I really, really hope that someone is writing a book about the rise and selling out of Golden Road Brewing because this month saw a screeching left turn in the narrative. Salacious details aside of what may or may not have happened involving, a-hem, mergers and acquisitions, the one detail that struck me was how ABInBev allegedly had (6) attorneys helping one of their high-up employees in a matter that is clearly personal, divorce.
When people ask why I am dismissive of this corporate giant, I can now point to this as a glaring example of the shady shit that they seem to always do. Is it illegal? I don’t know and probably not. But does it show that they are out to protect their own and their own money? That would be a yes.
Let me say, straight away, that small, independent breweries are not inoculated against shitty people and poor behavior. But what I do know is that with great money power comes great responsibility. The owner of a small brewery in Los Angeles just won’t have the money and time to pair with vengeance to send a battalion of attorneys out to secure the best deal in a divorce for one of their employees. But ABInBev can and apparently will. (probably not if you are a drone in sector 7G though) Heaven forbid that they stay out of the divorce, put someone new in charge of the Golden Road purchase and perhaps re-evaluate their plans.
That would probably not get through all the layers and divisions that make up this corporation the same way that brewing a good beer hasn’t made it through either.