3 ms·

Goose Island was one of the examples I was thinking of. A shame. It really was an almost overnight change. And for what? To take a good series of beers and

• nerdponx 4y ago
  Their goal is to make money. They believed, correctly, that at least some consumers wouldn't care about or even notice a change in recipe, maybe because people broadly associate Goose Island with good-quality craft beer and continue to buy it. Consider this model: Goose Island with the old recipe sold K units per year at $P profit per unit. The new recipe can sell K/l units per year at $P×i, where l is the % of customers who switch away and i is the % increase in profit. If K × P < (K/l) × (P×i) then it's profitable to switch to the new recipe.
  • Kon-Peki 4y ago
    Goose Island sold after their peak. They weren’t the best small brewer in Chicago anymore and many wanted to go do other things. For example, one of the brewmasters moved back to his hometown in Michigan and started a pretty well-regarded hard cider place. Speaking of, the “wine trail” in Southeast Michigan is worth it - not for the wine so much (it’s not bad, but it’s not anything to write home about), but that excellent small independent distilleries and breweries have popped up and now a large group of people with a wide variety of tastes can have fun alternating between the 3.