{"id":633,"date":"2015-02-16T16:53:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T23:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/?p=633"},"modified":"2015-02-16T16:53:20","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T23:53:20","slug":"ab-inbev-cannot-defeated-ignored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/ab-inbev-cannot-defeated-ignored\/","title":{"rendered":"AB InBev Cannot Be Defeated, Only Ignored"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEUVEN, Belgium\u2014Anheuser-Busch InBev, the undisputed dominant ruler of the global beer market, employs a lot of smart people. It’s\u00a0highly doubtful that they operate obliviously to the fact that their products, for the most part, are tepid hogwash. Therein lies the company’s brilliance\u2014it is the Worst, and it\u00a0is\u00a0King. Selah.<\/p>\n

It should scarcely be considered surprising that AB Inbev is making escalating inroads into the craft brewing industry, gobbling up rising stars as this dispatch from MarketWatch’s Jason Nott so chillingly conveys.<\/a>\u00a0According to Nott,\u00a0this will inevitably, undoubtedly continue.<\/p>\n

“We don\u2019t say this because it has acquired four craft breweries since 2011. We don\u2019t say this because we\u2019ve spent more time speaking with Anheuser-Busch craft division head Andy Goeler since November than we have members of our own family. We don\u2019t say it because of the speed with which it acquired Bend, Ore.-based 10 Barrel and Seattle\u2019s Elysian Brewing.<\/p>\n

We say it because it\u2019s happening.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not the first time that MarketWatch has sounded the alarm<\/a> on the encroaching imperial menace, but frankly, the idea that AB InBev wouldn’t<\/em> do this eventually has always been a fairy tale.\u00a0Apart from MillerCoors, the company’s only real rival is a communal one\u2014the huddled masses of the craft beer industry and its consumers, swilling saisons and black IPAs in uncoordinated bloc resistance. It should be no surprise that they would start worming their way into our rank and file\u2014every war has its turncoats.<\/p>\n

I say let them go. If brewers\u00a0want to sell, let them sell. No matter who they are, they’re only one of thousands more.<\/p>\n

And this, this simple fact\u2014this is where we win, because this, they cannot change. However massive\u00a0the many-headed hydra of AB InBev becomes, no matter how many of our<\/em> breweries they buy up, someone will\u00a0always be able build another. And they always will.<\/p>\n

And that, my friends, is why I’m not saying\u00a0boycott<\/em>. I’m not saying panic. Don’t even worry! I’m saying to keep on doing what you’re probably already doing\u2014drinking lots and lots of independent craft\u00a0beer, enjoying the broad and growing variety of this budding Golden Age.<\/p>\n

I feel for fans of those breweries that have already been subsumed into the vicious golem. Deeply and truly. They face an identity crisis due to these deals with the devil made without their consent. To them I say, mourn not for long. So your favorite brewery sold out. Be happy for them\u2014they made a payday. They don’t need your help anymore. Hundreds of holdouts do. Hundreds of holdouts\u00a0always will<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So raise a glass of homebrew, friends, and breathe easy. The monsters may be at the gates, but we outnumber them. We’re fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEUVEN, Belgium\u2014Anheuser-Busch InBev, the undisputed dominant ruler of the global beer market, employs a lot of smart people. It’s\u00a0highly doubtful that they operate obliviously to the fact that their products, for the most part, are tepid hogwash. Therein lies the company’s brilliance\u2014it is the Worst, and it\u00a0is\u00a0King. Selah. It should scarcely be considered surprising that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[72,73],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}