[Stevie]

I never said you were anti ABI, but it's obvious from the title of the thread, through many of the posts, how many feel.

[narvin]

I never said you were anti ABI, but it's obvious from the title of the thread, through many of the posts, how many feel.

Many feel that AB and the other big brewers didn't give craft or home brewing a second (or first) thought 30, 20, or even 10 years ago because there was no big money to be made from it.  And now that there is, they feel that it can't possibly be a good thing for us.  And they aren't wrong.

[zwiller]

Are some of you suggesting the takeover is a step toward ending homebrewing (and/or craft) all together, forcing us to buy their products? 

I not really a hater but I think they are employing some shady practices to avoid being caught violating anti-trust laws at this point. 

[reverseapachemaster]

Are some of you suggesting the takeover is a step toward ending homebrewing (and/or craft) all together, forcing us to buy their products? 

I didn't see anybody suggesting they are going that far. I shouldn't speak for anybody else; I just didn't see anybody saying that.

It's not nefarious. Their main product lines are losing market share so they started buying up craft breweries. They've expanded those labels and now they are trying to maximize profits by selling the same intellectual property on the homebrewing market. They can take the ingredients they already buy, repackage it and sell it to homebrewers at a great profit.

The problem here is the same ABI always has with their products. They are late to the party and when they get there they expect the party to conform to them rather than the other way around. They can't see the craft or homebrewing market beyond their own business paradigm of how they market products. Here, openness about kits and recipes has always been a part of the homebrewing community--even among its retailers. These practices stick out like a sore thumb, regardless of whether they are profitable business practices. That's why, at least as far as what I read, there is pushback in this thread.

[Joe Sr.]

There are two key phrases in your comment.

1) homebrewing community
2) business practices

Communities are very different from businesses and operate on very different principles.

Businesses can frequently ruin great friendships.  Communities can frequently build great friendships.  Neither comment is an absolute, of course.  There are always exceptions.  But the point is that profits are what drive businesses and not what drives communities.