If we're talking larger craft brewers in Chicago, there are really only two that come to mind: Goose Island and Two Brothers. I suspect that Greg Koch would not really consider Goose a craft brewer anymore, so that leaves Two Brothers. Which... doesn't make much sense to me. I know Windy City Distribution is in flux right now -- is Stone getting passed off to another distributor, one that Greg doesn't like? And so he's conflating the distributor and the brewery? If I recall, Stone took so long to enter the Chicago market because they didn't want to work with any of the other distributors. But even as Two Brothers has kind of slid into "eh, they're not bad", I would not have expected to them to get all unethical. Where's The Question when we need him?!
Anyone else notice how music sucks these days? It's just guys with beards in sweaters and girls in 60's dresses with acoustic instruments & friends that yell "Hey" from across a poorly mic'd room for backing vocals.
If you (and a couple other folks) read the tweet again, you will see that he is not saying that it is a Chicago-based brewery. He says a large craft brewer is playing the dirty games IN Chicago. He certainly isn't mad at Two Brothers, they are making a beer together! I don't want to make any assumptions, but why would an established brewery with a long-term distributor in the area have any dirty games to play? Now look at the flip side and you may have a possible answer. Of course, that is just one man's thoughts on the vague tweet.
Sounds like greg is butt hurt that he made his big chicago debut almost 3 years ago, and no one cares. Bars aside, we make our own decisions as consumers....there hasnt been one stone product that doesnt sit on the shelves.. Even when patronizing a craft beer bar, stone is usually not what im looking for... Furthermore if stone pulled out of ill, i dont think anyone would give a rat's ass.
If Stone pulled their beer out of CA I wouldn't give a rats ass. Problem is the distribute everything in SoCal, so let's keep that arm of the business!
It's hilarious he's taking the "I am in the worst mood today, I can't believe what just happened. But won't supply any details or answer any posts" Facebook-style approach
Ruination 10th Anniversary was ridiculously good and was scooped up pretty quick. Now that 16th Anniversary IPA.....
Maybe I'm completely wrong in all this.. But the tweet doesn't mention a brewery specifically from Chicago. Just what they are doing in the Chicago market. Perhaps a recent brewer that has entered the market. I paused and gave thought to this while taking a casual stroll through the beer area while grocery shopping this weekend. I may be wrong.. but just thought it was worth pointing out.
For what it's worth, if you check in on his twitter page, there is more detail/banter about the subject, via an ongoing conversation on Twitter with Roger from New Albanion amongst others. Seems to have died down since yesterday but I agree with their sentiments. I love those new Albanion guys, they're always a hit at the Indiana festivals.
Absolutely fair points -- and I never really thought Two Brothers/Windy City Distribution would be up to anything unethical. But I was reading it as a Chicago brewery and you're right, it is hardly clear at all that's what he was getting at. Admittedly, I'm just a backseat driver/armchair quarterback in all this. I've always been curious about the business side of beer and how all the different, moving pieces come together. Seeing someone as high profile as Stone's owner come out with something about our city... But along the lines of what FlssmrBrewAlum is saying, I was a little surprised to see so many end caps of Kona and Deschutes at Jewel today. New to the market or not, those placements can't come easy.
While true, Bell's Oberon and Great Lakes Christmas get displays that rival Castle Vav's at my Jewel (Milwaukee/Paulina).
since we don't know the details or the brewery can we just say it was Finch since piling on Finch seems to be a consistent theme around here?
Fucking FINCH I bought Black Butte and Longboard from the end caps at Jewel and when I got home I found they were just fucking glass bottle necks glued to the tops of FINCH cans!! These breweries are out of control!
Am I the only one who thought he was referring to the guy from Lagunitas who said when his brewpub opens he would have no problem poaching employees from Goose Island because they're owned by AB-InBev?
Revolution poached a lot of GI's brewpub staff, and Mr. pee in his beer partially returned the favor when he hung his 'I make cider' shingle. No big news.
Yeah those idiots just caterwaul and yell Hey. Did you see them on SNL? Terrible, off key the whole time. Or Of Monsters and Men or whatever...and Eliot sharp, or those yahoos that did the Corona commericals. Nuts to pseudo folk rock. Edit: The above is an example of what kind of quality posting your dollars can pay for! Sign up today!
http://beerpulse.com/2013/02/deschu...llinois-18000-cses-1800-accounts-550-handles/ Not sayin', just sayin'?
Deschutes/Wirtz is not what Greg is talking about. I have worked closely with the launch of Deschutes in IL and Wirtz has gone above and beyond to ensure they are not playing these games that Chicago is known for.
I think the proliferation of Deschutes is probably due to it being Wirtz's first (and so far only) craft brand, so it's getting massive amounts of push from them. Nearly every bar in the distribution area gets booze from Wirtz, so pretty much every bar is probably going to get a sales pitch on Deschutes. Also, Deschutes makes good beer and is a fairly well known craft brand, and they had their people out here doing a ton of events at a lot of different bars.
Serious questions, when did New Belgium enter the Chicago market? How many handles did they open with? And is 550 handles really that much in such a big, beer centered city?
Not spinning this as a negative, but since Wirtz has been introduced as a sub-category to this thread...anybody surprised that Greenbush signed up w/ Wirtz? And, does the Vav subcription blogsphere sign-up include any swag?
Not at all, Greenbush had a relationship with Phil before he went to Wirtz. Would have been surprised if they had gone with anybody but Wirtz.
funny story about NB entering chicago. back before i was really into craft beer (and i bit after i turned 21), a friend of mine said "hey, there's this restaurant that has this awesome beer that you can't get in chicago called fat tire." so we went, ate really awesome pizza, and drank fat tire. about a year later, i saw it on the shelf, and on the label it said it was the first fat tire served legally in chicago.
Tony Magee's Twitter comments: "Saw today that a brewer from San Diego 'announced' a some unnamed larger craft brewer was gonna be giving a lot of free beer to retailers." "This was going to be happening in Chicago. 1st bizarre thing: people thought he knew what he was talking about. 2nd: that anyone cared." "We're allocating beer everywhere means; none to give away. Ya can usually tell what folks are most guilty of by what they accuse others of."
