Well, this is shocking news to me. And sad as well. Artisan Ales was the subject of a couple pieces that I wrote in the past including a fun ride-along, day in the life of a sales rep.
Aside from those fond memories, we are left with more of a hole in the craft beer landscape now. The one vital and extremely hard link in the chain is getting the beer to consumers. You can self-distribute but that takes resources in equipment and people. With LA being so spread out and hard to navigate in a timely manner, we need more independent (call them boutique) distributors not less. Where Craftsman and Noble Ale Works go from here will be important in the near future as is the distribution fate of Oregon breweries Logsdon and Double Mountain.
I do not know the reasons why Artisan Ales closed up shop and to me that is water under the bridge because the long term implications are bigger because what we need are two types of distributors for two sizes of breweries in Los Angeles that most need help.
1) for the small breweries that are wanting to create a wider footprint
2) for the medium/small breweries that are getting into packaging
We need steps up, so that a brewery can grow in a logical and linear way. Maybe we will get that needed infrastructure in the wake of this.
