer at a price lower, sometimes much lower, than a real craft beer. Reminds me of an Inbev type move.

That said I do like Dogfish Head 90 because of it’s availability in some restaurants that have limited craft selection and I find it pretty tasty.

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Hey @the_professor where ya been?

He was/is the Ballantine ale guy; he’s popped up on here occasionally since the ABI purchase.

Yes, maybe he would post the recipe. I’ve been playing with throw back recipes lately. Wonder if it has 6-row in it

I think history has away of repeated itself. There was Schlits ,Schmits , Shaffer , Black Label and etc. They were quality beer back then. Slowly they were bought out, I think by Anhiser. The beer I mentioned were the competition. I think this time in history in beer world, it will help it. There are better favors out there in the world. Lets think what who bought NB and what they have done , and what AB are trying to do. Money talks bs walks. I hope that Dog Fish will still be able to do there trails and errors beers.

Hi all…
I haven’t been terribly active here because I’ve been dealing with a lot of @#$%^ issues lately.
My wife had an accident in the basement (she slipped on a wet floor :-/ ) and broke her ankle (it required surgery), She’s recovering fine, but the doctor bills started rolling in and all I can say is OUCH.
Then I had a driving accident in my car. All in all, it has been a very difficult 6 months for us here, but we’re hanging in there.
Thanks for asking…I’ll probably be around these parts a bit more now that things are more or less settling, (I’m even getting ready to brew my 2019 Solera Ale).

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Wow, that’s sure is triple helping of suckage. I do hope you’re at the end of it. We’re all here for you wishing you well.