BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Pilsner Urquell still tastes wonderful under Asahi, so I'm not worried about the future of Fuller's.

There's only so much a sodden socialist can do to make sense of a wayward planet that stubbornly refuses to listen to his rants.

As such, I admit there was a time when news like the Asahi acquisition of Fuller's would have upset me. However, I have adapted to modernity and embraced the reasoning of the Pour Fool, which I'll paraphrase.

As it pertains to the acquisition of one brewery by another (and larger) one, only when the larger one is AB-InBev need we be necessarily alarmed.

In other words, because AB-InBev remains The Great Satan, nothing good can come from its nefarious activities. Nothing. Ever.

On the other hand, a deal like Asahi's takeover of Fuller's, while annoying, does not necessarily doom the latter to irrelevance. The loss of independence is cause for lamentation, and yet the Japanese have a better track record than the Brazilians when it comes to preserving the essences.

Or something like that.

Fight me. 

ASAHI MAKES MASSIVE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE OF CASK ALE WITH £250M PURCHASE OF FULLERS’ BEER BUSINESS, by Martyn Cornell (Zythophile)

The Japanese beer giant Asahi has made a massive vote of confidence in the future of the real ale sector in the UK with its £250m purchase of Fullers’ beer business.

And if that’s not the angle you took away from the story, you’re not thinking this through properly.

The crux of it is here.

Asahi clearly thinks there is profit to be had in the business of supplying beer to British pubs. With Fullers’ emphasis, still, on cask beer brands it obviously believes buying the rights to brew cask beer is worth a substantial wodge of corporate cash and there is a hearty future ahead. Meanwhile, on the “oh no the accountants will ruin London Pride” front, as part of the fall-out from the AB Inbev-SAB Miller merger, Asahi ended up with Pilsner Urquell and Meantime in London, among other Western beer brands. I’ve heard no moans from either of those two concerns about how the Japanese are treating them. If you pay a lot of money buying a product that sells on its premium image, you don’t mess about with that image.

THE BEER BEAT: The Pour Fool nails it yet again, as "Budweiser Finds Another Sell-Out" -- this time, Wicked Weed.

Like others before it, Wicked Weed Brewing has died.

That's unfortunate, indeed, but from the moment the ownership of Wicked Weed passed to AB InBev, this previously independent brewery was transformed into something else.

Now it's Wicked Trojan Zombie Afterlife Weed. We'll always have our memories.

Speaking only for myself, I wouldn't drink a WTZAW beer with Donald Trump's lips. There are hundreds of other choices, and no commensurate need to deposit money in the coffers of the enemy. It was nice while it lasted, but it's all over now.

Yawn.

At times like this, I turn to the Pour Fool -- because the Pour Fool gets it. In today's agitated WTZAW obituary, Steve Foolbody makes an excellent point, to which I'll confine my quotations -- but be sure to click through to the whole piece, and absorb the beautifully righteous anger.

I can only hope the shoe-gazers among the solipsistic beer narcissist contingent can someday feel some of that anger. The world would be a far better place.

Another One Bites The Dust: Budweiser Finds Another Sell-Out, by steve foolbody (The Pour Fool)

These acquisitions have ZERO to do with wanting to "support ALL breweries, EVERYWHERE". These are all about Influence. Leverage. Insinuating themselves into a culture which is, at least in LARGE part, a reaction to and rejection of everything AB has stood for…

The ugly news broke, just this morning, of the impending sale of Asheville, North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing….to a company which doesn’t give two shits about WW’s beer, P&L sheet or anything else about it…except its LOCATION…

OKAY…here’s a little primer, as we get all set to watch another fine American brewery lose its “Indie Beer” status for good… With these breweries – these, in effect, TOOLS – they can legitimately pry open the doors to state governments in places where Indie Beer is strongest.

The Pour Fool proceeds to list AB InBev's Trojan Zombie Afterlife breweries by state.

Breweries by state: WA: Elysian; 32% of Red Hook / OR: 10 Barrel; 32% of Widmer Brothers / CA: Golden Road Brewing / AZ: Four Peaks Brewing / Texas: Karbach Brewing /VA: Devil’s Backbone Brewing / IL: Goose Island / CO: Breckenridge Brewing / NY: Blue Point Brewing / HI: 32% of Kona Brewing

Then he looks at brewing states by size.

THE LARGEST BREWING STATES, BY # OF BREWERIES:
1. California
2 – 4. Varies between Colorado,Washington, and Oregon
5. Michigan (No AB ownership)
6. Pennsylvania (No AB ownership)
7. New York
8. Wisconsin (No AB ownership)
9. Texas
10. North Carolina
11. Illinois

It's a fairly obvious pattern. AB InBev's acquisitions are about chess, power and shelf space, not necessarily in that order. He notes that breweries in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been approached ... and among the targets coming into the multinational's cross-hairs?

The HOTTEST UP & COMERS:
1. Florida
2. Indiana
3. Virginia
4. Ohio
5. Arizona

That's right, Hoosierland; for someone, the lottery's about to hit.

Greedhead Brewers in PA,WI, FL, IN, and OH, think fast. Your payday is coming…

When it does, could brewery owners please take the Twitter advice of legendary beer writer Stephen Beaumont ...

... and pop star Steve Miller: No bullshit and fables; just take the money, and run.

THE BEER BEAT: BrewDog's private equity $$$ bonanza: "Not bad for ten years of being rude about the rest of the UK brewing industry."

For those who are unaware, Martyn Cornell's web page is a great source of beer information from a British perspective.

"I am sure Alastair Hook and the guys at Meantime, whose beers BrewDog withdrew from its bars after the Greenwich brewer was bought by SAB Miller, are smiling sardonically."

BrewDog's antics have entertained me for a long time. The company's success reminds us that while P.T. Barnum may have been an American, hucksterism never has been confined to just one country. I hope the founders of BrewDog make a mint, whether in dollars, Euros or pounds sterling.

I'll be at a local establishment somewhere, drinking myself to sleep.

The REAL story behind BrewDog’s ‘sellout’ is that crowdfunding will only get you so far, by Martyn Cornell (Zythophile)

The real story behind the news that BrewDog is copping more than £200 million from the private equity firm that also part-owns Pabst Blue Ribbon, is not, despite the howls of “hypocrisy!”, that nobody can resist a big juicy cheque, no matter how punk they claim to be. It is, rather more sadly, that crowdfunding will only get you so far, and if you have really big ambitions, you’re going to have to get in bed eventually with The Man.

The deal with TSG Consumer Partners, the $5bn 30-year-old San Francisco-based private equity sees TSG acquire “approximately” 22 per cent of BrewDog for what the Sunday Times says is £213 million, split between a £100 million investment in the firm and £113 million paid to existing shareholders.

Of the two founders, James Watt is seeing his stake in the firm drop from 35 per cent to 25 per cent and Martin Dickie’s slice goes down from 30 per cent to 22. It’s not clear (to me, anyway) if that dilution is because the pair are selling 18 per cent of the firm between them to TSG, or some of the fall in their percentage ownership comes from new shares being issued: the Sunday Times says one of the motions passed at last month’s BrewDog AGM in Aberdeen saw the creation of a new class of preferred shares, which would guarantee TSG a minimum compound annual return of 18 per cent if the company is bought or floated. There’s a fair bit of dilution, I reckon, or the figures for how much existing shareholders are getting out of the deal don’t add up.

But even so, I’d say James is receiving north of £50 million and Martin more than £40 million. Not bad for ten years of being rude about the rest of the UK brewing industry and winding up the Portman Group. Looks like Dr Johnson’s comment more than 230 years ago about selling a brewery being the way to become rich beyond the dreams of avarice is still true ...

Extol Magazine now operating under Neace Ventures.

I don't suppose Neace Ventures is looking for a 33.3% ownership in an Indiana brewery ripe for adaptive reuse?

The Extol Team is thrilled to announce we are now operating under Neace Ventures, which is owned by New Albany businessman John Neace and headed up by the newly-appointed president, Brad Estes. Our sister companies include Old 502 Winery, Louisville City FC, Brownie's "The Shed" Grille & Bar, Falls City Brewing Co., Blue River Cabinetry and many more. This move will allow us to grow and further our mission of celebrating — and serving — the Southern Indiana community ...

... John Neace was the first person to support our dream of starting Extol by becoming our initial investor. He and Vitor Bueno both jumped on ship as minority owners in this venture that was started by Sales Director/Managing Partner Jason Applegate and his wife Angie Fenton, Extol's editor in chief. We are so grateful for this opportunity to grow and further our mission.

And from Angie Fenton:

Jason (Applegate) and I are excited about this recent move. While we still have ownership in Extol Magazine, becoming a part of the Neace Ventures family is only going to give us more opportunity to grow ... Thanks to an incredible team of contractors and our recent hiring of several full-time employees, Extol is on the move in ways we not only dreamt about but have made come to fruition. Now that we're under the Neace Ventures umbrella, Extol's future looks even brighter.