“We definitely understand that the first reaction is shock,” 10 Barrel co-founder Chris Cox told the Source last week, the very day the brewery’s sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev was revealed. “But,” he added, “we really believe this partnership is the best thing going forward.”
The response from many craftheads across Oregon was, “Yeah, right.”
But the deal with AB InBev, a brewery-industrial complex that produces more beer in two hours than 10 Barrel will in all of 2014, defies simple descriptions. It’s neither a Metallica-style sellout nor a comic-book villain swooping into Bend to ruin it. And despite Cox’s assurances, 10 Barrel will be vastly, dramatically different in a few years. Here are five predictions, based on how AB InBev’s handled previous forays into craft:
1. Distribution will boom. No immediate distribution expansion is planned, Cox said, but for a brewery that was already among the fastest-growing in America, the ambition has to be there. A California rollout seems logical, given InBev’s plants in L.A. and the North Bay area. And speaking of:
2. Apocalypse IPA won’t be brewed in Bend. Maybe not even in Oregon. Goose Island, the Chicago craft icon bought by AB InBev in 2011, now makes its flagship 312 Urban Wheat Ale at InBev plants in New York and Colorado, opening space in the original Chicago digs to up production on fancier beers like the Bourbon County Brand Stout series.
3. Brewers will leave. They would anyway—this industry has always featured a lot of churn. But Goose Island head brewer Greg Hall jumped ship immediately after the AB InBev purchase (he now runs a cidery), and according to one industry source, GI turned over “a good half” of its production staff in 2013.
4. But the restaurant will get spiffed up. “That’s our flagship and love it as much as anything in this company,” company partner Garrett Wales said. “As far as plans to expand that… It’s something we’ll talk about, in terms of priorities.”
5. And the beer, however non-Bendian it is, will kick ass. As Cox said, part of the attraction was “the access we’ll have to raw materials, hops and malts, of the highest quality that we don’t have right now.” Harnessing that kind of access could make 10 Barrel more experimental and more consistent, even as it balloons in size.
Sit back and see how it works out.
This article appears in Nov 13-20, 2014.
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This article misses the point entirely. The issue is not the quality of the beer, or where it will be brewed and distributed, it is the simple fact that 10 Barrel built it’s reputation and sold itself as a “local-for-locals” watering hole. Bendites have a history of supporting local, independent, non-corporate companies, especially when it comes to beer. Suddenly selling a local brew to Anhauser-Busch and expecting this town to shrug and keep drinking is ludicrous. 10 Barrel is finished. The tourists and Sunriver crowd might go unwittingly, but for Bend this place screams betrayal and I can’t imagine any local with a sense of responsibility toward the shaping of Bend’s spirit ever going here again. There are much better places in town, with better beer anyway.
There are many problems with this piece.
1. Yes, Distribution will boom but the beer will definitely change. Once the beer is being brewed at another location by anonymous brewers with different equipment and different ingredients, bought in bulk with a minimum bid- it will be impossible for the former owners of 10 Barrel to control the quality. (Not that they care, they knew this would happen)
2. Apocalypse will not be brewed in Bend. True, and its quality will undoubtedly suffer. Goose Island’s 312 was named after the area code for downtown Chicago and now not one drop of it is made in the same time zone as Chicago. That is tragic. Ask pre-sellout fans if the beer is better or worse.
3. Brewers will leave- actually, pretty much everyone will leave. A bottom-line company like AB/InBev will definitely “control labor costs”- translation: your job is still here… at minimum wage. In fact, the former owners, with huge checks in their pockets, though contractually obligated to stay on for a period to smooth the transition, will want nothing to do with the long, sweaty hours involved with brewing and running a restaurant.
4. AB/InBev does not own restaurants. The “flagship” will be gone in a matter of months. Sadly, those who work there ARE locals and will be out of jobs. Construction on the Portland location abruptly stopped right around the time the negotiations with AB/InBev started. It was slated to open this month.
5. They cannot be “more experimental and more consistant,” that is a contradiction. Besides, if 97% of their beer is being produced elsewhere (ala Goose Island), exactly who is being consistent or experimental?
I make it a point to buy local, so I’m not worried-there are plenty of locally owned breweries in the area that will get my business, it just won’t be 10 Barrel ( big corporations do not need my money!).
It’s no longer local. it’s become a corporation. Corporations don’t give a damn about the locals, the current employees or keeping this business going here in Bend. Yes, the owners come out of this smelling like a rose, but what they did to the locals by betraying them and selling out smells nothing more than like shit.
Reasonable predictions. I presume any offloading of Apocalypse or other beers to A-B facilities will be done with 10B brewery staff testing batches for accuracy, which is already a common practice in other similar situations. I trust their palates better than somebody from the internet who claims quality will “undoubtedly” suffer. If people decide to boycott 10B over this, that’s their choice. I’m a fan of good beer, and know that Bobby, Tonya, and the rest of the 10B brewers can make good beer, so I’ll remain open to the likelihood they can continue doing so.
All the big hubbub about it and their beer isn’t that good in the first place. Crux by far has the best beer in Bend!
For those people that think InBev will keep the highly experienced brewers at 10 barrel or that those brewers would even consider sacrificing their skills to work with a macrobrewer… you do not at all understand or appreciate the culture of craft brewing. Macrobrewers do not keep experimenting, there objective is profit margins first and for most! They sacrifice everything possible including their employees and product for the bottom line.
10 barrel always had the objective to sell out. They were always putting profits and brand value first while sacrificing their employees. I know this for a fact as I know several people who do and have worked with and for them in bend and boise.
Live local buy local! No to 10 Barrel Brewery on Facebook
Just rumor, but heard they sold the company for $55 Million… Question…will they invest and spend that locally? Pretty sure I smell tropical islands in the wind…Hmmmm.