One moment Lagunitas Brewing is trumpeting their SoCal Azusa location and then as the ink dries on that deal, comes the news that Heineken will be a 50/50 partner with the outspoken and brash Tony Magee and his Petaluma based brewery.
You could reasonably ask if these deals are coming more and more because people are now semi-used to them and the reaction isn’t as negative as when Goose Island changed hands.
But in my opinion, there are a crop of breweries that need access to cold, hard cash to grow. Adding more debt or going back into debt may not hold the appeal that it never did and with the big breweries seeing that their feeble attempts at “crafty-ness” were not flying, they are going after the next best thing.
You can read the brewery side of it HERE and then the more introspective and literature based version from Magee himself HERE. I won’t add anything extra to either because the proof lies down the road.
Part One – If you trusted the owner and the brewer before and they do not change, then you should remain optimistic but watchful. If I won a cash haul tomorrow, I wouldn’t change overnight. I might change but I would hope that I would remain the somewhat snarky fellow that I am. Keep the same thought for a company ’cause the Supreme Court says they are people like you and me
Part Two – As I have instructed before, now is the time to try Lagunitas beers and jot down your flavor thoughts. Then do so again in 3 and 6 months time. If those thoughts are similar, then worries were overblown. If it is drastically different, then tell the world. Just don’t go about moaning right now.
