Much Ado About the Goose

Back in the fall, a good bit of House blog-space was afforded to sharing thoughts on the definition of craft beer, why it’s important, should we care, etc.  The Brewers’ Association & their stance was both propped up & critiqued; the crown “offender” – Blue Moon – was put into perspective a little (at least, our perspective).  They represent a big monkey wrench gumming up the works of the operational craft brewers & those associated with them professionally: an alternative beer made by a mainstream brewery.  As you might have surmised by now, we at The House are largely apolitical – if it’s good, & if people with taste like it, we’ll carry it regardless of who makes it.  Sure, there’s always context, but we prefer to offer, inform, & let people make up their own minds.

The other stripe of outlier in the craft/crafty equation is the “acquired brand” – breweries that began as small, independent, but later got assimilated into the portfolio of a larger corporate beer entity.  There were the contingencies for years with Redhook & Widmer Brothers.  These breweries were at the vanguard of the craft brewing movement decades ago, & later came under ownership of the Craft Brew Alliance, a conglomerate with a minority stake (to the tune of 35%) held by Anheuser-Busch InBev.  This classification of brewery anomaly was blown wide open when, in 2011, Goose Island Brewing – formerly a member of the Craft Brew Alliance – was bought wholesale by ABInBev.  One of the nation’s biggest craft brewers was no longer independent AT ALL, 100% the property of the biggest in the biz.  People were dumbstruck.  This was the biggest ripple through the craft community that…well, that I can recall.  Some swore off Goose Island, maybe in a moment of impulsive self-righteousness that they may have since retracted, but there was plenty of the kind of indignation that arises when people are passionate about something.  Others saw the silver lining, that a bigger financial trough might mean more freedom – more Bourbon County Stout, please?

So it’s a few years later, & by all accounts Goose Island’s new gaggle is doing pretty well by it.  Sure, the core of the company is no longer at the helm, but the original production facility has stayed intact & largely in charge of brewing its specialties.  ABInBev’s plants have taken over the production of the flagships: 312, Honker’s Ale, IPA, the seasonals.  Bourbon County & its incarnations, the traditional Belgian styles, the crazy Belgian styles, & other more niche brews are still under the watchful gaze & careful hand of the old guard.  In the time following the backlash, many of the “little guys” – other craft brewers - have come to Goose Island’s defense.  New ownership doesn’t appear to have affected its ratings among the beer geeks: at the time of writing, the fifth, fourth, & first positions in BeerAdvocate’s “Top New Beers” list, which spotlights beers at the forefront of connoisseur popularity, are occupied by Goose Island brews.  In my own opinion, Goose Island under new ownership makes fantastic beer – Bourbon County Stout remains one of my all-time favorite, &if it’s suffered at all under the new umbrella, I don’t care.  It’s still to die for.  Their Belgian-style sours are top notch as well, a passion of the pre-transition brewers on which they can now focus more of their time & energy.

The point is this: your drinking ought to be, probably is, guided by your values & priorities.  If “selling out” to the big boys is a deal breaker for you, hey, more power.  There are thousands of excellent beers made by small, independent brewers who you can feel good about supporting.  If you like what you like, regardless of politics or affiliation, Goose Island is now more available than ever before, churning out some great-to-amazing beers.  We’re happy to be featuring them on draft in the next week in a series of tappings we’re calling “5 Days on Goose Island”.  We start on January 24^th with their Ten Hills Pale Ale, named for the ten hills of hops originally planted for the brewery years ago on Elk Mountain Farms in Idaho; the 25^th, we tap an encore keg of Bourbon County Brand Stout; the 26^th, we pour Bourbon County Brand Barleywine (#5 on the afore-mentioned BeerAdvocate list); the 27^th, Matilda Lambicus, their Belgian-style pale fermented with 100% Brettanomyces Lambicus yeast (wild fans, take note); & wrapping up on 28^th with The Illinois, a double IPA inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, of all things!  We hope to see you there, & invite anyone who’s into good beer, regardless of who signs the check.