Craft breweries selling out to “big beer” has been happening for almost as long as long as craft beer has been a thing (check out a timeline here), and Stone Brewing is just the latest in a long line of favorites that did just that.
Stone Brewing was sold to Japanese brewer Sapporo for $165 million just a few weeks ago, and many in craft beer are still digesting the sale.
On this week’s episode of Brewery Adventures, Joel Geier joins me to discuss Stone Brewing and breweries that sold out.
We talk a little about the history of Stone, from their beginnings in the 1990s as a fiercely loyal independent brewery to their multiple lawsuits protecting their brand in recent years. Along the way they built some incredible and memorable taprooms, including their locations in Escondido, San Diego, and Richmond. We discuss the locations that we’ve visited.
We also discuss the beer of course – Stone was a pioneer in bringing the West Coast style IPA to the masses across the country, and their “Arrogant Bastard” was the rude introduction to craft beer for a lot of young, brash drinkers.
We also discuss other craft breweries that “sold out” to the big boys, including breweries like Leinenkugel’s dating all the way back to the 1980s. Of course Anheuser-Busch has been a big buyer of craft breweries, including their Goose Island purchase that sent shockwaves through the industry.
A few recent sellouts seem to have gotten passes as drinkers are less harsh on them than the others – we’re talking about brands like Bell’s, New Belgium, and Lagunitas among others. We discuss why we think some of these brands are still highly regarded while others seem to be put on the back burner.
We also discuss how we handle visiting these non-craft breweries when we plan trips for Brewery Adventures and Brewery Travels across the country. We’ve both been to multiple breweries that are no longer considered craft, and we attempt to explain our rationale.
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