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Brewer shares hops with competition
The Boston Beer Company, the United States’ largest craft brewer and maker of Samuel Adams, recently agreed to share 20,000 pounds of its hops with craft brewers throughout the United States. The hops shortage has gotten so bad that a number of craft brewers were close to going out of business when the Boston Beer Co. sent out notifications to small brewers that it was willing to share some of its hops at cost. The brewery received 352 requests totalling 100,000 pounds, more than it could give away. Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch told Associated Press, “We view each other as colleagues not as competitors.” The brewery wasn’t able to supply all requests, but did what they could. “We even fudged it a little and went over the 20,000 pounds,” he continued, “but we don’t have the capability of filling this hole outselves.” All we can say is: Good on ya, Boston Beer Co. You’ve earned our respect!
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In the business world, it isn’t often that competitors go out of their way to help each other. But that certainly isn’t the case in the brewing industry.