The genius of "Big Beer"....

This morning, I stumbled across something that left me standing in awe of the brilliant marketing minds at Anheuser-Busch In-Bev.

Good people, I give you the DRAFTMARK Home Tap System.

What is DRAFTMARK, you ask? Well, in practice, it is essentially a mini-(mini) keg-erator that stores and dispenses roughly 11 "draught" beers from the convenience of your kitchen refrigerator. Or, as the FAQ section of the DRAFTMARK website explains:

"Draftmark is a high-end, affordable home draft system that offers beer drinkers a true draft beer experience.

Draftmark offers a completely different experience from what’s currently available. The system is a permanent piece for your refrigerator; you simply purchase new re-fills and continue using the draught unit you’ve already invested in. Draftmark also allows you to pour multiple brands, offering variety to you and your guests. You can easily interchange between Budweiser, Shock Top and Bass Pale Ale."

In actuality? DRAFTMARK is an ingenious device the shrewd businessmen at AB In-Bev have devised to bring the war for shelf-space, brand identification and your hard-earned dollars from the supermarket shelves, straight into your kitchen....

It is, in fact, a subtle and creative way for AB In-Bev to cut into the growing market true craft brewers are establishing for themselves - one which is increasingly causing concern for AB In-Bev and fellow brewing giants SABMiller and Molson-Coors.

In offering an alternative to building or buying your own full-size keg-erator, AB In-Bev is likely going to appeal to a demographic that is teetering on the edge of beer-douchery[1]. The people who occasionally buy some crafts, care enough about the quality of their beer at home to want a home draught system, but aren’t me; essentially, the next wave of converts.

Since AB-In-Bev owns all companies involved (including DRAFTMARK), and will only allow In-Bev products to be served from their proprietary home draught system, they will ultimately be taking business away from small craft-brewers. Purchasers of this system will presumably be buying fewer 6 and 12 packs (some of which, since we’re assuming these are beer-douche teeter-ers, would have been crafts), and more refills for their home draught system.

Essentially, AB is focusing on moving their “Tap accounts” from bar-rooms, right into consumers’ living rooms (or kitchens).

It truly is genius.

As if someone at AB just woke up one day and said:

“Hey guys, craft beer is cutting into our market share. And with the beer awakening crafts are creating, keg-erators are getting more popular. We need to tap this market.

Let’s create a small home draught system that we can sell to people who don’t know any better. The technology will be proprietary, and then we will obviously only offer In-Bev products. So, instead of building or buying a small, one tap mini-fridge keg-erator and having the freedom to serve whatever beers they like, these people will only be able to serve our products. But of course, we’ll offer AB “craft beers” like Shock-Top, and eventually some of our smaller brands that masquerade as crafts. Just another genius way we can try and cut true craft beer out of the marketplace.”

If it catches on, it’s a delightfully devious tactic.

Somewhere, Sam Caligione fumes.

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[1] My friend Kevin is credited with this term. It’s not quite beer-snobbery, as the beer snobs will turn their noses up at a Bud Light Lime and look down upon those who drink them. Instead, it’s a state of knowing and appreciating good beer, while also still respecting the value of a Miller Lite, and at the same time trying to convert those around you into primarily craft beer drinkers. Also, he may or may not have coined the term to describe me.