

The Plot to Destroy America's Beer - bcn
http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/78186-the-plot-to-destroy-americas-beer

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fdr
I find this article to be an intriguing piece of journalism. In the end, it's
not clear to me if the people who like the pre-InBev beers are merely
sentimental, or are speaking to a real wide-spread erosion of quality for
beers under their sway.

Is InBev -- compared in the article to a private-equity pump-and-dump
operation -- buying brands and chipping away at them to turn their hard-earned
customer loyalty into the impressive profits reported over a finite period of
time, like strip-mining? Or, are they are a positive globalizing force that
may make some sacrifices, but generally improves the quality and availability
of beers available to all, especially in places without a local micro-brew
economy or supply chain?

The answer is probably somewhere in-between, but how much of each?

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cafard
When I started drinking beer, long ago, the American options were pretty
limited, and mostly to light lagers. They lost a lot of ground to imports and
microbrews when younger consumers discovered that beers didn't have to taste
like Bud/Schlitz/Miller (and when those consumers developed the earning power
to pay for them). We'll see how the InBev model holds up if they damage
brands.

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cmccabe
People still drink macro-brews, and expect them to taste good? Come on.

