Lagunitas sells to Heineken , another good brewery sells their soul to corpor...

[malhal]

Kinda strange when Lagunitas was basically founded on sticking it to the man and being rebels. However, big stinkin' deal, this is just another reason to homebrew! I'm more interested in all the local breweries opening up. In my area (Temecula, Murrieta, it's just north of San Diego if anyones curious) there have been a good amount of breweries opening up in the last couple years and even some taprooms. So all is well in the world of craft and homebrew will never die.

InBev already bought the biggest home brew supplier in USA! They know what they are doing.

 

[Anon111]

I find it interesting reading the posts by people who aren't concerned by this. InBev wiped out craft beer in Belgium and England, destroyed the livelihoods of thousands involved in breweries and pubs and left generations drinking fizzy yellow water and brainwashed by marketing. USA is next. Luckily you have Stone, and Brewdog now too, and they won't go down without a fight, so maybe this time can be different?

And it's not that Heineken is considered "good" in their home country, of even "okay drinkable"...
Become too big and you'll become what you feared when you were small.

 

[rcolton64]

I don't really buy beer anymore. Just beer ingredients. My biggest concern is when they scarf up the Homebrew supply stores and start controlling prices and availability.

This is my greatest concern!

 

[newkirk]

Personally I've not liked 95% of the Lagunitas brews I've tasted. To each his own. I do like most of the output from Wicked Weed. (except IPAs - not just theirs, just about any fail to appeal to me except classic British IPAs) In the WW case as I understand it the same guys will be running operations and devising recipes for the foreseeable future, and it's them that I trust. From what was posted above in this thread it appears the same will apply to Lagunitas.

In a couple years we may see slippage if the creative team changes, or there's a push from the 'top' to save money or something, but in the meantime I expect their product to stay the same, and potentially improve since they have such deep pockets supporting them and can pay more attention to brewing/blending and less to the business/financing side of things.

Also it's worth noting that at least the WW-Inbev deal is still pending regulatory approval, (from the FTC I assume) even though many references (including ratebeer.com) already list them as an Inbev subsidiary.

j

 

[DontFearTheReefer]

List of breweries who have Sold Out, either partially or entirely. Feel free to add any missed

Ballast Point
Goose Island
Golden Road
Lagunitas
Wicked Weed
Elysian
10Barrel
Hop Valley
Terrapin
Revolver
St Archer
Firestone Walker
Ommegang
Boulevard
Founders (30% Sold)
Brooklyn Brewery (24.5% Sold)

Blue Point Brewing
Breckenridge Brewery
Devil's Backbone
Four Peaks Brewing
Karbach
Virtue Cider

 

[Jodie]

I see this and other acquisitions as a huge victory.
When I was a kid taking that first sip of Narragansett when my dad opened a can -- that was the definition of a craft beer. And then even they went out of business. Through high school it was Bud and all that pee water. The Dark Ages.
Then came real craft brews.
What these kinds of acquisitions tell me is that real beer has made a comeback.
These little guys who started breweries after being reacquainted with real beer from Europe have, over the years, proven the market to the behemoths. The little guys created the market. And now they've good the big guys' attention. $1B? Cock-a doodle-doo!

 

[CGVT]

Lagunitas sells to Heineken!

Let me list the number of ****s I give...

Zero.

That's it.
That's the list.

 

[plaidninja]

If the quality remains and distribution is increased what's the problem? Blue Point, Ballast, Goose, Ommegang, Founders, Brooklyn - all making fantastic beers still, and now they have the resources to be more experimental. I can get Ommegang and Founders at Target now. I'm not going to complain.

 

[MeatyPortion]

Eh, whatever. It's their business, they can do what they want. However, consolidation (voluntary and otherwise) was what nearly eradicated independent brewing back in the day. The independent smaller brewers were all like "we're doing our own thing!" but now are acting like they don't remember history.

 

[McGarnigle]

So how soon before I can start complaining that their beer doesn't taste as good now? If I buy a Lagunitas sixer this week, would anyone believe me if i said it's changed? How long should I wait before playing that card?

 

[TenBeers]

The issue for me with these buy-outs isn't whether the quality of the beer at X will suffer, it's that these giants will gain more control of the craft beer market with shelf space and distribution and will make it damn near impossible for the smaller, real craft brewers to have a chance. Once that happens, get ready for the cost cutting and quality shaving - that's what corps live for. Say hello to Clydesdale p*ss in a different can.

 

[noiz2]

Do you hold yourselves to the same high standard for every consumer item you buy? You bread, where do you buy your bread? At the local bakery only? You surely wouldn't support a big national bakery, would you? And your meat? Only at local butchers, who only buy local small sustainable farms, right? And you never buy anything from Procter and Gamble, do you? And never anything from Pepsi Co, Coca-Cola, or Nesté, right?

well actually I bake all my own bread, hardly ever buy from those companies sited and a lot of our meat IS from local farmers who raise the animals, so... I also roast coffee and brew beer etc.

But I agree with your point, sort of. I resist buying from "Big Beer" because they are the ones who fought the craft beer movement and actively bought and trashed smaller breweries all over the US and Europe. They may be better players today but they have a bad track record to live down.

I personally like Lagunitas and won't stop buying in protest but I will probably opt for an alternative given the option. I don't hold it against the founder, but now that it isn't a small craft brewery I also don't feel the need to support them.

I am not doing this because I am morally superior but because I believe in supporting craft breweries and Lagunitas just became part of a mega corporate brewery so they don't qualify. I will buy them periodically because they remind me of where I grew up, but only as long as the quality is there, kind of goes with out saying.

I suspect that the new trent to buy up craft breweries is more about protecting market share and they will keep the quality up. The danger really to the craft market is that the big boys can buy ingredients for a fraction of the costs a small brewery can. So IF big beer picks up a bunch of craft breweries and starts pushing the price lower it will make it harder for the small guys to break even. Also if they expand the "craft" brands they may start grabbing up supplies that the craft brewers use that big yellow fizzy water breweries don't. If nobody but say Lagunitas can get their hands on Citra because Heineken bout it all up that is a problem.

So the potential for problems is not nonexistent. Inbev started buying the big homebrew stores so...

We will see but expecting corporations to act responsibly is turning a blind eye to, well the entire history of corporations.

 

[noiz2]

Another one of these threads....yawn

I guess those against it have:

Never had Taco Bell and only buy from the guy on the corner
Never had Burger King and only eat at "craft burger" joints
Never been to a single big box store
And NEVER not even once bought something online to save money including homebrew stuff

Re....Tard....ed

Kind of an Apples and Oranges, at least for big box and on-line, since they are resellers not makers.

The fast food chains you mention are actually really awful, I mean just about unspeakably bad. Yes I have eaten at them over the years, convenience has won out at times. But the last time at Taco Bell I got food poisoning and Burger King just smells like chemicals, probably the dye they use to paint on the phony grill lines. Whatever it was I had to throw it out. Now In and Out that is a different story.

But if you really want to make your point you need to have an example of a small successful brand that got bought by a mega corporation. Ben & Jerry's comes to mind. And yes I will buy there ice cream.

 

[Solstice-Brewing]

We Home Brewers on HOMEBREWtalk continue to help each other out, making our 5 and 10 gallon batches and beaming with pride as our friends - getting our free beer - say, “this is is the best beer I’ve ever tasted … you should open a brewery!”. We wistfully look up at the stars and think about the realities of this … can I do it? … can I quit my job and risk everything? … can I really make it in this ever growing market? And, in the end, we go back to our 5 gallon batches, happy and secure in knowing that our small market of friends will continue to be supplied with our best product and we will be safe in our low-risk home-brew hobby.

However, there are those who have taken the risks, aimed high, got kicked in the nuts (or other, gender unspecific area of the body on which would hurt tremendously upon being kicked), gathered their wits, hit their marks, and succeeded - not only in the very difficult task of making high-quality, consistent beers, but in the much more difficult and enigmatic task of turning a quality product into a successful business - the task that terrifies most of us to the point where we will never take this leap! I think it’s appropriate to give these folks their due and applaud their success. Well done! I’m too chicken-$hit to make that leap myself, but am encouraged to see that sometime, the little guy can make it big.

The controversy comes when in "making it big”, you become the big - and therefore, the antithesis of what we were all hoping you would become - funny. I realize that the “big” have used the system and the established practices of the “big” to get “bigger” - a goal in a capitalistic society. While there are certainly valid concerns with the impact on the remaining "little guys" with these practices. I do have a bigger problem with us rooting for the little guy until he makes it and then turning on him on a dime to say that now he just doesn’t understand the folks that got him there. Complete and utter BS.

So, congrats Tony! I’ve enjoyed a good Hop Stoopid from time to time and will continue to do so. If they make you put it in a light green bottle to skunk it up a bit, perhaps I won’t. My choice - for now.

peace

 

[Brewmegoodbeer]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dinin...-sale-tony-magee-heineken-20170504-story.html

After reading lagunitas story , I will never buy one of the beers again , started on more then a dozen failed batches ... then sold to a corporation , sometimes money and greed makes me sick to my stomach. Some people just don't want to grow craft beer , there wallet means way more to them. I hope he regrets it in ten years.

I just watched a documentary on Netflix last night on Heineken. I always thought Heineken was brewed in Holland and imported around the world. After watching the documentary and seeing that they broke land in Africa, Czech Republic, China, Scotland, The UK, Vietnam, and others to open breweries to mass distribute, I just don't feel the same way about them. I lost my respect for Heineken. They are just another mega brewery that favors quantity and profitability over creativity and advancing the craft. Now that I hear that Lagunitas just sold out, I won't be purposefully drinking their beers either. Another one bites the dust.

 

[lawdawg]

So I was at a Mellow Mushroom the other day and they had PBR on tap and just for the hell of it I tried one. I hadn't had one in years so I figured why not. To my surprise it was quite good! Sorta reminded me of a helles that I had recently brewed. A couple of months ago I got a Miller Lite and enjoyed it too. Hey, if somebody offered me big $$ for one (or all) of my recipes I wouldn't even have to think about it..........and occasionally it might be good for us craft beer nerds to retry some of the so called "macro sh*t beers" that we grew up on. It kinda takes me back to the good ole days. And honestly, some of them just ain't that bad! Cheers!

 

[Bomber]

Has this sale been in the works for awhile? I thought for sure I read about this actually happening 1-2 years ago. Perhaps it was another brewery buyout but I thought for sure it was Lagunitas. The founder said that the beer recipes will not change and that the benefit of the sale was broader distribution opportunities for Lagunitas.

While it is disappointing broadly speaking, so long as they don't change the recipes I'll still consider it one of my favorite brands. I really like their Imperial Stout and have now just discovered their seasonal Undercover Investigation Shut-Down as one of my favorites. I can't say that I'd boycott them but it's disappointing for craft beer in general.

Edit: Looks like what I read back then is when Lagunitas sold the initial 50% of the company to Heineken.

 

[dionito]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dinin...-sale-tony-magee-heineken-20170504-story.html

After reading lagunitas story , I will never buy one of the beers again , started on more then a dozen failed batches ... then sold to a corporation , sometimes money and greed makes me sick to my stomach. Some people just don't want to grow craft beer , there wallet means way more to them. I hope he regrets it in ten years.

It's so easy to talk bs from the outside, where you have nothing to lose and owe nothing to your investors, your family, etc.

I'd love to see you having the same opportunity to sell and not doing it because of your love for all of us. Lets stop the crap!!

 

[VegasBrew1]

While I am all for business owners doing what they will with THEIR company, I would shed a tear if Rogue ever sold out. I don't buy it too often, but it got me on the road to brewing my own.

 

[Aelwyffe]

I'm kind of in the same boat as Scturo and Sammy86 - "Good for them, hope the quality stays." In my opinion the economic pressures on brewers (like, since the 1300's) have pushed for a larger profit margin (i.e. less expensive process and/or materials), which has given many distinctive products a more generic and even more watered-down character over time. At the same time, I think anyone who can start a business and take it global amidst so much competition should be proud of the achievement. I don't know anyone personally that works there; I wonder what they think of it?

 

[allanmorgan]

Everyone should read this

Great insight and a great article. Woke me up to what I wasn't paying attention to.

Now I am. BMC's motives are darker than they appear.

 

[Singletrack]

So... they had PBR on tap and just for the hell of it I tried one. To my surprise it was quite good!

.

 

[Beer-Dude]

And this one-
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is happy to announce that the company’s brewing equipment and beer brands have been purchased by Hunters Point Brewery, a new company founded by Ces Butner, former owner of Horizon Beverage Company in Oakland, CA. Beers by Speakeasy Ales & Lagers will continue being produced at the San Francisco brewery, securing twenty years of independent brewing history and tradition. The deal was finalized on May 8, 2017, and terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

“I worked with Speakeasy Ales & Lagers for five to six years as a distributor,” said Ces Butner. “We were one the first companies to expand their distribution beyond San Francisco. There was a tremendous amount of growth and interest in the Speakeasy brands. It was one of the best craft breweries we worked with and the beer quality is very high. I thought it would be a shame if the brand, and one of the few production breweries left in San Francisco, disappeared because of financial problems. Keeping Speakeasy’s San Francisco born and brewed tradition alive is very important to me.”

Sam Cappione has been appointed Vice President and General Manager to oversee all aspects of company operations. The eight employees who remained at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers during the sale of company assets will continue working at the brewery. Additional staff will be hired in the next few weeks and months to fill key positions in operations, sales, packaging, the tap room, and brewing departments. The tap room will be opened as soon as possible.

There will be no changes to the Speakeasy beer lineup at this time. According to Ces Butner, “The beer quality will remain the same and we have every confidence that the current distribution network and territories will stay intact. We’ll be working closely with all the distributors. Right now we just need to revive the Speakeasy brands, and I’m prepared to do just that.”

 

[WallyTheConfused]

Bugger !
I hope they do not touch the IPA or the Imperial Stout, because I think their Stout, is one of the best ones on the market.
Cheers All

 

[BrotherDave]

Lagunitas = grapefruit flavoured ****e. Maybe Heineken will improve them.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Good for them. I can't wait to sell out. I have nothing for sale, but that won't stop my dreams.

 

[Beerquestion7]

InBev already bought the biggest home brew supplier in USA! They know what they are doing.

So what. Nothing changed at NB. My grains still come from Wyermann my yeast from Wyeast.

 

[bobeer]

The only thing that bugs me about these big buy outs is how the 3 tier system works. Someone said that Inbev and the like are taking advantage of an age old system that needs to be done away with and by them doing so only draws more attention how broken it is. Hopefully we will do away with the current distributing system so it's more of an even playing field for everyone involved.

With that said if I grew a business from nothing and a bigger company wanted to buy me out for a ridiculous amount of money of course I'd sell. I'd sell it then reinvest my huge payday into a bigger/better business so I could sell that one too.
Either that or I'd live out my days on my own island away from all this nonsense and no one would ever hear from Bobeer again.

 

[b-boy]

So what. Nothing changed at NB. My grains still come from Wyermann my yeast from Wyeast.

I've started buying from NB since Rebel Brewer shut down. I'm pretty happy with the service.

Wait a minute...

I've been assimilated!!!

InBev has even got their filthy mitts into my homebrew.

BASTARDS!!!!!!!

 

[Murphys_Law]

I've started buying from NB since Rebel Brewer shut down. I'm pretty happy with the service.

Wait a minute...

I've been assimilated!!!

InBev has even got their filthy mitts into my homebrew.

BASTARDS!!!!!!!

By this time next year you'll only be brewing Bud Light and Bud Light Lime clones!