You know that old video where Ayn Rand was on Phil Donahue and they’re talking about monopolies? Isn’t it a bit weird how rarely you hear somebody point out the companies they’re using as examples nearly half a century ago don’t really exist anymore?
This is my review of Four Sons Brewing Sour Pie Series — Cherry:
For some reason the news in the world of intoxicating beverages brought that to mind. Anchor Brewing, often considered the first craft brewer in the country announced it will be closing down in the coming months. There is speculation this is related to the brewery workers organizing into a union in 2019:
Not my photo
All told, 94 percent of eligible Anchor workers voted in favor of the contract that day. The deal was done; Anchor Union had its first contract. It was a monumental moment for the American brewing industry, and particularly the craft beer business within it. After all, though Anchor had been acquired by the Japanese conglomerate Sapporo in 2017, it still holds a revered place in hagiographies of the American craft beer movement. That workers at Anchor had successfully organized a union, won their drive and election, and ratified a contract — and did it all without getting summarily laid off or unceremoniously abandoned for a cheaper labor market elsewhere — was a signal that it could be done in other craft-oriented businesses.
As one Anchor worker told me in the early stages of the 2019 drive: “Young working people will be able to see us and be like, ‘if these fucking drunk guys can do it, like anybody can.”
Now this article, written in 2020, goes on to explain how this began a small trend among brewers, distillers, etc. to begin facing organized labor. Interviewing several workers who extolled the benefits of working for a company that negotiated with unions….
…Suckers. The Yahoo article (hocked from Huffpo) openly implies the Japanese brewing giant Sapporo after purchasing Anchor, simply allowed nature to take its course after losing millions of dollars. Perhaps the best decision in this case was to no longer intervene and simply watch Anchor Sepuku on its own.
Meanwhile here in America, Anheuser-Busch pleads with Americans no longer interested in buying their product to please think of their 65,000 member workforce. If we don’t buy shitty beer from a company that apparently loathes its own customers, they’ll have to fire them.
Okay. Your terms are acceptable.
But like Rand was saying they won’t have that kind of power if there are others competing in a free market. Assuming a comparable product is made either cheaper, better, in some way more desirable people can simply take their business somewhere else. Not this one though, because its not comparable to Bud Light at all. In fact you probably think they went too far in creating a cherry pie flavored beer. Maybe so. Its not really that sweet, because cherries are tart after all. So its really like a lambic they were able to mess with. Either way, its fine if that’s what you’re into. Four Sons Brewing Sour Pie Series — Cherry: 2.5/5. 7% ABV
It would be better if she communicated exclusively via clicks and whirrs and bursts of static
“When we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles, more of our children can breathe clean air and drink clean water,” she said. “When we help folks upgrade their heating and cooling systems, we lower the cost of electricity, so working parents have more money for groceries and home repairs and school supplies. And think of all the jobs these investments will create.”
Analogous to cherry pie flavored beer. The novelty fades, and you’re left with something with an unpleasant aftertaste.
Not that that word salad makes any sense but… does she think the public has not seen the effect of throwing other people’s money at, well everything, has had? JFC.
The booing comments are encouraging.
Watching companies tank is fascinating. Creative destruction at its most entertaining.
I like cherry pie but I think I’ll pass on that one.
I don’t have to click to know what it is. Does it make you feel Lit Up?
https://youtu.be/cABZfkRcQ6A
I love that song so much.
/feels shame
Me too. Here is another earworm for you. It is dumb and fun. #NoShame
https://youtu.be/m9DakWA9NLs
Niiiice.
*Deh duh duh Duh Deh duh duh*
OH YEAH!
I’m sure the union forming was part of Anchor’s demise, but the lockdowns also played a large part I’m sure as Anchor is heavily featured in Bay Area bars. Bars are still not back to their pre lockdown business, lots of people just changed their going out habits due to the prolonged government mandated bullshit here. Also, Sapporo immediately pushed through a bottle and label change that took away one of the most known and unique beer label/bottle/bottlcaps and made it look like generic IKEA fucking beer. I swear they slightly changed the recipe as well.
Whenever a unionized outfit goes bust, the right/libertarian commentariat seem always to assume that the union was the cause–post hoc ergo propter hoc. I wonder if that is always the case, because I never see the how the added costs of labor and work rules compare to problems with other costs, market shifts and management decisions.
That place brewed beer in San Francisco. That definitely added an additional burden. California taxes, plus San Francisco tax extortion. Then a pandemic. Anchor depended heavily (70%, some say) on bar sales and that was another nail in the coffin. It wasn’t just union. But I can see that being one of the last straws that broke the camel’s back.
You’re more than likely correct. Lack of business is what kills businesses. As Spud points out they probably weren’t accommodating that lack of business like other industries did.
Sad to see them go, though.
It may not be the sole cause. It may be a contributing factor given the lack of flexibility during difficult times.
Exactly. The company never made a serious attempt to get marketed outside of bars. It was hard to find in stores. As such, there was no replacement revenue stream when the bars closed.
I think there’s also the angle mentioned by Mexican. Japanese conglomerate wasn’t too interested in saving their unionized workforce.
They knew when to cut bait.
I wonder if the union made any concessions during the pandemic, to keep the business viable? I know, silly question.
Buy Czech pilsner it is better . I am having one as we speak.
But then what will I write about?
Czech Pilsner?
Touché
Tomatoes back on the counter; I was wondering about that.
?
There seemed to be a tomato-less period.
I can see the tiniest hint of a carton of mini tomatoes behind the beer.
There are always tomatoes there.
Sour Pie Cherry?
*retch*
I think I’ll chug some Nyquil instead, Probably less likely to puke.
Jobs saved or created
One early morning this week in ocean waters off the coasts of Rhode Island and New York, signs of the nascent wind industry were all around. Giant upright steel tubes poked from the water, waiting for ships to hoist up turbines that will make electricity driven by wind.
A battleship-gray vessel was on the prowl. In this ramp-up for U.S. offshore wind, American marine companies and mariners fear they’ll be left behind.
So Aaron Smith, president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, was looking through binoculars to see whether ships servicing the new wind farms were using foreign-flagged vessels instead of U.S.-made ships with American crews.
“It really makes me upset when I think about the men and women I know who can do this work. American citizens, fully capable, sitting at home while foreign nationals go to work in U.S. waters,” Smith said. “It’s unfair.”
The ship is named the Jones Act Enforcer, after the century-old law that says the transport of merchandise between U.S. points is reserved for U.S.-built, owned and documented vessels. The motto: “We’ll be watching.” Smith was documenting operations to show to federal law enforcement officials and members of Congress.
Good old fashioned protectionism never goes out of style.
At the rate they’re building these things, Utopia arrives in about 500 years.
Too bad the money will run out long before then.
It would be interesting to know what mythologies people will tell about our times around the campfire in a post fossil fuel society.
And not one member of the Anchor Steam union will admit they helped do it to themselves.
Pretty much everything I have read and heard (and seen firsthand) about the corrosive effect of unions is that work rules and seniority and constrictive contract provisions are more damaging in the long term than wage rates.
I wonder if the union made any concessions during the pandemic, to keep the business viable? I know, silly question.
Haha, right. You slay me.
Does demanding to stay home at full pay count as a concession?
This describes today:
Mi ropa interior está soldada a mi cuerpo.
Little steamy, is it?
Just a tad.
Um…
https://twitter.com/dark_chicago/status/1680265867089661955
I think the direction would be reversed this time around.
That cheered me up.
Scheisse!
Serves you right, asshole.
Heh, I was just now listening to Bill Maher’s faint praise for him on his latest podcast.
Lol.
I would have used a Sawzall
They don’t realize how lucky they are the authorities are trying to carefully pick them out.
Could just left the runway open. Jet wash would probably get them free from the glue.
Or closed it, and waited for nature to take its course. “Sorry, we can’t get them loose without risking injury. The lawyers say no can do.”
Saw style… set up a Webcam and leave a hacksaw behind.
That’s a runway? Fuck em. Rip them out and call the crater crew. You start rerouting flights you’re screwing over an order of magnitude more.people.
Yeah. Just yank them up.
RRRRRIIIIP!
With or without anesthesia?
What the hell is wrong with the people who keep letting them do these stunts. The playback seems to be to let leftists protesters do whatever they want, and then after the photo op is over, they move in.
It says epoxy…. what kind of epoxy did they use that couldn’t have been removed from asphalt as they were attempting to do the stunt? Why watch them settle in and wait for glue to set?
Why are we afraid to arrest vandals *before* they finish defacing the artwork?
Consequences? Cop in Philly was fired and City taxpayers paid out millions$ because he pepper sprayed a couple of BLM mostly peaceful protestors sitting in the middle of an Interstate. You want to be the guy in deep shit because a pussified pinko d.a. and mayor are sympathetic to the vandals?
Sie können mich heissen Linkshänder. (Do I have that right?)
I have talked aboutmy experiment in trying Twitter post-elon and how it doesn’t really engage the way I like (as places like Glibertarians do)…. but u just saw something that reminded me one thing about Twitter that is fun….. ratios.
https://twitter.com/EmilyYahr/status/1679519177789386752?t=SL-Pna8AMXahesqBqTZ26w&s=19
This WaPo writer gets ratioed to hell and then gets a community note over her tortured attempt at race baiting.
Well done, Twitter. Well done.
i think new Twitter is excellent. I can really control my feed and I follow a ton of positive accounts.
I also enjoy the full contact stuff on occasion.Watching that racist bitch get dragged was definitely fun.
For those to lazy to click through…. the premise of the WaPo article was that Luke Combs got a country hit with his cover of fast car by because he is white.
Being black and lesbian, Tracy Chapman never could have achieved such success.
You mean queer. Well, that’s what WaPo says.
Given that “queer” means “in your face leftist activist” and that neither her lesbianicity (news to me) nor her politics (whatever they are) were much if any issue back in the day – I think we can safely assume that, surprise surprise, WaPo is full of shit again.
Word on the street is that Meta’s twitter alternative had an engagement drop of 94%. Anyone find a decent link on that?
When you automatically sign people up to a new service they didn’t ask for, that is gonna happen.
There was a graph going around that showed the relative interest in the platforms, with Threads briefly spiking up to where Twitter is and then quickly trending toward near zero… while Twitter remained stable.
Musk posted a chart showing Twitter having 3.5% growth, week over week.
The only articles I can find are cheerleader articles talking about how many people signed up. Which is useless. Are they actually using the platform?
Though if I understand the new monetization scheme for twitter, getting ratio’d will now be a moneymaker for the person posting the dumb take. So dragging dumbasses should go to screenshots to cut their engagement.
Plus, she’s not a country singer, so. . . .
Meanwhile in Russia.
The Russian parliament has banned gender reassignment surgery for trans people.
LOL
Like the phrasing… almost seems like it should be followed with: “However, gender reassignment surgery for dissidents is now mandatory.”
This is why I love Twitter
I would have used a Sawzall
Jackhammer.
Speaking of Cherry Pie, I still have a few large bottles of Sam Smith Cherry in my kitchen. This is one of my favorite locals – https://untappd.com/b/brothers-craft-brewing-blonde-betty/2841481 – although sadly they’ve gone from the 20+ oz bottles down to a standard 6 pack size this year.
Authorities On Hunt For Arsonist Who Just Burned Down Three Presidential Campaigns
Glorious.