Like a unmarried guy who ’s in the end adjudicate to sell all his comic - book memorabilia and move in with his girlfriend , the slyness beer globe is experiencing a sightly amount of integration these days . Way back in April 2015,we told you aboutGoose Island , Red Hook , and Elysian getting crack up by a macrobrewer . And it just happened again with the crown jewel of Florida ’s craft scene –Cigar Citywaspurchased by the same investment groupthat owns a majority wager of Colorado ’s Oskar Blues .
To find out what this all means , we spoke to our beer writer friends to get their assessment of the impingement it ’ll have on Cigar City , and trade beer in general .
Consolidation is the new normal
This was not a surprise to anyone who ’s been paying attention . " Looking past the recent rumour of Cigar City ’s sale before it happen , this move should ’ve been expected , " suppose Bryan Roth , a homebrewer and beer writer ofThis Is Why I ’m Drunk . " Before Dogfish Head took on private fairness , they announced a $ 45 million expansion architectural plan in 2011 . Before Lagunitas sold a 50 - percent wager to Heineken , [ founder ] Tony Magee said in 2014 he wanted to build five breweries across the US . Cigar City has partner with Brew Hub since 2014 to contract brew some of its beer because the business has been nail . We ’ve known for two years Cigar City was belike ready for its next move . " So the next time you hear your preferred craft brewery is looking to boom in a braggart way , do n’t be surprised if outside money flows into the icon a little later .
essentially , the total beer manufacture is a Russian nesting bird . " I recall it ’s something we ’re going to continue to see , " says Mike Sweeney , writer ofSTLHops.com . " Watching mid - sized brewery be bought by tumid breweries and prominent brewery get bought by mega - breweries . "
Some craft beer fans are being a tad hypocritical
Craft beer nerds ' mostly non - reaction to Cigar City ’s purchase reveal a strange two-fold monetary standard . " It ’s interesting to see the reaction of craft beer lovers to these buy - outs , " says Ben Brausen ofCraft Beer Time . " When it ’s a big brewer , the response has been that buy - out are bad and amiss . Yet , when it ’s been a craftiness brewer doing the same , the reaction has been that it ’s cool and will think of better things . comical to see the double standard . "
Sweeney sees this , as well , and suggest that a brewery being snapped up by another beer maker could potentially even be better : " I pretend I ’d rather sell to someone that at least brews beer than a bunch of dudes trying to make a immediate vaulting horse . "
What this means for you, America’s beer drinker
More beer for everyone ! Potentially !
Terry Lozoff ofDrink Insidersays that craft brewery ownership by investment radical or international conglomerate has n’t produced " many real signals yet as to how all of this may negatively bear on consumers . " He says that it may cause " well - funded brewery [ to ] expand faster and vie harder , " which could potentially hurt local / regional breweries … but the remnant result ? " You may get access to Cigar City ’s beers sooner than you would have otherwise . "
Hell , as it ’s tough to get sure Cigar City beersin Tampa . That ’s like living in a town call up Egg McMuffin , South Dakota and not being capable to grease one’s palms a GD Egg McMuffin .
Cigar City Brewing
Bryan Carey ofGreat Beer Nowpaints a like blushful characterisation for Cigar City ’s future . " Freed from financial constraints and with the mount of Oskar Blues marketing muscle , Cigar City Brewing will spring up and fly high , bring about even more originative beers and distributing them to more places , " he says . " I search forward to the day when I can finish off a can of Yella Pils and then light up with a Florida Cracker , all from the comforter of my Texas house . "
Personally , I ’d care more ofCigar City ’s Cubano - style espresso brew . But to each his own .
Lozoff summate it all up : " The silver lining to all of this , however , is that beer drinkers have a lot of option to choose from , and no matter how many buyouts and investment we see in the descend geezerhood , that ’s not going to change . If you do n’t desire to buy from a brewery because they ’re not independent , buy from a brewery that is . And if you still want to salute your Hunahpu , by all way . "
Cigar City Brewing
You live , if you could find any . But peradventure that ’ll change .
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Cigar City Brewing
