Dick Cantwell’s Beer Is Immortal
September 28, 2015 2:23 PM   Subscribe

Elysian, Anheuser-Busch, and the Fight for the Soul of Seattle’s Beer He was the sole nay vote in Elysian Brewing’s sale to Anheuser-Busch. Now the brewer’s legacy is at the center of the battle for the soul of Seattle beer.

Sitting on his rooftop watching a particularly vivid sunset over Lake Union and the Olympics, Cantwell remembers the short chapter where his son found his footing through his father’s vocation. “It was too soon; impossible to imagine how that might have gone,” he says. “It’s not like I assumed Nap could take it over; it was a complicated picture. But when he was gone, I knew it was something that could never happen.”

Of particular note: The article Hero Image in the historic Pine Box.
posted by CrystalDave (27 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Meet up at the Elysium near the stadium a few years back was one of the all time best Seattle meet ups IMHO, and it sucks that Bud bought them and they will be missed, but still...

There’s also the story of the guy who purchased a beer from the bar for the sole purpose of pouring it on the floor, leaving a trail behind him as he walked out the front door

And

There’s also the story of the guy who purchased a beer from the bar for the sole purpose of pouring it on the floor, leaving a trail behind him as he walked out the front door

...are verging into silliness.

(We had a good meetup at the Pinebox too recently, it's a very meetup heavy article. )
posted by Artw at 2:33 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


There's too much good stuff out there to worry about one spot.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:39 PM on September 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Immortal was one of my favorite beers ever, but I haven't bought or drunk one since the announcement; plenty of other options out there.
Has anyone else been laughing at the new Redhook ads? they're acting as if we've forgotten that they did the same thing in '94?
posted by OHenryPacey at 2:39 PM on September 28, 2015


So anyway, I guess we should pick the place for the next meetup...
posted by Artw at 3:01 PM on September 28, 2015


Great read. The growth of multinational "craft" beers has been worrying, insofar as grabbing a six-pack of something good around here. My local supermarket used to have a reasonably decent selection of regional craft brews. But, then, little by little, shelf space started being taken by the corporate faux-craft beers. It's pretty disappointing.

At least Muncie still has Heorot.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:09 PM on September 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


Elysian may be an older local brand, but the soul of Seattle Beer? That's something to ponder over a glass of beer from one of the dozens and dozens of other production breweries in town.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:18 PM on September 28, 2015 [4 favorites]


So, um, I still drink Blue Moon from time to time even though it's Coors.
posted by Artw at 3:20 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


There's too much good stuff out there to worry about one spot.

Too true, although it is interesting to watch previously renowned independent breweries getting snapped up by the biggies (see Goose Island, Elysian, Golden Road, etc and ad nauseum). Locally, I've been eagerly awaiting the return of Fremont Brewing's Bonfire Ale, and I'm digging Two Beers Trailhead ISA, Bale Breaker's Top Cutter IPA, Odin's Gift, and so on and so forth.

It's a bummer for Cantwell, but I'll look forward to see what he does next.

Fremont Brewing's outdoor porch would be good for a brisk fall day meetup, if we can get a sunny day.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:27 PM on September 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


My wife and I have been pals with Bill Jenkins, the guy on the right in the XXXmas card pic, since 1990. Last time I ran into him it was at the Ram in Northgate; before that he was at the Lake City Elliott Bay brewpub; and I believe his first stop after Pike Place was as the first head brewer at the Big Time.

Better pull a pint here and settle in.
posted by mwhybark at 4:03 PM on September 28, 2015


There's too much good stuff out there to worry about one spot.

Well, for one thing, it's three spots.

More importantly, though, my Seattle neighborhood is currently enjoying a Beer Golden Age. There are no less than ten breweries in my neighborhood, with a total of about 18 in easy biking range. With the exception of one or two, they are all stellar.

With the exception of none, they are all part of a vibrant, colorful, friendly community that improves my weekends and makes my life nontrivially better.

If AB buys one of those 18, there are 17 more. If AB buys enough craft brewers and passes off enough faux-craft product to tank the market, there will be 0 more.
posted by gurple at 4:24 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


For me the soul of Seattle's beer was in that keg of Red Hook I got the first week it became available, I think from Murphy's on 45th. It smelled like blueberries and bananas and boy did it have a punch.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 4:34 PM on September 28, 2015


My wife took a look at that pic and yelped, "Bill's Christmas card!" before cracking up.
posted by mwhybark at 5:33 PM on September 28, 2015


After that bombshell dropped, two executives from the conglomerate’s craft beer division stepped forward to assure the group that nothing was going to change.

The All-Hands Bombshell meeting is a theatrical genre that deserves more attention. As one gets older and crawls from niche to niche in the rockpools of corporate life, one sees different angles - in my case, from rookie teenage hire in the first job he really loved to being quite a raddled old hand in the last job he really loved, and from knowing absolutely nothing about what was going to happen as we were herded into the pen to knowing exactly. In between were many others. (Um, I think I've been through seven. None involved making beer, all ended up in its epic disposal.)

But always - they lie to you. Or at least, tell you things they don't know to be true, or possible. The people who made things happen well enough to attract a buyer are losing the power to make things happen at all. The buyer has its own plans, and they are different, and they may be secret, and you have no way of knowing how competent your new masters are, or whether their incompetence may be more welcome than competence.

If you're a cynical old hack, then it is what it is and you do what you can to cover your back. If you love what you do, have been acquired by a company you admire, and understand the reasons and intentions presented by the new masters, then keep the faith. However, if you don't know who these people are - or worse, know exactly who they are - and can't make head nor tail of their pitch - or, worse, know exactly what it means - and you love your job, you are about to have your heart broken.

So far, I reckon people and capitalism are level peggings on that scorecard. But by Jiminy I'm still here, which is more than can be said for most of the corporate entities who paid for my beverage-based auto-therapy programmes through those interesting times.

Thank $deity for beer. I think a Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted will serve grateful...
posted by Devonian at 5:33 PM on September 28, 2015 [8 favorites]


As far as I can tell, the biggest problem my neighborhood brewpub has is keeping up with demand.
posted by wotsac at 5:35 PM on September 28, 2015


Did this make it to the blue? Heineken buys 50% stake in Lagunitas?

If successful, this could scale Lagunitas up to become a legitimate international craft brand.

Personally, I'm not thrilled my home brew supplies will probably be costing more in a year.
posted by lownote at 5:48 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've enjoyed the Elysian IPA without finding it the most amazing beer ever, but it is a great and reliable go-to beer. I hope the new owners keep the quality and consistency high.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm a lot less worried about corporate ownership and "authenticity" than I used to be. I have a long list of things to worry about every day, and it's just hard to get excited about comparing the relative corporateness of different beers, or different yogurts, or whatever I am buying at the totally corporate supermarket.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:19 PM on September 28, 2015


I'm glad that the big brewers haven't discovered Pennsylvania micros yet. Happily sitting here with a can of Tröegs Perpetual.
posted by octothorpe at 6:43 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


I was in Seattle in January, and stopped by the Capitol Hill location a mere six days before the decision to sell to AB/InBev. Sad to think that my first visit will probably be my last. It's a brewery I was very fond of despite being kind of tough to find out here on the East Coast, but even if the quality remains the same, I just can't support the macro brewers given what they've done to squash competition throughout the years.

It's true that there are a lot of smaller independent breweries doing well and putting out great product these days, so it's hard to worry too much about a few of the larger ones cashing out in recent years, but if the trend continues, I can imagine some bars deciding that having Goose Island 312, Elysian Immortal, and Shock Top OrangePeelWhatever is "good enough." Yes, hardcore beer bars will still have 30+ taps and plenty of variety, but what about the sports bar that doesn't feel like dealing with the hassle anymore?

It also seems like having larger craft breweries that haven't sold out yet is good for the little guys. Yes, I'm sure there's competition for limited tap and shelf space, but Boston Beer Company helped a lot of breweries out when the hops supply dried up, and on a smaller scale, it seems like the presence of strong, well-capitalized regional craft brewers is a good bulwark against a massive takeover by Big Fizz. They can buy up one or two here or there, but there are others, and at least a few of them will turn down the massive paycheck.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:07 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


it is interesting to watch previously renowned independent breweries getting snapped up by the biggies (see Goose Island, Elysian, Golden Road, etc and ad nauseum)

I'm friends with the guy who used to do M&A for MillerCoors and now I'm going to call him and make fun of him for not even ranking as a Beer Supervillain.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:31 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


If AB buys one of those 18, there are 17 more. If AB buys enough craft brewers and passes off enough faux-craft product to tank the market, there will be 0 more.

Ooooor.... 18 new craft breweries will pop up, as enough people in Seattle are more than happy to support a small craft brewery (or 18 small craft breweries, as the case may be).

Don't get me wrong, if someone buys up Rogue, I'll be seriously seriously upset.*

* seriously, everyone, don't buy that brewery. but everyone should by their beer; it's great.
posted by el io at 10:21 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


A timely post, as Australia's Mountain Goat was just this week swallowed whole by their contract brewing partner Asahi. The craft community in Australia might even be more reactionary to big sell-offs like this than America's, if that's even possible. Will be interesting to see if Asahi uses their leverage to get bigger in Oz or tries to move product overseas.

(I'm not gonna lie - I just moved to the US from Australia in early 2015 and if Summer Ale tinnies showed up on store shelves here I'd buy the lot, corporate overlords or not. That's a dead perfectly smashable summertime beer right there. Like an easier drinking Stone & Wood Pacific, if you can imagine such a thing...)
posted by GamblingBlues at 3:43 AM on September 29, 2015


These articles always contain claims by the megabrewing conglomerate that "they won't change anything" right next to paragraphs about how they're already building the capability to brew these beers elsewhere.
posted by tommasz at 8:06 AM on September 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


When the Goose Island thing happened I was initially excited that we'd finally get their beer distributed in Tennessee but then I realized that what that really means is that we just get the boring-ish flagship stuff like 312 and Honkers taking tap and shelf space away from smaller folks. Maybe it's just me but my favorite part about local breweries is seeing what cool, different stuff they come up with. Just about anyone can make an excellent flagship pale ale or whatever, no need to ship that in from Chicago or wherever they're making it now.
posted by ghharr at 8:19 AM on September 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


I mean to be fair, Goose was having most of their stuff brewed in upstate New York for years prior to the AB/InBev deal.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:25 AM on September 29, 2015


I've been asking myself for a while, why when a craft brewery gets big enough (e.g. Lagunitas) it doesn't itself start to snap up smaller breweries to create a portfolio of craft brands and thereby create a medium sized entity that can extend reach and build market share but instead allows itself ("chooses") to be bought by one of the ever increasingly few larger entities?

My suspicion has been lack of cash and credit. I suspect these breweries have good revenue streams but little money in the bank for expansion. This makes them vulnerable to these offers.

Thoughts?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 9:18 AM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oskar Blues has been floating the idea of purchasing/investing in smaller breweries; I don't know if they've gotten anywhere on that front.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:59 AM on September 29, 2015


Happily, my fave folks at Hangar 24 have stated that they aren't going to sell out. I hope that's the case...
posted by quartzcity at 7:25 PM on September 29, 2015


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