AB InBev’s “High End” just released a video in response to the Brewers Association’s new Independent logo.  Watch it here.   Read a full transcript here.  Read background on the Independent logo here.

Couple of big points.  First off, a lot of the “we’re all just brewers making beer” nonsense has been throughly debunked in previous posts.

Secondly, beer is indeed losing market share to wine and spirits; maybe the fact that 90% of the American brewing industry has been making increasingly shit products over the last 40 years has something to do with that.

Most importantly, putting a logo on a bottle does not take away consumers’ choice.  It helps make the consumer better informed about the available options.  No one saying “you must buy this beer it is independent.”  Absolutely no one is saying “go ahead and drink crap just as long as you don’t support the big guys.”  (that’s an actual quote from Andy Ingram of Four Peaks, if you can believe that).  No one is going to excuse shit beer just because it has a logo on it.   But if you don’t want customers to know where their money is going, I think it’s important that they know that before they spend their money on your beer..

Keep towing the company line, boys.  It’s amazing how short the road from “fiercely independent craft brewer” to “corporate shill” is.