Big news for the Los Angeles beer world, Alchemy & Science which is a new division (?) of Boston Beer Company has purchased Angel City Brewing which had recently moved to downtown LA last year.
Before I opine on the matter, here are the posts from the great BeerNews.org that detail what happened. # 1. # 2. # 3.
This seems to be uncharted territory as far as I know in the beer world. There is the Craft Brewers Alliance and the Magic Hat group where there is a pooling of resources but those are different from what appears is going on here with Angel City and A&S. The first question that I have is, and should always be the first question in any analysis of a business deal, will the beer quality improve? If Michael Bowe is allowed to just brew and someone else does the marketing and distribution, will that be a change for the better? Only time will tell, but my initial gut instinct is that it will.
Angel City, in recent years, had been eclipsed by Eagle Rock, Strand and El Segundo in buzz and number of tap handles. And Craftsman beers were always more highly regarded especially from a keeping the craft beer flame lit in Los Angeles perspective. Will the big business and dollars behind the new Angel City be a turn off to the craft beer crowd? I think it might.
One good thing is that the craft beer spotlight is now shining on Los Angeles for a bit. Can we as consumers and bloggers and lovers of craft beer keep that focus on LA?