hsmith19 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 If you care about locally owned companies, St. Louis has a glut of breweries that are 100% locally owned and operated, and some of which are making world-class beer in dozens of styles. Forget about the beers at the game and hit one of these places on the way there or home. The crafty stuff has its place. One of those places is just a few blocks from me, and I go there quite a bit even though many of the beers are not my cup of overly hopped bilgewater. The craft beer thing is yet another reflection of how everybody wants to be a snowflake now and have their own favorite thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Good for all the craft breweries and the 10 or 12 people those places employ. No sense pretending that the craft beer industry does for the regional economy what Anheuser-Busch has done over the past century and a half or even what it continues to do today, though. And as hard as it might be to believe, some of us still prefer the taste of a Budweiser or a Kraftig more often than not. Even the craft brewers are starting to put out more "golden pilsners" and "farmhouse lagers" that are basically Kraftig with fancier sounding names now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB73 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 No way. This will not happen in any of our lifetimes. As Brito said at the time, they were buying "stars and stripes in a bottle." Removing the connection to the historic St. Louis Brewery would compromise that image much more than it already has been. And doing that at a time when they are continuing to lose market share to both craft beer and trendy, retro all-American brands like Coors Banquet would make the opposite of sense. Yes, way. Significant per unit manufacturing cost disadvantage in the real business world with a global company = yes, in our lifetime. And you believe what Brito said? Wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 If Brito planned to shut the St Louis brewery down anytime soon he wouldn't be spending $150 million right now expanding the Metal Container Corp in Arnold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmith19 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 He said it and it was true. The Budweiser brand is what they were buying. If they kill the St. Louis Brewery, they kill the brand. It will be a long time and things will have to change a lot for that not to be true. You can move the attorneys, you can move the ad execs, and you can move just about everything else, but if they move the brewery they lose what's left of the stars and stripes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 If Brito planned to shut the St Louis brewery down anytime soon he wouldn't be spending $150 million right now expanding the Metal Container Corp in Arnold. Add to that the $130 million he spent there about 5 years ago and you have $280 million he invested there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Kraftig is awful. Period. Crappy budweiser with craft brewery sounding marketing. If you are going to buy a mass produced lager, just buy the one created and made in Soulard. i was pleased that you can buy O'Falllon's 5-Day IPA at the regular concession stand. I am still ticked that they increased the cost of popcorn by 25% and took away free refills. (That is like an 800% price increase for my boys.) +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 The crafty stuff has its place. One of those places is just a few blocks from me, and I go there quite a bit even though many of the beers are not my cup of overly hopped bilgewater. The craft beer thing is yet another reflection of how everybody wants to be a snowflake now and have their own favorite thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Good for all the craft breweries and the 10 or 12 people those places employ. No sense pretending that the craft beer industry does for the regional economy what Anheuser-Busch has done over the past century and a half or even what it continues to do today, though. And as hard as it might be to believe, some of us still prefer the taste of a Budweiser or a Kraftig more often than not. Even the craft brewers are starting to put out more "golden pilsners" and "farmhouse lagers" that are basically Kraftig with fancier sounding names now. I don't know which craft Pilsners you are drinking but the 2 I've had which are Schlafly's and Urban Chestnut's do not even closely resemble an American Macro Beer anymore than a German Pilsner like a Bitburger does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pelican Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 He said it and it was true. The Budweiser brand is what they were buying. If they kill the St. Louis Brewery, they kill the brand. It will be a long time and things will have to change a lot for that not to be true. You can move the attorneys, you can move the ad execs, and you can move just about everything else, but if they move the brewery they lose what's left of the stars and stripes. The brand is not what they were primarily buying. They were buying the established distribution that AB developed. Globalization of the market is the goal not the red, white and blue of the AB brand. The majority of AB beer is not even produced here in STL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 The crafty stuff has its place. One of those places is just a few blocks from me, and I go there quite a bit even though many of the beers are not my cup of overly hopped bilgewater. The craft beer thing is yet another reflection of how everybody wants to be a snowflake now and have their own favorite thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Good for all the craft breweries and the 10 or 12 people those places employ. No sense pretending that the craft beer industry does for the regional economy what Anheuser-Busch has done over the past century and a half or even what it continues to do today, though. And as hard as it might be to believe, some of us still prefer the taste of a Budweiser or a Kraftig more often than not. Even the craft brewers are starting to put out more "golden pilsners" and "farmhouse lagers" that are basically Kraftig with fancier sounding names now. You should probably do a little more homework before posting on a subject you clearly know so little about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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