Another One Bites the Dust: If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em. Platform Brewing is sold

Sorry for the delay in blogs, I have been taking a road trip out West seeing Yellowstone, and drinking some epic beers, if you check our facebook page you will see some of the beers.

Some of Platforms beer

In a sad turn of events, Ohio’s Platform Brewing has been purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev. So for anyone counting at home that means since the infamous 2010 purchase of Goose Island, A-B or “Brewers Collective” has also acquired: Elysian, 10 Barrel, Golden Road, Four Peaks, Blue Point, Breckenridge, Karbach, Veza Sur, Virtue Cider, Wicked Weed, and Devil’s Backbone. I guess their new model is if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em. Personally I am torn with all of these mergers. The free market capitalist in me says let these buyouts happen, then the socialist side of me says these bullies are just picking on the little guys. If A-B ever showed up at Myces Brothers’ Brewing with a blank check, there would be a massive brawl to see which Myces can cash the check first. Who can fault these breweries for taking generational wealth when the opportunity arise? 

When the buyout of Goose Island happened it sent shockwaves throughout the craft beer community. Goose Island was a craft beer pioneer, and they were one of the first craft breweries to “go corporate.” (skip ahead to the 3 minute mark to watch an epic promo by the Rock) In 2011 craft beer had a market share of 5% and this year it is up to 13%, these purchases are not inhibiting the growth of the craft beer industry, one could argue they are helping the growth. As the saying goes, “Any publicity is good publicity.”

Now these mergers are happening much more frequently as I have discussed in the recap of the top 50 Craft Breweries. In reality, these mergers don't usually change the beer from a consumers perspective. The multinational-conglomerates realize that if something isn’t broken to not fix it, they just use their leverage to increase production and distribution. A Goose Island Honker’s Ale tastes just as good in 2019 as it did in 2010, the only difference is more of your dollar goes to the shareholders and not the good guys.

Another thing I have noticed with these mergers is how they announce them, A-B puts out a press release announcing it to the world, while the brewery getting purchased tends to keep the news of their buyout quiet.  Go to any of the hyperlinks in the aforementioned breweries, it is very difficult to find any mention of A-B. Again, A-B isn’t stupid they realize the craft beer world is very territorial and the moment a sale is confirmed there is an immediate social media backlash.

Enough with that tangent, let’s get to Platform. They opened in 2014, and by 2017 they expanded from 6,500 beer barrels to 20,000, making them the fastest growing regional brewery in the country. Platform has multiple tasting rooms, a brewhouse, and is in the process of opening a sour beer only facility (You damn right!). Had I not filled my car with 30 cases of Yuengling during my epic road trip I would have brought home some Platform, but I still stand by my Yuengling decision.

This isn’t the first and it won’t be the last craft beer sold to a multinational-conglomerate, all you can do is keep reading this blog and KCHopTalk while simultaneously looking for the craft beer logo on your beer.

The Certified Craft Beer Logo

If you want more information on this subject checkout Brewbound,the Takeout, or a very in-depth article by Crain’s Cleveland


Cheers,
Brett A. Myces