Big beer merger leaves future uncertain for competitors

Drink craft beers still made by independent brewers!

“In the U.S., the test of a merger is not its size considered alone,” Ross said. “It is the potential effect on competition and therefore on prices.”

That brings AOL Time Warner to mind. Can't remember when I last heard of AOL outside of a joke about dial-ups and "you've got mail". Some corporates are just too predatory for their own good. Or for anyone else's.

Ironically, the craft brewers should want the new combination to be as big as possible, argues Erik Gordon of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

What? Yes, perhaps in an ideal market with perfect distribution channels but, as we see in Japan, when large companies control these channels and massively advertise the everyday choice can be very limited, relatively expensive and bland.

Speaking of beer. I'm really homesick for some Pyramid Hefeweizen. Brewed in Pacific Northwest, US.

The only beer manufacturers who need to worry about this merger are the other huge brewing conglomerates. The small microbreweries will always survive because they add the magic ingredient to their beers that the others don't have - taste!

Maybe they can buy out the happoshu people here and do the world a favor by destroying the formula.

I genuinely think the best beer I've ever tasted (and being English I've tried a lot!) is Yebisu! And Asahi is a close second. I always think it's a shame that people in the UK can't try genuine Yebisu or Asahi, because it's brewed under licence in Europe somewhere and tastes NOTHING like the genuine stuff! Slightly off topic but just thought I'd share that lol

When big brewers buy up smaller brewers the quality always suffers and the beer ends up as awful as the mass-market rubbish. Big brewers are only interested in churning out vast quantities for the lowest possible cost, with quality only an afterthought.

As for Heineken, Coors and Carlsberg: they are all pretty grim drinks that I avoid and no amount of marketing can change that.

RickS,

I hope you were trying to be funny! Back when I washed up here Yebisu was the best of a mediocre lot. But at least micro brews were on the scene to give me options although pricy. Now we have more micro stuff & lots more decent imported so I only drink J-beer when that's all the izakaya serves & then after a couple I move to shochu.

And Asahi super dry is the closest thing to US big brewers crapola taste wise, very bland, so it does "go" with anything but doesn't taste like much.

@Rick

Yebisu & Asahi.... Really? You need to do more "research" mate as they are the fosters of Japan, along with Kirin. and GW American beer, dont make me laugh.

There is a lot of good beer in Japan, and a lot of good Haposhu, that most in a taste test contest could not tell if it was or not. Japanese are genius and Haposhu.

By the way, Molson and Coors were separate breweries years back.

@GW & @kobe White Bar Owner lol ok ok, points taken. Any suggestions as to what to keep a look out for? Btw, I prefer lager. Although back in England I thought we didn't brew any good lagers I do sometimes miss English cider to be honest.

What? Yes, perhaps in an ideal market with perfect distribution channels but, as we see in Japan, when large companies control these channels and massively advertise the everyday choice can be very limited, relatively expensive and bland.

Yes, Consumers here allow themselves to be manipulated easily. Partly because they are afraid to be different, partly because of the culture. Relentless advertising seems to work here.

RickS

Click on this link for some good J-micro-brews

http://goodbeer.jp/

Shonanbb,

Happoshu is pretty nasty stuff, most I would bet is part poison, junk-food of "beer" drink that stuff at your own risk imo!

Give Kyoto Brewing a try. A new local microbrewery. http://kyotobrewing.com/

@GW @sf2k Thanks guys! My belly will be ballooning in no time lol -_^

Rick: Had some nice cider last trip to London. Tasty stuff.

The large distributors buying up micro brews is concerning, but it does help get regional beers distributed farther. Sadly, quality tends to drop as the amount of beer goes up. Seems that quality drops as a micro-brewery grows to become a regional brewery too.

When traveling, used to just order a "local bier on tap", but that turned out badly way to often. Not always, but about 80%. Often, it it just weak beer similar to Miller Lite. Yuck.

By the way, Molson and Coors were separate breweries years back.

Aye and this article is the first I've heard of their merger. Checking Wiki I see that they've been merged for over a decade. I need to get outside more! :-/

@theFu

Yes, a traditional cider is pretty good stuff (and pretty potent!) but the cider industry is in danger of going down the same toilet as the rest of the industry. I've not really tried the real Japanese stuff, mostly because the bottles I'm most likely to get will be rebadged local rubbish rather than the original (a lot of the Australian stuff ended up the same way, for example).

Apart from which I'm not really a fan of the lighter "lager" style of beer. And I'll say nothing about American "beer" (the most I'm likely to do is liken it to making love in a canoe...)