Beverage Stock Review

[Roland Rick Perry]

Craft beer brewers just got downgraded to ‘sell’

There’s a lot of noise in the modern beer industry, but if you listen past it, you can hear a story being told.

Earlier this week, Petaluma, Calif.-based Lagunitas Brewing Co. sold a 50% stake to Heineken for an estimated $500 million. Lagunitas founder Tony Magee will tell you, in detail, that it’s simply an acceptance of where craft beer is headed. Magee’s critics will tell you it’s hypocrisy of the highest order from a craft-beer zealot who, just this year, threw down with Sierra Nevada over IPA and kerning. Craft beer’s last remaining hard-liners will say it’s Lagunitas losing its craft credibility under a definition it helped write.

All of the above misses the point.

Within the same week, MillerCoors’ Tenth and Blake division, home to its Blue Moon and Leinenkugel brands, bought two-year-old San Diego brewer Saint Archer, making it the first brewery in a city of more than 100 to be bought out by a major brewer. Some uncharitably called them a brewery built to sell out. Others, especially San Diego Padres fans, questioned their commitment to their hometown.

Again, all part of a fairly indiscernible din obscuring a very strong statement.

We’ve been writing this column for a little less than a year...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/craft-beer-brewers-just-got-downgraded-to-sell-2015-09-11