Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out by Josh Noel

Roughly divided in two equal parts the first part, ‘Barrel-Aged Stout’ deals about Goose Island, AB InBev and beer in general pre-takeover, the second part, ‘Selling Out’ post-takeover. Anheuser-Busch has since bought nine other craft breweries, and from among the outcry rises a question that Noel addresses through personal anecdotes from industry how should a brewery grow?Ī most excellent read which takes an immediate spot in a select list of essential books about American craft beer. Josh Noel broke the news of the sale in the Chicago Tribune, and he covered the resulting backlash from Chicagoans and beer fanatics across the country as the discussion escalated into an intellectual craft beer war. The sale forced the industry to reckon with craft beer’s mainstream appeal and a popularity few envisioned. Then, on March 28, 2011, the Halls sold the brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, the least craft-like beer imaginable. With distribution in two dozen states, two brewpubs and status as one of the 20 biggest breweries in the United States, Goose Island became an American success story and was a champion of craft beer. In the golden age of light, bland and cheap beers, John Hall and his son Greg brought European flavors to America. Goose Island opened as a family-owned Chicago brewpub in the late 1980s, and it soon became one of the most inventive breweries in the world. North American Guild of Beer Writer Award Recipient

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out by Josh Noel