re: Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing

So, does anyone know when Goose Island will be available pretty much anywhere? I know it's in New orleans right now. What about BR? I live in a really small town, so I'm hoping this will be at my local liquor store soon.

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The Cove in BR just got 3 on tap. But bottles won't get into the state until December at the earliest.

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Honkers is in MS already.

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I thought they were a craft brewery along the lines of an Abita or Spoetzl brewery?

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Nope. Subsidiary of MillerCoors as part of the Tenth & Blake division with Blue Moon, Henry Weinhard, etc.

for a while I thought this is what Clown Shoes was and didnt want to try it because of that

glad its not, and I need to start checking them out more

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So far i've had Brash Texas Exile Coffee porter CS/Brash Flight of the Pimp CS Ghenghis Pecan Porter CS Muffin Top CS Tramp Stamp CS Hoppy Feet CS Hoppy Feet 1.5 CS Eagle Claw Fist CS Chocolate Sumbrero CS Blaecorn Unidragon

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Yep. Had Porcine Unidragon the other day. It may be the best Clown Shoes I've had. Fantastic.

The attacks in this thread seem to be aimed at the big three while giving the distributors a pass. There is a lot of big talk about how people boycott the big 3 and their products because of their bullying tactics, but you patronize the hit man carrying out the tactics.

You can fault AB for throwing Bud out there and strong arming a distributor, then think you are punishing Bud by giving more business to the distributor. The distributor feels no pain and has no reason to change his ways. His supplier is happy, his buyer is happy.

Some appear to have separated the two and justified the boycott against the Big 3 because in reality you can go without their product(s). However, if you cut off the distributors you are left with just a handful of brews from the small "independent" distributors. This is too much of a hit to take.

So, many seem content to sit high on their horse and preach about how they cannot support a system that hurts the small guy, but will not shut them out completely as long as they get the benefits they want from the system.

I'm sure some will respond that the system is broken or that the distributors are at the mercy of the brewers. Reality is that the distributors like it that way. You can boycott the big distributors and still have plenty of stuff to drink, just wouldn't be enjoyable.

If people were truly principled this is what they would do, in your situation they would boycott the St. Arnold's for the greater good of craft brewing.

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How would you suggest boycotting the distributors? In a state like louisiana you can buy direct from the brewery, so i cant buy beer anymore? I agree the system is antiquated, but how do you change the system?

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There are beers that are delivered by distributors other than crown/mockler/brbeer, stick to those beers and those beers only. It will get your point across I am sure.


There aren't but a handful that are distributed, you would be missing out on a lot of beers. I know it is a question we have asked pretty often at beer tasting.

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Posted by charlesmartinmike Bunch of pretentious ****s. Words on a bottle have become more important than the taste of the beer.

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Actually, the beer sucks too a-hole.

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fightin tigers

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I understand what you are saying about the distributors in theory. But in practice I don't think it works at all. Mainly due to the pressure (business wise) put on new breweries. Take Mockler for example. If I wanted to support Tin Roof or Parish by buying their beer, I have to buy it from Mockler. Unfortunately the breweries have to make money to survive regardless of the quality of their beer. So new breweries get approached by a distributor who has access to a bunch of markets which means more exposure for the little guys. So you are in a catch 22 as a consumer and as a small brewery.

Does Abita still self distribute or did they join up with someone else?