Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business

401 Pages·2018·42.1 MB·English

by  Josh Noel

BEVERAGES / BUSINESS
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“If you care about great beer and great storytelling, this book is essential reading. Josh Noel gives
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us a fresh look at a fascinating business, laced with new details, sharply drawn characters, and high
stakes. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out is deeply reported and always a delight to read.” NR
—JONATHAN EIG, author of Ali and Luckiest Man
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“Josh Noel has accomplished the very rare trick of telling a fascinating story that reveals the larger E

world it inhabits—in this case, how craft beer went from underdog to unlikely sensation. This is an SL
essential book for anyone interested in beer, and also a really fun read.”
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—JEFF ALWORTH, author of The Beer Bible
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“A well-researched and well-written book about the most exciting and dynamic era in America’s LG
commercial beer history since Prohibition. I couldn’t put it down and I shared it with a coworker as I
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soon as I finished reading it.” N
—SAM CALAGIONE, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, author of Brewing Up a Business and D
Project Extreme Brewing G

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“A thorough and compelling look at craft beer’s wild history and complicated future. As an early O
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brewpub sibling to Goose Island, I can easily say there’s a detailed story here worth digging into.”
—JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado governor and former owner of Wynkoop Brewing UO
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“Josh Noel deftly details the facts and passions surrounding one of the most contentious defections
in craft beer history. Behind it, he shows us the dramatic story of two men—father and son—whose T
journey from struggling start-up to global beer brand changed both beer menus and industry loyal-
ties in ways that will be talked about for decades to come.”
—RAY DANIELS, founder of the Cicerone Certification Program and
author of Designing Great Beers
“Josh Noel tells the story of Goose Island founder John Hall and his son, Greg, with sympathy and
understanding, leaving the reader to decide if it is a triumph for craft brewers, a tragedy for the
craft movement, or both.” .de
—STEVE HINDY, cofounder of Brooklyn Brewery and author of Beer School vrese
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JOSH NOEL writes about beer and travel for the Chicago Tribune; he has also contributed to This SH .sserP
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American Life and to the New York Times and other publications. He has become one of the nation’s N eive
most recognizable beer journalists, winning multiple awards from the North American Guild of Beer O R o
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Writers. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children. EL acihC
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:53:22.
B A R R E L - A G E D S T O U T
A N D S E L L I N G O U T
GOOSE ISLAND, ANHEUSER-BUSCH,
AND HOW CRAFT BEER BECAME BIG BUSINESS
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evre JOSH NOEL
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:53:14.
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BARREL-AGED STOUT
AND SELLING OUT
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:53:05.
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Copyright © 2018 by Josh Noel
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978‑1‑61373‑721‑7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Noel, Josh, author.
Title: Barrel‑aged stout and selling out : Goose Island, Anheuser‑Busch, and
how craft beer became big business / Josh Noel.
Description: First edition. | Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press,
[2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
.d
evre Identifiers: LCCN 2017050648 (print) | LCCN 2017054555 (ebook) | ISBN
se 9781613737224 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781613737231 (kindle) | ISBN
r sth 9781613737248 (epub) | ISBN 9781613737217 (trade paper)
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ir llA Subjects: LCSH: Goose Island Brewery. | Anheuser‑Busch, Inc. | Beer
.sse industry—United States. | Microbreweries—United States.
rP w Classification: LCC HD9397.U54 (ebook) | LCC HD9397.U54 G6566 2018
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ive (print) |
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o DDC 338.7/663420973—dc23
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cih LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017050648
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2 Cover design: John Yates at Stealworks
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Printed in the United States of America
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:56.
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For Lauren
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:47.
291057SMR_BARREL_CS6_PC.indd 5 28/03/2018 14:37:35
Contents
Prologue ix
Part I: Barrel-Aged Stout
1 A Brewery Was the Answer 3
2 “They Serve You a Budweiser,
You Take One Sip and Spit It Out and Say,
‘Oh My God, I’m Drinking Water’” 12
3 “In Chicago There Are Now No Fewer than Six
Breweries, of Which My Favourite
Is Goose Island” 23
4 The Fucking With Was On 34
5 “It Started in Chicago as a Brewer Planted an
Imaginative Seed in a Garden of Fertile
Artists Aching for More Depth of Expression” 41
6 St. Louis, We Have a Problem 50
.de 7 St. Louis, We Still Have a Problem 57
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se 8 “We Have to Look Like We
r sthg Have Been Here Before” 68
ir llA .sse 9 “They Are One of the Greatest Companies in
rP the World, but Damn—They’re Bullies” 80
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og 11 “They’re Ready to Take It to the Next Level” 102
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to Get Beep Out of My Face Before I Beat Beep” 129
15 “We Have to Do Something, and
We’ve Looked at All the Possibilities” 138
Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:39.
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Part II: Selling Out
16 “No Matter What Happens Monday,
We’ll Still Clean the Kettle” 151
17 “Not Fuck It Up” 162
18 “It Doesn’t Count as a Sell Out Until
You Hit $40 Million” 175
19 “I’m Never Going to Buy It Now,
Because I Don’t Consider It a Craft Brewery” 184
20 “People Are Looking for Us to Fuck It Up” 195
21 “Trust Us a Little Bit” 208
22 St. Louis—and Belgium and Brazil—
We Have a Problem 220
23 “Anheuser‑Busch Is Letting Us
Do Our Own Thing” 230
24 “A Betrayal of the Spirit in Which
We Started the Company” 246
25 “I Was the Creative Hall—the Ambitious Hall” 264
26 “We Are Very Happy with Our Future
as a Family Owned Company and
Not Looking at Any Partnerships” 273
.d 27 Corporate Beer Still Sucks 285
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r sth We Own These Craft Brands, God Bless ’Em” 299
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.sserP 30 “You Sold Out to Big Beer—Again” 330
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Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:39.
291057SMR_BARREL_CS6_PC.indd 8 28/03/2018 14:37:36
Prologue
It’s November 2012.
Chicago is unseasonably warm, but the leaves have turned and win‑
ter approaches. It’s barrel‑aged beer season.
Beer lovers have flocked to Chicago for one of the nation’s signature
events: the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer. FOBAB, to those
in the know.
More than sixty breweries from twenty‑one states are on hand. They
pour 194 beers with colorful names and exotic backstories. Barrel‑Aged
.de Snarling Badger, a twice‑fermented Berliner Weisse aged in French
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se oak Syrah barrels from a brewery in Idaho. Barrel‑Aged Frosted Frog
r sthg Christmas Ale, a spiced ale from Ohio aged in bourbon barrels. Gnag
ir llA .sse Reflex, a tart and funky brown ale aged in new oak with cherries from
rP Louisville.
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entrance. Its tap handles have been drilled into actual barrels to seem
as if the beer is flowing straight from the oak. (It is, of course, coming
from kegs beyond the barrels.) That brewery is the only one in the room
Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Buschix, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:30.
291057SMR_BARREL_CS6_PC.indd 9 28/03/2018 14:37:36
x Prologue
with enough sway, home‑court advantage, and budget to construct such
an elaborate show: Goose Island Beer Co.
The twenty‑four‑year‑old brewery is a Chicago icon and arguably the
reason that so many people stand in the festive, beer‑swilling space; back
in 1995, Goose Island pioneered the industry’s first imperial stout aged
in a bourbon barrel. The beer was named Bourbon County Stout. At
FOBAB, bourbon barrel–aged stout has become an industry touchstone;
it flows in all directions throughout the bright, airy loft.
The room is feeling good.
Craft beer is feeling good.
It is still an underdog. But it is ascendant.
Thirty‑five years earlier, the nation was home to fewer than ninety
breweries. Now, on this November day, there are nearly twenty‑five
hundred. More than four hundred have opened during the previous
year alone—more than one a day. After decades of Big Beer’s bland
dominance, American beer is rife with choice. Diversity. Flavor. And
rarely is it more diverse and flavorful than at FOBAB.
At the end of the night, thirty‑two awards are given: a top‑three in
ten different categories, plus the top two overall beers poured that day.
The brewery that wins more than any other? The hometown hero.
Goose Island scores five medals, including the coveted Best of Show for
.de its Cherry Rye Bourbon County Stout, an offshoot of the original forged sev‑
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se enteen years earlier. Its brewpub wins two more awards, which gives Goose
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.sse Each time Goose Island’s name is called, its brewers hug and slap
rP hands and leap to the stage. Their work is elite. Here is proof.
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“I don’t like Anheuser‑Busch,” he says.
Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:30.
291057SMR_BARREL_CS6_PC.indd 10 28/03/2018 14:37:36
Prologue xi
Many breweries tell the story of craft beer in the United States. Sierra
Nevada. Boston Beer. Anchor. Bell’s. New Belgium. Dogfish Head. Stone.
Lagunitas.
Only one brewery is the story of craft beer: Goose Island.
John Hall, a former box company executive, launched the brewery
in 1988, when there were just two others in Chicago and fewer than two
hundred nationally. Goose Island flourished through the 1990s. Then it
struggled. It grew more. It struggled more. It innovated. It took risks.
It grew still more.
And then it sold out.
Goose Island’s sale in 2011 to Anheuser‑Busch wasn’t just a sale to
the biggest beer company in the world—it was a sale to the company
that had spent decades thwarting the American beer industry with
confusion, trickery, and dullness. To Anheuser‑Busch, less choice was
less competition. It was more market share. When American beer
was nothing but stadium sponsorships and Super Bowl commercials,
Anheuser‑Busch was able to account for nearly one of every two beers
sold in the United States.
Then came craft beer. American beer drinkers discovered variety.
Tastes diversified. Anheuser‑Busch could no longer simply suffocate
competition. It needed craft beer.
.de So it bought Goose Island.
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r sthg world’s largest beer company, on March 28, 2011, functionally ended
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.sse an era for craft beer—an era of collaboration and cooperation, growth
rP and good vibes, and the shared cause of building a lifeboat in a sea of
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The beer industry entered an era of revolution—fragmentation,
increased competition, and, for the breweries that dared to follow Goose
Island’s lead with a sale to Anheuser‑Busch, searing claims of “sellout.”
Noel, Josh. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out : Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business,
Chicago Review Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anu/detail.action?docID=5051054.
Created from anu on 2019-04-07 03:52:30.
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