I tried Grapefruit Sculpin over last weekend. It was damn good. I feel like it'd be perfect on a hot day at the beach.
Haha. Is that a "****ing sellouts... when is our day to be sellouts?" rant?
Fair enough. AB specific, or any of the majors?
Nope. I'd resign the day we sold our soul to the devil.
How any craft brewery can even consider working with them with all they've done to try to destroy craft is baffling.
So what, Hank, you assumed it was just a hobby?
I didn't realize your $DAYJOB was actually producing beer. That's awesome.
I feel like I'm missing a reference here.
One of AB's campaign's has been to call micro brewers hobbyists, in a very condescending way.
We don't know what's going on in their lives though. I know many people who have owned and then sold businesses. Sometimes it was due to personal reasons (health), sometimes it was due to having to be there all the time and wanting some free/family time, sometimes it was about wanting a new challenge or do something different, and sometimes, it was just about the money (which frankly, I see no problem with).
I do get the sentiment about AB though, but depending on their reasons for selling, maybe that was the only choice.
Don't get me wrong, I can get onboard with that line of thought. That said, in this case I just don't see it. Not with the way they've handled their expansion and everything. Basically they had the chance to be the first really national brand from the Southeast if they had kept growing organically, but the rate they were buying expansion properties, etc. It felt like the intention all along may have been to just sell to the highest bidder.
One of AB's campaign's has been to call micro brewers hobbyists, in a very condescending way.
ehhh
wicked weed was kind of "destined" to rapidly grow and be sold off. they were created from a massive initial investment. it's almost certainly the reason they were able to expand so rapidly.
they also coincidentally make good beer, which helped. hopefully being bought out by AB doesn't affect that
Exactly.
And I'm not getting my hopes up. Freak will probably still be Freak, but after having some of the Goose Island stuff like Sofie pre, 2-years post, and 4 years post-buyout, there's just night and day difference. You could notice a drift in quality starting 2 years post-buyout already and by the time it hit 4 years it just simply wasn't the same quality beer anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I can get onboard with that line of thought. That said, in this case I just don't see it. Not with the way they've handled their expansion and everything. Basically they had the chance to be the first really national brand from the Southeast if they had kept growing organically, but the rate they were buying expansion properties, etc. It felt like the intention all along may have been to just sell to the highest bidder.