Iowa Bud Light Edition Cans

[mopkins]

Nah, it will pop. The most popular local guys will survive and the monstrous companies with strong national distribution like Bell's, DogFish Head, Stone, etc. will be fine, but there are way too many breweries out there to have a long term sustainable business. My cousin got married in a nice brewery in St. Paul and the bartender said they went through more Busch Light and Bud Light than any other beer (we drank the place out of Busch Light despite them ordering extra for the event). Dude said he had never seen anything like it. That's what happens when you got a bunch of country folk from Humboldt County and Webster County in the house.

I think the "fad" of breweries is still going strong though. On top of that, those Breweries make MASSIVE margins on their craft beer when they sell it right on location...so I don't think it takes much for these places to stay afloat. They can make a pint of beer for around 5 cents and sell it to you for $7 since they don't have bottling or transportation costs at all.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I think the "fad" of breweries is still going strong though. On top of that, those Breweries make MASSIVE margins on their craft beer when they sell it right on location...so I don't think it takes much for these places to stay afloat. They can make a pint of beer for around 5 cents and sell it to you for $7 since they don't have bottling or transportation costs at all.

Agreed, but with so many of them opening, they are cannibalizing each other. You still need some level of volume and those places are dead 4 days a week or when the weather sucks. The margins are pretty good, but I think a lot of those places have massive debt when they start out. Plus, a lot of them are in marginal neighborhoods where the rent is going to go way up as they gentrify (in part due to the presence of the brewery).

 

[mopkins]

Agreed, but with so many of them opening, they are cannibalizing each other. You still need some level of volume and those places are dead 4 days a week or when the weather sucks. The margins are pretty good, but I think a lot of those places have massive debt when they start out. Plus, a lot of them are in marginal neighborhoods where the rent is going to go way up as they gentrify (in part due to the presence of the brewery).

You're right on all fronts here.

We have a local spot that has 30+ taps of various Minnesota beers and you can pour your own (charged by the ounce). They switch up the beers every couple weeks so you can try all kinds of microbrews. I kid you not, 90% of the beers there suck and suck HARD. I usually get 2 flights just to try out 8 different beers and only TWICE have I thought "yeah this beer isn't too bad". One of those beers was a random summer apricot beer that I would never actually buy, and the other was a chocolate peanut butter porter that tasted like a reeses peanut butter cup, so of course I liked it. Again, would never actually buy.

 

[westender]

Not sure what version they'll sell down here, but I am back on Budweiser and Bud Light. Coors went union after the deal with Miller several years ago. And I'm done drinking microbrews. Those dudes have just gone too far. Back to the basics. Biggest thing is that bince Bud Light ran that Super Bowl commercial about Coors Light and Miller Lite being made with corn syrup, they planted some placebo seed in my head and I get headaches now when I drink too much Coors or Miller. Funny thing is Busch Light is also made with corn syrup.

Bud heavy. Back on that also. The microbrews are okay but they are all just trying to outdo the next guy and as soon as you find one you really like they switch to something else. Not sure what to make of the boom, but at least it does offer some variety.

 

[okeefe4prez]

You're right on all fronts here.

We have a local spot that has 30+ taps of various Minnesota beers and you can pour your own (charged by the ounce). They switch up the beers every couple weeks so you can try all kinds of microbrews. I kid you not, 90% of the beers there suck and suck HARD. I usually get 2 flights just to try out 8 different beers and only TWICE have I thought "yeah this beer isn't too bad". One of those beers was a random summer apricot beer that I would never actually buy, and the other was a chocolate peanut butter porter that tasted like a reeses peanut butter cup, so of course I liked it. Again, would never actually buy.

Yeah, a lot of that stuff might be okay, but at the end of the day, I don't want more than 3 ounces of their bourbon barrel double aged stout infused with ginger. The diminishing marginal utility on most of it is extremely high. First drink is fine, but third drink is like "hmm, I could go for something else."

 

[westender]

Yeah, a lot of that stuff might be okay, but at the end of the day, I don't want more than 3 ounces of their bourbon barrel double aged stout infused with ginger. The diminishing marginal utility on most of it is extremely high. First drink is fine, but third drink is like "hmm, I could go for something else."

Reminds me of the good old wine cooler era. Also it costs like $10 or $11 for a 4 pack of cans.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

Has anyone tried this beer? I am tempted, but not sure

 

[Chickenlounge]

I think you'll have to make your brewery a destination like Big Grove and Toppling Goliath have (I'm not a TG fan by the way, but they are popular). Lions Bridger has done that on a smaller scale with good beer and good food, but nowhere on the scale of BG or TG. The newer microbrews that don't do this will have a hard time staying afloat unless they truly make an outstanding one-of-a-kind beer, which is harder to come by with all the competition.

 

[M1911A1Hawkeye]

Has anyone tried this beer? I am tempted, but not sure

They’re ok but just too sweet for my tastes.