Most business owners will tell you that if you grow so large that you are approached for a buyout that can make you millions of dollars, you’ve been successful. In the craft beer world, that makes you a sellout.
Recently, both Lagunitas Brewing from Petaluma, California and Golden Road Brewing from Los Angeles, California were recently purchased by corporate giants who will probably take these breweries to mass-scale production beyond their wildest expectations.
On September 10th, 50% of Lagunitas was purchased by Heineken International taking the once start-up turned successful craft brewery into a full corporate giant no longer able to be considered part of the craft brewing revolution. In addition, Golden Road was purchased this week by Anheuser-Busch InBev with the global giant planning on taking the brewery nationwide to millions of potential beer drinkers.
So my question is, how big is too big? It’s hard to imagine some of my favorite craft breweries being bought out by the corporate big boys, but can you really blame them? If you were in their shoes and were offered millions to sell your product or idea, would you do it? I don’t know if I could say I would, but I certainly would take a long, hard look at the proposition.
Honestly, I don’t blame these craft breweries for selling out like they do. It certainly does hurt as it shows that the corporate beer makers are trying to curb the craft brewing growth by swallowing up these breweries to add to their portfolios. Eventually, I believe that the three largest breweries in the world, Anheuser-Busch InBev, MillerCoors, and Heineken International, will make acquiring craft breweries their primary focus for growth in the market as they continue to slowly lose market share to craft breweries.
I wonder what will happen in the future. Will craft breweries in Texas merge to form larger craft breweries? Will more co-op breweries pop up? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I just hope that my favorite breweries grow their business, but do it in a responsible way that still allows them to hold true to what made them great in the first place.