Generic Craft Beer at Your Local Grocery?

[theBryon]

Here's something I find interesting... Generic/Store Brand beer at your local grocery? Am I the only one this is news to? Some what related to this thread...

[Matt Stinchfield]

These types of beers have been showing up more often in my grocery stores. Metolius is brewed by Portland Brewing Co., a.k.a. Pyramid. A-B has a lot of these lately, with Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, Shock Top Belgian White, Stone Mill Pale Ale. I don't care one way or another if A-B is dabbling in the specialty market. What does bother me are deceptive labels where some LLC of the week is apparently the brewing company, when they are all along brewed by some giant corporation. The other thing that torques me is the leverage A-B has on the selection at my regular grocery stores. If you are familiar with the major A-B brands, their closet speciality beers, and the brands belonging to their international partners, my grocery is over 90% stocked by A-B. It's as if the liquor buyer doesn't know, doesn't care, or doesn't want to work to build some choice. Thanks for bringing up this matter, theByron. Cheers, the Palate Jack®

[theBryon]

No problem Matt...

Yes, you are correct that Pyramid makes Metolius. The question I ask in my blog is, if Pyramid is a craft brewery, do you still consider Metolious, made for grocery chains only, a craft brand?

A&B does seem to have a near monopoly on the grocery store beer selection. But, like everything else, it's probably a market driven thing, as the distributor I spoke to suggested with his comments in response to my asking why he wasn't stocking more craft beers and less macros. "The store doesn't see a market for it..."

That's where we come in I guess. Perhaps we should demand better beer from our markets? Wouldn't we complain if the produce and beef was poor quality? Why not the beer?

I must admit, I'm a little annoyed that the markets & A&B are trying to trick us into thinking we are buying craft with these faux craft beers. Not sure if Metolius is "friend or faux" in this case... What say you?

Matt Stinchfield, The Palate Jack® said:

These types of beers have been showing up more often in my grocery stores. Metolius is brewed by Portland Brewing Co., a.k.a. Pyramid. A-B has a lot of these lately, with Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, Shock Top Belgian White, Stone Mill Pale Ale. I don't care one way or another if A-B is dabbling in the specialty market. What does bother me are deceptive labels where some LLC of the week is apparently the brewing company, when they are all along brewed by some giant corporation. The other thing that torques me is the leverage A-B has on the selection at my regular grocery stores. If you are familiar with the major A-B brands, their closet speciality beers, and the brands belonging to their international partners, my grocery is over 90% stocked by A-B. It's as if the liquor buyer doesn't know, doesn't care, or doesn't want to work to build some choice. Thanks for bringing up this matter, theByron. Cheers, the Palate Jack®

[theBryon]

One more thought on this for the day... If the faux craft beers from the big beer companies are profitable enough to sell in the stores... And the average consumer has no idea that they are in fact faux craft beers, then why wouldn't real local craft beers be as profitable?

I think they would be, I just think "Big Beer" has a near monopoly. I also think it would take some courage on the behalf of a grocery chain to embrace local craft beer, take a chance, and turn this thing around... I'm not saying I expect the local Shaw's to have the variety of the local package store, but they should, in my opinion, carry some local selections, just like they often do with produce and such...

[Matt Stinchfield]

The fact is that the faux craft beers have a much larger margin for the retailer. These beers are produced, shipped, distributed with efficiencies of large brewers and the distribution networks they own. The grocery stores charge about the same per 6-pack as they would for a real craft beer, but make at least a buck more per sale. Small brewers, meanwhile, are wholesaling their beer at a higher price because their costs are higher. If all beers were marked up uniformly, we'd be paying something around $4 for a 6-pack of Tecate and $9 for a sixer of Left Hand.

theBryon said:

One more thought on this for the day... If the faux craft beers from the big beer companies are profitable enough to sell in the stores... And the average consumer has no idea that they are in fact faux craft beers, then why wouldn't real local craft beers be as profitable?

[theBryon]

This is true, with that in mind... I think Pyramid may be doing something pretty cool here... They're providing affordable craft beer to the masses, unlike the big beer companies that are simply trying to fool the masses into believing they're drinking craft beer. What do you think?

[theBryon]

Perhaps more local brews could get their products out there with the help of, not only a store chain with courage, but also a distributor with vision to help cut the cost of distribution. I would think local breweries could get there beer to local stores for an affordable cost. Then again many of them may already be struggling. And too much growth could harm their businesses...

[Matt Stinchfield]

It's hard to be a conscientious beer purchaser these days. By that I mean, some really good beers are made by mega-corporations (Hoegaarden for example), and even though I want to see the little breweries succeed, I still go where my palate takes me. The beef I have with A-B and their ilk is the marketing sorcery, the sham LLCs, and the ability to ignore the single digit producers in favor of distributing products in their own stable.

If you are able to purchase beers directly from the smaller producers, by going to their tap room or brewpub, you avoid subsidizing the distributors and the brewery collects all the margin. It is not always possible or advisable to go out every time you want a beer, which is the very reason we are having to go to grocery stores. This isn't just an underdog versus Goliath argument, it is a cold hard truth that if we don't support the local suppliers of fresh and unpasteurized beer, they may cease to operate, leaving us, ultimately, to choose between the faux craft beers on store shelves.

theBryon said:

They're providing affordable craft beer to the masses, unlike the big beer companies that are simply trying to fool the masses into believing they're drinking craft beer.

[theBryon]

Very true... here are my reviews of the two faux craft beers in question, in case you were curious... They're just OK, not great...

Matt Stinchfield, The Palate Jack® said:

This isn't just an underdog versus Goliath argument, it is a cold hard truth that if we don't support the local suppliers of fresh and unpasteurized beer, they may cease to operate, leaving us, ultimately, to choose between the faux craft beers on store shelves.

theBryon said:

They're providing affordable craft beer to the masses, unlike the big beer companies that are simply trying to fool the masses into believing they're drinking craft beer.

[theBryon]

This is a good point, I'm a little embarrassed, but my post for this month's session is about Bass. Not exactly a true craft brew... But it was the "gate way beer" for me and still hold a place in my beer heart...

Matt Stinchfield, The Palate Jack® said:

It's hard to be a conscientious beer purchaser these days. By that I mean, some really good beers are made by mega-corporations (Hoegaarden for example), and even though I want to see the little breweries succeed, I still go where my palate takes me.

[Matt Stinchfield]

Albertson's advertises these beers in their circulars, but so far they haven't shown up at my local store. I will give them a try when I find them. Thanks for the reviews! PJ

theBryon said:

Very true... here are my reviews of the two faux craft beers in question, in case you were curious... They're just OK, not great...

Matt Stinchfield, The Palate Jack® said:

This isn't just an underdog versus Goliath argument, it is a cold hard truth that if we don't support the local suppliers of fresh and unpasteurized beer, they may cease to operate, leaving us, ultimately, to choose between the faux craft beers on store shelves.

theBryon said:

They're providing affordable craft beer to the masses, unlike the big beer companies that are simply trying to fool the masses into believing they're drinking craft beer.