Sam Adams & Dogfish Head merger

[brew_cat]

Yes hopefully now your in for I spell of good luck after the bad

[sneezles61]

Good to hear from you again! We do wonder at times are the "old timers"?
I hope you are soon out of the muck and into a good spell...
Your Solera ale, is it a powerful one? Sneezles61

[the_professor]

Yes, the solera ale is pretty powerful. It's basically a barleywine, though in the last 28 years it has contained some Porter, IPA, ESB, Stout, and 1800's Mild Ale...based entirely on my whims of the moment. This year will be year 28 for this brew, and will be solera'd with a hearty take on Scotch Ale. I'm getting a delayed start on it this year, as I'm brewing this year's addition a bit late...but still early enough to blend into the main aged batch in November. Yield on this year's combined batch will be roughly 8.5 gallons. I can't wait!

[brew_cat]

How much do you leave in the keg before adding beer? I had one going for awhile but ended up bottling the rest of the keg because I wasn't enamored with where it went. I haven't opened or cleaned the keg was planning on. Running sours through it.

[the_professor]

I usually wind up topping off around 1.5 o 2.5 gallons of beer. A few times I topped off 3 gallons, and one year only around 1 gallon. But I've always had at least 1 gallon left over from the previous year. This year, I'm topping off 3 gallons of my 2018 brew (because I made a extra large batch last year )

[olanwade]

A few years ago inbev purchased a local craft brew house Four Peaks. Fortunately, inbev has pretty much left them alone and they are booming now. The only thing I saw change was their production/distribution increased. I see more of their products canned and in the local stores where before you had to go to the brew house to have one of their brews. I believe their production is still local, but not sure.

[brew_cat]

Left them alone but take a chunk of the profit out of the local community. I buy SA and DFH but inbev product not so much

[squeegeethree]

Distribution of beer is still a "family" run territorial sham of a system. Makes sense that inbev could increase distribution. They have the resources to buy off the major roadblocks.

[Rburrelli]

Big beer has always been about distribution. If you control that you control the market.

[brew_cat]

Just another reason to buy local. Hey I'm on the east coast so if I'm grabbing a random 12 pack for something to bring to a party I'll grab Harpoon, Sam Adams, Dogfish Head, Saranac

[squeegeethree]

True but even big beer as to pay the “families” to distribute

[brew_cat]

Yes people got to eat. My father used to drive a beer truck

[squeegeethree]

My issue is that these distribution territories were given out after prohibition and as far as I know nothing has changed since.

[sneezles61]

Another layer as to your obsession with brewing! It seems to run very deep in your family!
Did we start a post of when was first taste of beer? Sneezles61

[brew_cat]

It was a home delivery truck. I guess you could call it a home brew truck. He would let me ride along on Saturday. It was kind of like a milk truck. He would deliver cases of beer mostly quarts and take back the returns. Bygone era I guess

[olanwade]

There is some truth to that statement. As an example the largest distributor in the SW is Hensley (for those interested this is owned by Cindy McCain and the late Senator McCain). Hensley owns and controls the AB (InBev) distribution for the entire state of Arizona and beyond. Once InBev purchased Four Peaks they (Four Peaks) had access to this major, regional distribution channel.