True Craft Project Leads This Week's 5 Stories Over Beer

5 Stories Over Beer is a weekly article that presents 5 thought-provoking stories about beer and the brewing industry from the week before that you should read. So sit down, grab a beer, and take a few minutes to read 5 stories while drinking a beer. Cheers!

Stone True Craft Project Leads This Week’s 5 Stories Over Beer

1. Stone CEO Announces True Craft Project: On Friday (April 29) Stone Brewing CEO Greg Koch took to the stage at a conference in Carmel, California, and announced that he and Stone co-founder Steve Wagner are developing a project called True Craft as an “alternative to being bought or pushed out by Big Beer.” The True Craft project will create a means, backed by a consortium of independent investors, by which craft breweries can exchange minority, non-controlling stakes in their businesses for access to financing. Koch said that there is already $100 million committed and “a small group of craft breweries” who are interested. Read the full story in West Coaster by clicking here.

Stone Brewing CEO Greg Koch announces the True Craft Project.

2. American Antitrust Institute (AAI) Raises Concerns Over AB InBev and SABMiller Merger: In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the AAI outlined the competitive concerns raised by the proposed merger of beer giant AB InBev and rival SABMiller. The AAI is an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to promoting competition that protects consumers, businesses, and society.

“An AB InBev-SABMiller combination raises serious competitive concerns in the U.S. beer market,” noted AAI President and economist Diana Moss. “A deal of this magnitude, in a market that has already produced higher prices for consumers from previous consolidation, is a red flag for enforcers,” she explained.

Read the full story by clicking here.

“The proposed merger of AB InBev and SABMiller would place a dominant share of the U.S. beer market in the hands of one vertically integrated company.” – AAI

3. The Phenomenon of Limited-Release Cult Beers: The creation of limited-release beers is a marketing trend that several brewers have adopted as part of their sales strategy. Rarity drives up the perceived value, and the beers become a collector’s item. In many cases this strategy has taken off and even created large cult followings and help to propel overall beer sales for these breweries. Read more about why some breweries intentionally limit their beer supply by clicking here.

The success of this strategy is best illustrated by Russian River Brewing Company’s limited-release beer known as Pliny the Younger. For two weeks in February, Russian River Brewing Company opens its doors in Santa Rosa, California to thousands of fans who travel from all over the world to taste the elusive Pliny the Younger. People wait in line for hours just to try the one glass of the elusive beer which is only available on draught. The event helps to increase the overall prestige of Russian River Brewing and expand sales of other Russian River beers. The event is now so large that Sonoma County (the county home to Russian River Brewing Co.) commissioned a study and determined the 2016 economic benefit to the county of this single event was $4.88M.

Source: SONOMA COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD

4. Seeing Red: Beers with “red” in the name run the gamut in flavors and (believe it or not) color. Discover some very diverse examples of “red” beers by clicking here.

Courtesy of DRAFT Magazine.

5. Inca Beer: “For just one Peruvian sol (around 30 cents), you can get drunk in Peru’s Sacred Valley. Concealed amid the areas monstrous mountains, a series of domestic speakeasies serve an ancient Andean drink known as chicha de jora, a fermented corn beer dating back to the ancient Incan Empire.” Read about a beer that delivers history, culture, religion, and a wallop in every sip by clicking here.