Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out by Josh Noel

It came from down the street or the pub we sat in. Our beer, the flavorful recipes we downed pint after pint, didn't come from anonymous factories. It's one of the things that made the modern beer renaissance so appealing. We, as beer drinkers, like to know who makes our beer. The lines of ownership are blurred thanks to smaller stakes in companies or deal that simply slipped under the radar. Anheuser-Busch made the majority of the purchases, although rivals Heineken and MillerCoors also got in on the act, along with private equity companies.

What followed the sale of Goose Island was a rash of other sales: Elysian Brewing Co., Wicked Weed, Lagunitas, Revolver, Full Sail, Clown Shoes, Golden Road, Oskar Blues, Breckenridge, and many others over not so many years. The brewery in many ways has become a textbook example of what happens when a large brewing company buys a smaller, beloved brand.įor many who watch the beer industry, work in it, or have made it their hobby, March 28, 2011, the day John Hall sold his brewing company to the makers of Bud Light, is the dividing line between 'before' and 'after' in the modern story of beer. It's annual release of Bourbon County Stout, once a darling among craft beer connoisseurs, continues to draw lines each Black Friday. The IPA is found on tap and on shelves around the globe. In the seven years since the Chicago-based brewery was purchased by Anheuser-Busch it's gone global. It's hard not to notice Goose Island beers.

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out by Josh Noel