Unibroue To Be Sold?

beanmedic · Post by **beanmedic** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 2:51 am

eeek....well everyone be warned about that and dont let it install anything.

btw, has anyone else received a message from somebody that is defending sleeman? i did and i have a feeling that some others have too....im a little suspicious...

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:26 am

beanmedic wrote:eeek....well everyone be warned about that and dont let it install anything.

Everyone should also have a look at their browser security settings, and make sure their virus scanner is up-to-date, and install a spyware/adware sniffer like Ad Aware.

beanmedic wrote:btw, has anyone else received a message from somebody that is defending sleeman? i did and i have a feeling that some others have too....im a little suspicious...

Was it from a new user named Mother G or something like that? I got an odd and vaguely negative message from them the other night as well. It didn't have anything to do with Sleeman, though. I think they're just a generic troll.

borderline_alcoholic · Wed Apr 21, 2004 10:31 am

I too received a message from Mother G. It did not really strike me as being especially negative or miserable, just quite corporate in nature - whether it is Sleemans connected or not.

It seemed reasonable and just talked about Sleemans expansionism etc and how the Unibroue folks will do well financially, all of which I do actually grasp. This does not change the fact that it will almost certainly have no positive effect upon the beer scene within Canada (from my consumer's perspective) and could likely result in a negative one.

Mother G's message ended with the ominous comment "Unibroue's brands are stellar and the core brands that make sense and deliver a sensible return will stay", which is rather disturbing if you happen to like the non-core brands...

Hop Invasion · Post by **Hop Invasion** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 2:10 am

This site has the greatest conspiracy theories ever. I mean its the "Jerry Springer" of beer pages. I only hope that Micro breweries never plan on expanding. This webpage may be angry for the transaction of Unibroue to Sleeman. Its the business world! Get over it and please do not loose anymore sleep over it. Do your wives not miss you? What will happen when Creemore or Big Rock or McAuslan are bought out right? I understand this webpage has diehard advocates for niche products and truely applaud this. Is this not the same webpage that supports breweries of Canada with splitting a 6pack of beer amongst 12 people.

By reading your archives I'm sure most small breweries are in full support of bartowel. Next time I'm at a certain craft beer bar, I'm sure I can by a pint of beer for the 12 of you. Straws are not included.

My friends and I are laughing at what reponses will be submitted in the near future. Perhaps, one will blow a blood vessel and reply before breakfast. Just breaking your balls!

Hops Invasion! Almost as bitter as our friend fuggles!

Gunny · Post by **Gunny** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 7:23 am

Buffa!

joey_capps · Post by **joey_capps** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 8:55 am

Hop Invasion wrote:This site has the greatest conspiracy theories ever. I mean its the "Jerry Springer" of beer pages. I only hope that Micro breweries never plan on expanding. This webpage may be angry for the transaction of Unibroue to Sleeman. Its the business world! Get over it and please do not loose anymore sleep over it. Do your wives not miss you? What will happen when Creemore or Big Rock or McAuslan are bought out right? I understand this webpage has diehard advocates for niche products and truely applaud this. Is this not the same webpage that supports breweries of Canada with splitting a 6pack of beer amongst 12 people.

By reading your archives I'm sure most small breweries are in full support of bartowel. Next time I'm at a certain craft beer bar, I'm sure I can by a pint of beer for the 12 of you. Straws are not included.

My friends and I are laughing at what reponses will be submitted in the near future. Perhaps, one will blow a blood vessel and reply before breakfast. Just breaking your balls!

Hops Invasion! Almost as bitter as our friend fuggles!

I find the name Hop Invasion extremely ironic for a coperate shill (Sleeman's?).

The "Jerry Springer" of beer pages? Well, Perry did offer (threaten?) to hawk his wares naked on the side of the 401.

I will say this though, our speculation has more to do with Sleeman's track record than conspiracy theories. See Josh's aritcle on www.RateBeer.com

Cheers, Joe.

joey_capps · Post by **joey_capps** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:00 am

PS Blood Vessels are still intact, though I haven't eaten breakfast yet.

burgermeister · Post by **burgermeister** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:16 am

joey_capps wrote:
I will say this though, our speculation has more to do with Sleeman's track record than conspiracy theories.
Cheers, Joe.

Oh man, my head's hurtin' from the blood vessel I popped during breakfast!

While I'm not sure about the "Jerry Springer of beer pages" comment, Hop Invasion does have a point. Beer Geeks and Connoisseurs (sp?) do not represent a significant piece of the market place, certainly not big enough to keep any given brewery in business. Craft, Micro, Macro brewing is a difficult business particularly in a heavily regulated market like Canada. Constant label rationalization, business failures, mergers, and aquisitions are going to happen as proprieters struggle to survive and hopefully thrive. We're bound to lose some favourites - like KLB to Amsterdam or now Unibroue to Sleeman over time, but will hopefully gain new smaller favourites in the market niches vacated by the bigger guys. Personally, I think we've got a wider variety of quality beer choices in the market now, then back when Sleeman was getting ramped up in the 80's. While I may briefly mourn the loss of the unique Unibroue products, I'm anxiously waiting to see what new brewery start up is going to come along to fill the void.

I enjoyed Josh's article with the exception of the final paragraph. As he puts it "Unibroue’s shareholders sold out. Plain and simple, they took the money and left their loyal fans in the lurch." The business of any business is to allow the owners to make a living and hopefully a profit from the risk they took. The owners of Unibroue took a big chance when they started up a decade or so ago, invested a ton of money and hard work and built a successful business with an international reputation. To suggest that finally realizing the fruits of all that labour and risk is selling out (technically, that is what they did - but hopefully you know what I mean

) to my mind belittles the work they did.

But that's just me.

Uncle Bobby · Post by **Uncle Bobby** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 11:49 am

burgermeister wrote:
I enjoyed Josh's article with the exception of the final paragraph. As he puts it "Unibroue’s shareholders sold out. Plain and simple, they took the money and left their loyal fans in the lurch." The business of any business is to allow the owners to make a living and hopefully a profit from the risk they took. The owners of Unibroue took a big chance when they started up a decade or so ago, invested a ton of money and hard work and built a successful business with an international reputation. To suggest that finally realizing the fruits of all that labour and risk is selling out (technically, that is what they did - but hopefully you know what I mean ) to my mind belittles the work they did.

But that's just me.

Herr Burgermeister,

Your points are well-made, and generally true. However I would like to qualify a few of your assertions.

Yes, the owners of Unibroue put up the money, the work and took the risks to create a huge amount of value. But you cannot entirely discount the patronage of the people who have been buying Unibroue's products and their potential indignance at the announcement of the sale of the company. They bought in and offered the company a huge amount of loyalty. They may have offered their loyalty because of the quality, distinctness, or out-and-out novelty of many of the products, such as many of the people posting here. Or (and this is why I wonder about the people on Bièropholie), they may have bought in because drinking Unibroue was an assertion of a distinct québecois identity which eschewed the homogenization present in much of English-speaking North America, beverages being particularly subject to huge, homogenizing, market-controlling oligopolies. Or Unibroue's customers may have bought in because of the fight against GMOs. Or they may have bought in because it was great to see Unibroue assert themselves against the Molson/Labatt duopoly in their fight for display space in stores. (Unibroue was vindicated insofaras Industry Canada confirmed that anti-competitive practices existed in the market, but Industry Canadea refused to do anything about it.)

It's just like patronizing a quirky local business, not because it is convenient or economical to do so, but because it is quirky and local, and it's fun to watch it exist despite all of the economic forces arrayed against it. Now maybe I am being unappreciative, maybe I can't see the loyalty that Unibroue offered me back in terms of unique and fun products they continually offered me. But it was not always convenient or economical for me to buy their products, and I bought them anyways. I guess I just expected a little more from the relationship, beyond purely economic considerations. I did not buy in so that Charlebois could retire early to Florida. I bought into the idea of (a) Unibroue, that the idea could could succeed, as well as the business.

One last note at the risk of seeming pedantic or long-winded -- these other considerations which influence a consumer -- image, quality, "Buzz", etc. -- are factors which marketing people call "brand equity", the values or ideas which consumers believe they are reinforcing or participating in by purchasing a product. "Brand equity" can be quantified -- it is presented on a financial statement as "goodwill". Unibroue worked hard at their brand equity -- look at all the distinctive artwork on their packaging and the appropriation of local legends to market their products. Does Sleeman still put "2 Atlantic Ave." on their Upper Canada products? That marketing strategy screams, "This is yours! Take a proprietary interest!"

However the idea of brand equity seems to assume that all consumers are passive, indifferent monkeys who believe all that we are told. Pump up the breast content in your advertising and wait for the revenues to roll in. (Hello Coors!) The appropriation of local names and tastes was no different -- a good brand manager would argue that we the beer snobs have invested in the Unibroue brand precisely because Unibroue did take niche markets to heart. But, the brand manager would argue, that it's all just a marketing posture, the interaction was purely economic. And I suppose that would be fine, except for the small brewers who remain small and unaffiliated after the Unibroue sale. People will be slow to offer them the same loyalty, to invest in the same brand equity. The other small brewers may be f**ked in the future -- I would feel kind of funny about all this if I were one of them.

Yes, the major shareholders at Unibroue did a lot of work in order to be as successful as they have been. But ultimately I would like to have seen the word "Merci" somewhere in the press release announcing the sell-out.

-Uncle Bobby

burgermeister · Post by **burgermeister** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:53 pm

Uncle Bobby wrote:

Yes, the owners of Unibroue put up the money, the work and took the risks to create a huge amount of value. But you cannot entirely discount the patronage of the people who have been buying Unibroue's products and their potential indignance at the announcement of the sale of the company. They bought in and offered the company a huge amount of loyalty. ......

Hmm, not really sure how to respond. I enjoyed the essay and I don't disagree with anything you've written. I also don't know that I discounted the patronage of Unibroue's customers at all. There's bound to be a certain amount of indignance as there is whenever a smaller company is purchased by a bigger outfit. However, I also believe the owners are fully justified in selling and profiting from the sale. I will miss Unibroue as I cetainly don't think Sleeman will continue with the same type of operation, but I congratulate the former owners on their success.

I suppose they could have decided never to get into the business in the first place, then we'd have nothing to complain about now.

Uncle Bobby · Post by **Uncle Bobby** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:57 pm

burgermeister wrote:
I suppose they could have decided never to get into the business in the first place, then we'd have nothing to complain about now.

"'Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson

BTW -- I am feeling a little less strident and churlish now. But the post stands. Pardon me if it seems like I am holding forth.

-Uncle Bobby