Golden road sold to AB InBev

[Double_D]

Here's the link:

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-golden-road-brewing-buyout-20150925-story.html

I saw a thing on Facebook from men's journal about craft beer owned by the big three:

http://www.mensjournal.com/food-dri...beer-21-surprising-corporate-brewers-20150923

Most of the list was not news.. I was surprised to read about Lagunitas and Golden road. I've been drinking wolf among weeds from them for a couple years.

I was sad to read they sold, and that they called AB first.

Then I was happy, maybe I'll be able to get their beer easier in Vegas.:rockin:

Then I was sad again.. Guess I'll be an AB customer now..

 

[Yellowirenut]

We had a local brewer just link the men's journal of the list. This was my reply


I have to disagree with some of those on the list. They where not created by the big guys to fool the public. Instead it they where acquired after making a name for themselves. In those cases most (not all) of the time they have kept the same production quality they had before only now they have a stronger distribution arm.

As long as the bean counters keep there mitts off the recipes and they way they brew it just means a wider variety of brews available to me!!

 

[slym2none]

I choose not to give BMC any of my money. So, them buying up craft breweries lessens my choices, in a way.

Good thing there are lots of small breweries - even better, I am brewing my own beer!

 

[mesooohoppy]

It looks like this was sold around last September:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-golden-road-anheuser-busch-20150924-story.html

Bummer, I just started seeing their stuff up in norcal but always passed on the high-er price tag, as well as only seeing them in 4 packs. I do not like 4 packs (more beer=better, pretty simple concept ). It appears I will not be buying any of their sell out beer, something I take seriously.

The one thing about the article linked above really irked me was this:

"This wasn't a sellout move for me," said Meg Gill, president and co-founder of Golden Road. Gill said she hadn't planned to sell to a beer conglomerate but "as soon as we saw that vision, both companies were excited to be a part of what the other was doing."

Really? 'That vision'? This is the best you could come up with lady? Its one thing to sell out, but to turn around and make some BS excuse like that is just friggin lame.

 

[beskone]

I've been to the brewery a few times. It's a cool spot. But honestly aside from their Wolf Among Weeds IPA the beer was always just OK. Nothing that really stood out so I'm not too tore up about it.

 

[Double_D]

Yeah, I saw it was 6 months ago.. It didn't make news here. I knew they bought a place in Anaheim for expanded brewing. I had a guy down there tell me about that whole thing. I just found out they contact brew for lazy dog also. It's a chain of brew pubs, the newest location it's here in town.

 

[Double_D]

I've been to the brewery a few times. It's a cool spot. But honestly aside from their Wolf Among Weeds IPA the beer was always just OK. Nothing that really stood out so I'm not too tore up about it.

I started drinking it on Disney land trips. It turned into a tradition for swmbo and I to drink their stuff instead of going to house of blues or the Karl Strauss stand. That's the only reason I have feelings about it at all.

 

[madscientist451]

The owners wanted to cash out and move on, or maybe cash out and be part of ABInBev. I say good for them. I've never heard of the beer before, so they are getting free publicity. And the owners can take their money and move on to other projects.
I keep holding out hope that with all the brewery capacity that is being added, at some point we will see a decline in the ridiculous pricing of "craft beer". I don't see that happening yet, but one can still have hope.....

 

[slym2none]

If these large corporations keep paying 4x what the brewery is worth (I'm looking at you, Ballast Point!) then we will never see bottle-prices decrease.

 

[Spartan1979]

Wasn't Golden Road one of the breweries that was featured on Brew Dogs?

 

[Jwin]

Who cares. Brew Dog is coming to The US to crush AB InBev

or at least pull its pants down and laugh
but seriously, thats on hell of a facility they are building. Sorry, off topic.

 

[bobeer]

I used to get all bent out of shape when an independent brewery was bought out by inbev or whomever. Now, I just expect that breweries are going to sellout and I don't really pay attention to it anymore. I just try to concentrate on my own brewing.
I think most everyone has their price and good for them. If someone was willing to pay me millions/billions to buyout my brand it would be hard to turn it down. Brewing for a living would be great and even if I absolutely loved it I love traveling and NOT working even more.
I do wonder though when the threshold will be met when we can't support anymore buyouts or anymore new breweries. It's hard to get shelf space now and there's so many small 4 bbl or less breweries opening. I guess if you're making good beer you'll always have customers.

 

[Seismogenic]

Even though this isn't new news, it still makes me pretty sad every time I hear it again.

But that said, I still love that Golden Road has a bluegrass jam. I used to get to play fiddle every Sunday when I was in San Francisco, but chances to jam have been harder to come by since I moved to L.A.. So long as Golden Road keeps supporting music, I'll still buy their beer while I'm there for the jam.