UPDATE: Sat, 25 Jun 2022, 1:37 PM. I heard from a member of Local 830; the strike is over with a new contract having been ratified. Overnight workers should be on Sunday, and the trucks should start rolling on Monday.
Teamsters Local 830 went on strike this week against the major beer wholesalers in Philadelphia extended area. Teamsters Local 830 represents drivers, warehouse workers, and sales reps. This is Local 830's first strike in their 80 years of existence.
First a little history. I'll be brief promise.
Back in the day, the three major US breweries (AB, Coors, Miller) each had a number of wholesalers in the area, usually at the county level. As the breweries got larger, they wanted to work with larger and fewer wholesalers, and urged their wholesalers to consolidate. As the years went by, this happened.
So in the Philly area, we have three major wholesalers (Penn for AB, Muller for Miller, and Origlio for Coors), and a number of small distributors who mostly work with small breweries. Only the big three are unionized (well 31W is now a union shop but they are covered under a different contract and are not affected). The little guys are all non-union.
What does this mean for the craft beer drinker in the Philly area?
As the strike goes on, beer distributors, supermarkets, and restaurants will start running out of beer. Well not all beer.
If you only drink Bud Light or Coors Light, you won't be happy. But you probably aren't reading this blog anyway. Ditto with all the major seltzers.
If you prefer beer from breweries that less than 10 years old, you'll probably see no effect. These brands are pretty much all with the smaller houses.
If you prefer beer from Philly area breweries that are 20+ years old, you might see some empty shelves. Just about all these breweries (Yards, Flying Fish, Troegs, Victory, Weyerbacher, Yuengling) are signed with one of the big unionized houses. However most breweries have retail sales at their brewery. So you might to have travel a bit to get your favorite beer.
If you prefer beer from most of the big national breweries (New Belgium, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada), you're out of luck. But if you like Founders, you're good; they are with one of the smaller houses.
The big imports (Corona, Guinness, Heineken, Pilsner Urquell) are all mostly with the big unionized houses, but many less popular imports aren't.
For how long?
I chatted with a friend from Local 830 this afternoon. Both sides are talking, so there is hope the strike won't last too long. Shelves could be full for the holiday weekend.
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