Asahi buys Mountain Goat Beer

[MastersBrewery]

Many of us have 'the dream' of starting our own micro. If you already had the bills paid and 25 mil in the bank I'm sure the dream would be a comercial style bar next to the heated pool. So you could brew fabulous beers for you and your mates. And maybe take out the odd National comp for best of show.

 

[eMPTy]

Plus why not take over anther craft bussiness and expand on your own terms.

Totally see your point here, but there is a fair difference between a guaranteed multi-million dollar payout (and at least for now, keeping your job in some capacity) vs. having to fork out the cash to takeover another brewer. It would then have to be incorporated into your portfolio, with all the additional costs and hassles that entails for a player of Mountain Goat's size.

edit - that also assumes there is another craft business happy to take the money... and not remain entirely their own entity.

 

[technobabble66]

Easy for me to say, but its should not be about the money. Love the craft ( make a living etc). Plus why not take over anther craft bussiness and expand on your own terms.

Because they still can.
Only now they'll (hopefully) have a big stash of cash behind them to start with.

Or just holiday for the next 50 years.

I'm very sad about it also, but i wouldn't begrudge them for a second for doing it.
Tell me if someone dropped $5mill+ on the table to walk away from your job you wouldn't do it?!
Don't forget they've slaved for many years on MG, and i'm guessing have taken on a mountain of debt to do so. I know one or two of the guys down there (not the brewers unfortunately), and they've had some hard years down there a while back.
I hope they can both walk away with a truckload of cash, take a massive stress-free holiday, and one day get back into the Melbourne Craft Brewing scene.
Bastards.
Totally jealous!! h34r:


FWIW, at least in japan, Asahi (& Kirin) put our megabrewers to shame with their quality and diversity (i.e.: good beer, more than 1 style), so hopefully they don't degrade MG too much. Fingers crossed.

 

[spog]

Half their luck,they busted a gut getting the brewery established and now are reaping a reward.
If it were me I'd start a never ending quest to find the perfect counter meal Australia wide.

 

[manticle]

Money or not, I just hope good beer continues to be made by the goat. Some great beers are under the umbrellas of brewing giants. If the market is good enough to buy, the market is good to maintain (excepting ulterior morives to buy and squash which I doubt is the case here). Good luck to Cam and Dave and if the asahi owned product is close to as good, I'll keep buying it. If it isn't, I won't.

 

[claypot]

Nooo!!

I don't blame them though I'd do the same.
You may of seen or tried 'Stoke' beer ( from IN Zid bro). Well they used to be Mac's (Hop rocker, sassy red some of my favourite mainstream craft styles).
They were bought out by Lion (owed by Kirin). After a break and after their contractual time requirements not to brew again were over they cranked up the old brewery again. Who knows they may sell the label again. I know I would!
All I can say is it paves the way for other up and coming micro craft breweries to go ahead. As much as I hate to say it I think some of my favourite beers are about to go the same way as some of my old favourites, such as Little creatures Pale and Fat Yak as inevitably the recipe is tweaked to suit mainstream high volume brewing....
So who's next dare I say it, Feral?

 

[2much2spend]

I wonder what 'efficiency' the Japanese giant will want to implement?

 

[Mardoo]

The brewing pioneers who got in early in the States got this sort of option. Many sold out. Some didn't. Some tanked. Same thing here. The good thing about being a pioneer is the potential to become a cornerstone of the market. The bad thing is the potential to lose early and lose big.

I have heart that MG have said No many times along the way to buyout offers, and good on 'em for sticking with it. Good on 'em too for grabbing the golden ring when they felt the time was right. I'll be sad to see what was one of my locals (I worked around the corner from the brewery) slide towards mediocrity, if indeed that happens. It often did in the States, and so far it often has here.

Congratulations guys. I hope this will open up some space in the market for someone like Boatrocker to step into the spotlight they deserve from the drinking public.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Pretty sure this is what they have been working towards for a while. Most of their beer has been brewed at Asahi's Laverton brewery for the last 3 years anyway. It's good for them, and doesn't affect me in any way whatsoever, so that's a win/win situation. I'll happily continue not buying their regular beers (rare breeds have generally been great).
I guess there are two types of breweries - the local, brewpub type, and the ones who are concerned about spreading their beer around to as many people as possible. When breweries become brands and beers become products, I lose interest unless the beer is exceptionally good, and I don't find MG to be exceptional.

 

[TheWiggman]

Cue the onslaught of "it's lost its hop flavour" and "it just doesn't have the same taste since the buyout" that will no doubt ensue from now on, ala Little Creatures. I think the biggest difference will be the distribution of the product and perhaps better rates on ingredients.
Same equipment, same brewers, same recipes and technique - I'm not betting the beer will change except in some of our minds.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

did anyone try the surefoot stout from the can? It was watery & shit.

 

[Mardoo]

Sure foot has been sub-standard for a couple years now. I had one last Autumn to give it one last go. No way. I couldn't work out why someone would brew that beer.

EDIT: And that was on tap at the brewery, so not storage issues.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

This was the last time I had it:

 

[Parks]

This was the last time I had it:

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1443493751.031144.jpg

No wonder it had no forking roast flavour!

 

[kaiserben]

did anyone try the surefoot stout from the can? It was watery & shit.

Yep. Agreed.

Actually, recently I've found pretty much all of their regular range to be average at best (just a bit dull or thin or both, whether from can or on tap).

However I absolutely loved their GABS beer (a RIS called 'Nightcap'). It was amazing and my top pick at GABS.

 

[Dave70]

This was the last time I had it:

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1443493751.031144.jpg

Nice glass of black velvet you've got there..

 

[Nizmoose]

Yep. Agreed.

Actually, recently I've found pretty much all of their regular range to be average at best (just a bit dull or thin or both, whether from can or on tap).

However I absolutely loved their GABS beer (a RIS called 'Nightcap'). It was amazing and my top pick at GABS.

I never thought this until just the other night I had their summer ale, I would say that I am biased in favour of Mountain Goat but even then I just couldn't get past how much it was lacking in almost every area :/

 

[pat_00]

I hope they still do their collaboration brews, they have been some of the best beers I've bought recently.

 

[Weizguy]

Pretty sad. It seems the moment a Brewery get to a certain level of maturity and are brewing good beer, one of the big fish come along, buy them, and slowly unravel all their hard work.

Not always a slow unravel either. Does anyone remember Bluetongue? First takeover -> Boom! (expansion) Second takeover -> Bang! (bullet, back of the skull).
Money doesn't care about your beer; only their profits.

For my part, their beer (that I have tasted) has been very meh for the last 10 years. Maybe it's the quality coming out of the place, or just the quality of storage and transport.
Probably was still nice at the source, as it was about 15 yrs ago at the old site, but that's not so accessible as I'm nowhere near that source.

Either way - Congrats and good luck. Look forward to the next venture.

 

[pist]

I'm surprised with the popularity of pacific ale that such a pitch hasn't been made (and accepted) at stone and wood yet