Molson buying Creemore Springs?

Reads 2707 • Replies 28 • Started Thursday, April 14, 2005 1:05:56 PM CT

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Message GregClow beers 3402 º places 12 º 13:05 Thu 4/14/2005 According to a recent post on The Bar Towel, there are strong rumours afloat that Molson is in the process of buying Creemore Springs Brewery, with plans to make it a national brand. If this proves to be true & the quality of the beer suffers, it’ll be a crying shame. Creemore is an icon in Ontario’s craft brewing scene, and their lager is amongst the best in the world IMO. Hopefully, Molson will take a hint from examples like Sleeman’s handling of Unibroue and not screw with things too much.
Message Oakes P admin beers 30575 º places 1135 º 13:37 Thu 4/14/2005 Originally posted by GregClow According to a recent post on The Bar Towel, there are strong rumours afloat that Molson is in the process of buying Creemore Springs Brewery, with plans to make it a national brand. If this proves to be true & the quality of the beer suffers, it’ll be a crying shame. Creemore is an icon in Ontario’s craft brewing scene, and their lager is amongst the best in the world IMO. Hopefully, Molson will take a hint from examples like Sleeman’s handling of Unibroue and not screw with things too much. Let it be confirmed before writing the epitaph. Though the fact that Howard hasn’t addressed this on Bartowel says something. But still, wait a minute...
Message OldGrowth beers 3472 º places 204 º 05:52 Sat 4/16/2005 Ya, lets not go Sleeman on this one.
Message Marko P admin beers 17638 º places 862 º 06:18 Sat 4/16/2005 Damn... I really wish that that doesn’t happen. It’s the best Premium Lager I’ve ever tried. By far.

Message OKBeer beers 1175 º places 34 º 09:21 Sat 4/16/2005 Still not confirmed, but it is in the news: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050416/RBEER16/TPBusiness/Canadian
Message TimE P beers 8459 º places 409 º 10:01 Sat 4/16/2005 As unpopular as a move it might be, I think it is the first smart move Molson has done in a long time. If they start buying up micros, I think that they won’t want to lower the quality as that will defeat the purpose as the beers will them become uncompetitive compared to other micros. Of course I am all for micros remaining independent, but if this is the first move towards micros becoming completely ubiquitious in Canada (which of course is a bit naive thinking) then I am for this. It could be good news for people in the West as they will get a sample of perhaps Canada’s best Pilsner. Tim
Message jercraigs P beers 14850 º places 1049 º 11:14 Sat 4/16/2005 i think most microbrewers in ontario would leap at the chance to get bought out financially speaking.
Message DerWeg beers 2175 º places 48 º 11:28 Sat 4/16/2005 Giant corporations buy small upstarts to eliminate their market segment, not to create a "global small craft product" - that is impossible. Clearly micro brew sales (and the growing interest) are now percieved as a threat to the dominance of the big brewers. A general ignorance of good quality product is in large part the marketing power Molson (and all these big brewers) have going for them, and it does give them an iron grip on the wallets of the mainstream. So a small ’counterculture’ of real beer drinkers could become a sizeable influence. Perhaps it may eventually become a ’David’ of awareness VS their ’Goliath’ money-making sceme. Becoming dinosaurs they would have to forego a lot of profit to change their approach to serve a far more demanding market... so in this game, you can be sure they will take no chances. Just my 2 cents.

Message Oakes P admin beers 30575 º places 1135 º 11:33 Sat 4/16/2005 Originally posted by TimE As unpopular as a move it might be, I think it is the first smart move Molson has done in a long time. If they start buying up micros, I think that they won’t want to lower the quality as that will defeat the purpose as the beers will them become uncompetitive compared to other micros. Of course I am all for micros remaining independent, but if this is the first move towards micros becoming completely ubiquitious in Canada (which of course is a bit naive thinking) then I am for this. It could be good news for people in the West as they will get a sample of perhaps Canada’s best Pilsner. Tim The problem is that it wouldn’t remain a good beer for very long. The Creemore facility, while automated, is still very small. Brewing that beer in giant Molson tanks would kill it. Their brewers aren’t good enough to brew that beer on their equipment. I mean, when was the last time a Molson brewer had to make a tasty beer? They don’t have the foggiest clue how. If they did know how, they could do it without buying Creemore. It’s the brand they want. And if that’s what they are most concerned with, the beer will inevitably suffer. I’ll probably buy more at first, because it’s my job to track the progress of these things, but once it sucks I’ll kick it to the curb...while the rest of the nation is singing its praises no doubt. This of course will lead to more damage to microbrewing in Canada. As much wool as Molson’s pulled over people’s eyes with Rickard’s, this will be much worse because two and two will not be put together and people will still think that Creemore is a microbrew even Molson is selling 200,000 hecs a year of the stuff. When the product gets dumbed down, even more people will think "what’s the fuss about these microbrews? They’re not much different than regular beer," than ever before...which is the biggest problem microbrewers in Canada face in getting their products to a wider audience. Which is why I think they need to go in a different direction than they’ve been going in...but that’s another rant entirely.
Message OKBeer beers 1175 º places 34 º 12:15 Sat 4/16/2005 Originally posted by Oakes If they did know how, they could do it without buying Creemore. It’s the brand they want. How true - I bet Molson is thinking they’ve found their Keith’s.
Message DerWeg beers 2175 º places 48 º 14:30 Sat 4/16/2005 Originally posted by Oakes This of course will lead to more damage to microbrewing in Canada. As much wool as Molson’s pulled over people’s eyes with Rickard’s, this will be much worse because two and two will not be put together and people will still think that Creemore is a microbrew even Molson is selling 200,000 hecs a year of the stuff. When the product gets dumbed down, even more people will think "what’s the fuss about these microbrews? They’re not much different than regular beer," than ever before...which is the biggest problem microbrewers in Canada face in getting their products to a wider audience. I wonder if their master strategy is to force out all REAL micros from the market place, to supplant them with PSEUDO micro brews that hog all the shelf space and have these huge, piggybacked distribution networks. But, I hope instead ’the cat’s out of the bag’ and people do figure out that Rickard’s Red and Steam Whistle are not real craft beers, but puffed up illusions of intent. For all the little ruses macros like to play, they can’t destroy the general idea of quality. Enough regular folks I know are more ’beer smart’ than they were five, ten years ago, so there’s an ever more discerning market in Ontario you can’t revert back from. Wine is the same, they can’t sell the plonk they had here in the seventies after the introduction of good vinting standards and imports.