Website RateBeer compromised by AB-InBev ownership stake
Now it becomes clearer why the website Beer Studs called for a boycott of crafty brands as well as websites that review those beers.
It has since transpired (2 June 2017) that AB-InBev, through its “global incubator” ZX Ventures, purchased a minority stake in RateBeer.
Founded in 2000, RateBeer is an online beer community and one of the most widely read ratings site. Many beer drinkers regard it as an objective source of online beer ratings. RateBeer also hosts an annual awards ceremony and festival in Santa Rosa.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Let’s assume that it was not a zillion-dollar deal. However, it underlines how deeply AB-InBev has penetrated the craft beer industry: from craft breweries and homebrew supplies, to craft beer blogs October and The Beer Necessities as well as a ratings site.
The beauty of RateBeer is that tapping into the digital beer experience allows AB-InBev to follow engaged beer consumers and their shifting tastes in various markets, much in the way it does with its Goose Island taprooms around the world.
Moreover, it could lead to new opportunities for beer sales globally once RateBeer’s data is hooked up with AB-InBev’s e-commerce sites. Earlier this year, RateBeer confirmed to the website “Good Beer Hunting” that its user base was shifting globally with London now being its most active user community, along with increasingly active countries like Poland.
But what is most surprising about the deal is that it is old hat. Reportedly, it was clinched in October 2016 after eight months of talks. So why did RateBeer and AB-InBev wait for eight months before they came clean on Good Beer Hunting, whose owner Michael Kiser serves as editor of the craft beer website October, which is owned by Condé Nast but in which ZX Ventures also holds a stake?
Now, RateBeer Executive Director and owner Joe Tucker is facing industry scrutiny for the transaction. Several craft brewers who pay for premium subscriptions to the site expressed concern that their dues provide income to a competitor.
Others objected to the lack of transparency and pointed to a potential conflict of interests, with the first critics being the craft breweries Dogfish Head from Delaware and Sixpoint from Brooklyn. They have since been joined by Coloradoan craft breweries Joyride Brewing and Black Project.
Still, Mr Tucker, who operates the website out of Portland, Oregon, insists the deal was necessary as volunteerism and self-exploitation understandably only go so far. In a release, citing the “monstrous” amount of work he does on the site every day, he said it’s with “relief and gratitude” that the site now has the resources to grow.
Mr Tucker promised that despite AB-InBev’s presence, there will be no favouritism paid to AB-InBev-owned companies.
Others were not so convinced or simply took offence to Mr Tucker bringing in AB-InBev’s money. Sam Calagione, who founded the Dogfish Head brewery, announced that he will request RateBeer to remove all ratings of his beer from the site, saying he believes its funding presents what’s potentially an unfair conflict of interest.
“It just doesn’t seem right for a brewer of any kind to be in a position to potentially manipulate what consumers are hearing and saying about beers, how they are rated and which ones are receiving extra publicity on what might appear to be a legitimate, 100 percent user-generated platform,” he wrote. “It is our opinion that this initiative and others are ethically dubious and that the lack of transparency is troubling.”
Mr Tucker not only vehemently disagrees, he also doesn’t believe such a backlash is warranted. RateBeer has not directly addressed the request to remove beers from the site, but say it is “unprecedented” for companies to ask for user reviews to be taken down.
