It’s happened. After years of speculation from the geekiest of beer geeks, a Cincinnati brewery has sold to AB-InBev. I guess the one saving grace if you fall on the side of the fence that think this is a bad thing is that the Cincinnati Brewery that sold is a Cleveland Brewery. The ‘Invasive Species’ of Cincinnati craft beer as I’ve heard them and others called – Platform Brewing Company.
You can get all caught up on learning about who Platform is before we dig into this, but the important part is that they are here – they are Cincinnati whether you realized it or not.
Why?
It’s been two years since we’ve seen the Goliath of beer, AB-InBev snatch up one of “our” craft breweries… and that one hurt pretty bad. They bought Wicked Weed in a move that had some craft beer drinkers scratching their heads, and others laughing with claims that they were “built to be bought”. This one isn’t much different. When AB bought up Wicked Weed, though, they made the claim that their then titled ‘High End Division’ was done with acquisitions.
We thought we were safe.
What this latest purchase should tell you is that craft beer is never safe from them. They won’t rest until AB-InBev is the largest craft brewery in the world – that’s how they work.
From an AB standpoint, Platform makes sense, they have three taprooms spread out across Ohio, with one planned in Pittsburgh. They were crowned with the title of the fastest growing craft brewery in the country – one of the few breweries their size that has still managed to grow at that pace. They release something like 200 new beers every year – it’s an insane pace, and one that clearly caught the eye of the big guys.
AB-InBev has been looking to get a craft beer foothold in this part of the country for a long time, reportedly looking into or meeting with nearly all the big craft guys in the region. They weren’t going to let this go until they got their way.
What Does It Mean?
It’s hard, if not impossible to argue that AB-InBev is good for craft beer (though I have had that argument placed in front of me before). This is a company that has spent the last couple decades convincing macro drinkers that “craft” is bad. They’ve been telling drinkers that it’s for yuppies and kids who don’t know patriotism when they see it. Remember folks… your beer isn’t meant to be fussed over… America told you so.
You might not even realize that as a company AB-InBev is part of the world of beer that actively battles to remove the choice of what they want to drink from consumers. How many tap lineups have you seen that are filled with Elysian, Goose Island, Golden Road and a standard Bud and Bud Light tap? Shelf space… tap handles… these are the battle grounds where AB has the biggest leg up on their competition, and every brewery that they purchase only further confuses drinkers when they order a beer.
Who makes my beer? This question gets harder and harder to answer for a lot of folks. In a lot of bars… the answer is simple, because it’s all made by the same company. AB-InBev. It’s made by them even if it looks and seems like you’re drinking a small, independent craft beer.
If you want to figure out what this all means to Cincinnati, to Ohio… to craft beer, and to you as a drinker. You’ve gotta figure a few things out about yourself first. Mainly, what defines success? What’s the point of all of this?
It’s easy to say that it’s all about beer, that what’s in the glass matters most and all else falls behind. But if you think craft beer is about a malt beverage, you’re missing the biggest point of it all.
Community.
Craft beer started as a rebellion to what was normal, and people responded to that. Yes – we drink better beer now, but that’s a side effect. The way craft breweries can become part of our lives and part of our communities is something that is under appreciated by a lot of drinkers.
What’s The Point?
I might ruffle a few feathers, and even start a few arguments with this statement, but if you open a brewery with the goal of growth, you’re doing it wrong.
Craft beer isn’t about growing big, growing fast, and finding a way out… craft beer is the journey. Once you find your place in a community, figure out how to live in that, and then to do it well… you’ve succeeded. It doesn’t matter if you are a 1bbl nano brewery, or a massive multi state regional or even national powerhouse. Pay your bills, treat your employees right and find your role in your community, and make good beer along the way.
This is, of course, just my opinion, and I don’t own a brewery. There are those of you who will argue that the opinion of someone without skin in the game doesn’t matter anyways… and maybe that’s right.
My opinion is that success in craft beer looks very different than success in Macro beer. Those lines get blurrier and blurrier every year – and that’s the biggest threat that we face as drinkers.