Stone’s Greg Koch pipes up again on Chicago pay-to-play tactics
We were supposed to be somewhere else tonight [for a book-signing event] and the former owner of the place was one of the people I talked to and he was one of the people who said yes, we would love to have Stone in Chicago. He was a great publican and a great force in Chicago. The circumstances have changed at that place now and he’s no longer there. We were supposed to have our event there and at the last minute they said, here’s what you need to do. You need to give us X, Y, and Z free and discounted in order to come here. Not only were we not able to comply because that’s against our standards (and against IL law, which we respect and follow), we were kicked out of their bar altogether, off all of their taps.
Koch called the Chicago beer business, “thoroughly corrupt,” in a November 2010 story published in Crain’s Chicago Business.
Read the full interview >> Chi-town On Tap.
Breweries: Stone Brewing Co.
Beer business corrupt? Say it ain’t so. C’mon Koch don’t be so naive.
Illinois: Where our Governors make our License Plates!
http://bit.ly/uq9ZuZ
This is common practice in the on-premise world, same here in Houston. I admire Stone not giving in, wish more would do the same.
He should have gone to the bar next door and filled it for free.
Living in Chicago this is a terrible trend. Running a bar additionally there are a few of us who are trying to change the system. Working on a system of rotating evenly and fairly. Also, the x, y, and z are Cubs/Bears tickets and usually some type of high end swag that reps or distributors do not keep in the back of their trucks.
Crain’s Chicago Business did an entire investigate piece on “pay-to-play infects Chicago beer market” last year. It was honestly one of the best pieces of beer journalism I’ve ever read. Unfortunately, you need to sign up in order to read it, but the link is here.
https://home.chicagobusiness.com/clickshare/authenticateUserSubscription.do?CSAuthReq=1&CSProduct=crainschicago-web&CSTargetURL=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101120/ISSUE01/311209986
I’m a journalist myself, and I can’t help but think that Koch and co. saying “a bar” did this to them is good, but it would be better if they would have the guts to actually name the bar. That’s how things get changed. Someone slights you? Name the person who did it. Turn Stone fans against them in order to force fair play. If all craft breweries would do that, it would go a long way toward helping with the problem. They should also have made a direct report on what they were told by this bar to the Illinois Liquor Commission, which I believe is the body regulating these things.
Without some kind of penalty, these bars can’t be stopped. And because the governing body can’t possibly preside over all the bars at once, it falls to the people to be the police in this case, by choosing where they will take their business. And it falls to the breweries to inform the people which bars are acting immorally and illegally.
Literally everything about Chicago is corrupt and always has been. Just look at their politicians and police force. Why would you expect bar owners to be any less corrupt than everyone around them?
I find the comment particularly ironic being on the other side of the coin. I’m a retailer who has dropped your line of beers because I don’t meet the requirements to get some of your special products. I’ve complained to the distributor & they say it they practice of the brewery. I’ve called & written the brewery and have never received a response so I’ve dropped your products. Oddly enough, I can get the special products I’ve requested after they’ve sat around the warehouse for a month and the chosen few who were to receive them decided they didn’t want them. But it’s my decision what I carry and when I carry it, not someone else who wants to unload product on me they can’t move.
Now I’m curious as to which bar did that.
more like sour grapes on Koch’s part- most likely because Chicago bars dont kiss his butt like other areas of the country. He’s no better than the rest of them, wow ! in business since the mid 90’s ! they made a big splash when they arrived , now they are part of the large craft crowd in Chicago. they can go back to Cali