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This month in 2011, Goose Island got some praise from hometown Chicago Tribune after taking its fair share of lumps in local press after selling to AB. At Goose's Belgian Fest, Goose "was the clear star of its own show," wrote Trib. "The thought, creativity and dedication to Goose's beers was obvious," gushed paper referring not to Pere Jacques or Matilda brands but more obscure ones by Goose including Indira, Gillian (a white pepper strawberry saison), Scarlet, Cherry Dominique (Belgian-style sour aged in bourbon bbls) and Minx. "We have people bursting at the seams with interesting ideas and I'm not going to say 'No' to anything," said brewmaster Brett Porter. "We are going to go farther and in different directions and everyone on our staff will be part of it," he assured. The writer noted he's "detected a chip on Goose Island's shoulder in response to all the cries of 'sell out,'" but after sampling array of brews, he added "that might be a good thing." This month in 2012, craft brewers seemed to have found quite the ally in the form of President Obama, or at least his press team. First, after much badgering, the White House officially released recipes of its homebrewed honey ales. And based on the style of that release, what seemed like a spontaneous reaction to petitions and pleas may have been a long time coming. Then, not one but two craft brewers took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. CO Gov John Hickenlooper, founder of Wynkoop, was an obvious choice for convention planners, tho he spent very little time talking about beer. Seemingly in response to Republican charges of anti-business sentiments held by Democrats, the DNC filed a number of successful small (and once-small) business owners onto the stage, one of whom was Port City Brewing co-founder Bill Butcher.Both men discussed the difficulty of starting their small businesses, the Governor claiming that he was "turned down by 32 banks and scores of investors," including his mother. Bill concurred, adding that "we may never have gotten to yes if it wasn't for President Obama and the SBA Loan program that he started." Later that month, during an appearance on 'Late Night with David Letterman,' Obama joked that "if the presidency doesn't work out, I've got a microbrewery thing going on."This month in 2013, Brooklyn's founder Steve Hindy and consultant Joe Thompson addressed some hot craft topics at Brooklyn's distrib conference. Joe said any threats to 3 tier system will have negative effect, since craft brewers have greatly benefited from a strong 3 tier. Franchise law carve outs are a legit way to maintain fairness, said Steve, which Joe agreed with. Were the big 2 (AB and MC) exerting more pressure on non-aligned craft? Joe said yes and noted in recent distrib deal, top brewer required buyer to "limit percentage of non-aligned craft," just as deal about to close. He also noted AB and MC were not all that "respectful" to wholesalers, which created opportunity for craft. On Craft vs Crafty topic, Steve defended initial commentary, but said since then, BA relatively quiet, tho theme clearly resonated with media. "Sure did piss off the big guys," tho, said Joe, who felt better for craft folks to steer clear of the debate. Was a shakeout coming? "I don't think there ever has been a shakeout," said Steve. He noted number of breweries doubled during so called shakeout in 90s. A whole new generation of innovative craft breweries actually started up during 90s with broadened styles and brought more innovation. On mktg, Joe said craft brewers were more effective marketers at that moment. "Social media happened at perfect time for craft beer," added Steve.This month in 2014, there was more debate over the seasonal creep of fall beers appearing on store shelves in August, reported CBN. This had been happening for years and in his Aug letter, BWC Company's Bump Williams put further perspective to an "unusual amount of Pumpkin/Oktoberfest&hellip;on display and draught already" spotted at retail. Bump saw lotsa customers "feeling pushed into drinking these styles before summer is truly over," and "some retailers purposely refusing to sell Pumpkin/Oktoberfest in August when they were initially launched&hellip;. another example of where perhaps the needs of the retailer and beer drinker are not aligned with the needs of the brewers." Key question posed by Bump: "When did the needs of the brewer outweigh the needs of the Consumer?"This month in 2015, MillerCoors' Tenth and Blake unit struck deal to buy a "majority" of hot San Diego craft brewer Saint Archer. That "majority" was reportedly ~90% and purchase price was between $35-40 mil. That put it in neighborhood of that "over $1000" per bbl valuation that was oft-referenced, including by Wall St Jnl same wk (per bbl number too much of a shorthand, since it doesn't detail EBITDA, projected future cash flows, etc). "It's another pretty amazing price, among many others, especially when you consider that Saint Archer started a mere 2 yrs ago. Like 10 Barrel bought by AB, Saint Archer had a well-executed business plan, which brought quick and lucrative results," wrote CBN. But less than 7 yrs later, Molson Coors opted to shutter Saint Archer, selling the brewery & taproom to Kings & Convicts.

Craft Throwbacks - Sep

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