The big news last week was the purchase of Northern Brewer/MidWest Supplies with the giant brewery AB InBev. We lay down our thoughts on it in this video.
John and I have both on and off ordered from Norther Brewer. John has a slightly higher frequency with them than I do. I order there when I can’t find what I need at other stores. I have always liked their slightly better grain selection than the places. And to be totally honest, I usually wait until they send me special “please come back” coupons for 20% of my next order. Then I’ll order something big or stock up on cleaning supplies etc etc.
Neither one of us are sure what to make of this whole move by AB InBev. Nor are we sure what to think about NB/MW motives. You can look here for the NB press release.
On the one hand you may think that it puts AB InBev and its partners in a better position to monitor data from NB users. I can’t see how that data isn’t really captured else where. On the other hand two, I can’t understand what NB really gets out of such a deal unless they are getting capital for expansion and/or access to nationwide marketing and distribution (which I thought NB already handled pretty well).
Regardless, I think all we can do is wait and see what comes next with this move. I doubt however, we’ll see any really transparent change in how we interact with NB. Only time will tell.
What say you?
What do you think of this partnership?
Good for home brewing?
Good for mega beer?
Will you still shop at Northern Brewer?
How much of your shopping to you split between NB and your local shop (provided NB isn’t your local shop)?
So many questions so little time…
BREW ON!!!
brewella deville
I never ordered from NB because Williams Brewing is in California and got stuff to me really fast. These days, though, the only thing the online shop sells at a better price than my LHBS is bottle caps. That’s it. I’m lucky enough to live very close to a great homebrew shop so that’s who I support.
I don’t think AB is spending a lot of money with the hope of turning home brewers into AB drinkers, I just don’t see that happening. I also don’t believe the crazy conspiracy theories I’ve read lately on forums about AB trying to corner the market on ingredients and shutter mom and pop brew shops. Wonder Bread makes a lot of average bread but they don’t own all the wheat flour, and we can still go buy flour at the corner store and turn out some great bread at home. In fact, a quick search online shows that most attempts to cornering any market have failed. Companies of all kinds do, however, spend enormous sums of money on trying to predict the next new trend, and I suppose this will help AB do that.