Wow. Can’t be too surprised these days, though. I assume Matt is staying on board.
One would hope that he had some wording in the contract to keep him on.
I can’t believe there’d be any scenario where FW or Duvel would want to lose him. I guess you never know, though.
Man, they make great beers.
So when are we going to start hating on Duvel?
Wow, that quite a nice group brands. Duvel has good tastes.
When Duvel (the beer) starts to suck?
Actually when Duvel runs one of the breweries they purchase into the ground which will happen about the same time Duvel starts to suck. 
Probably my favorite brewery. I did not know that Boulevard was bought by Duvel as well. I still like their beer so it doesn’t sound like too much will change with FW…
Same. I buy a lot of Boulevard’s beers and I have not noticed any change since they were purchased. I’m sure Firestone is in good hands. With breweries in the west, middle, and east; distribution will become much simpler.
That’d be my guess, too.
I am a little bummed. FW was for years my “local” brewery even though they were two hours up the coast. Their logo was “Fresh. Local. Firestone” Their top selling beer,805, is named after our area code. The owners lived local and one would think that the majority of the profits would stay somewhat local.
I always thought craft beer drinkers put a big premium on drinking local and supporting their local brewery. Maybe I am wrong.
This and all of the other acquisitions lately beg the question…do you like the beer or do you like the idea of the brewery being “craft” and independently owned?
I think for the most part, people get really worked up because they like the idea of the brewery being independent. I’ll say it again, if I were one of these leading craft breweries and someone like Duvel wanted to buy me out I would take that deal all day long.
+1
How companies treat their employees and customers matters no matter how large or small the brewery is. Blasting the “other side,” whether craft of macro, isn’t a good idea either.
Consider Pilsner Urquell. It’s an excellent world-class macro beer, owned by SABMiller.
Duvel production is about 230,000 barrels, so they are still small relative to others. Also privately held if that means anything to you.
And relative to the breweries they’re buying. With Boulevard and now Firestone, the actual Duvel brand is going to be maybe 10% of their production going forward.
I used to be an adamant “don’t sell out to the big companies” guy. And I still respect the breweries who choose to resist that and do things their way. But it’s easy for me to make that judgement when I’m not being offered a pile of money that could change my family’s lives. My hope now in this era of acquisitions is that Duvel (or whoever) stays out of the way of the vision and quality of the brewery and lets them make the beers they choose. If FW’s beers were to suffer as a result of the buyout, that would be a real shame. But my feeling is that, if a gifted brewer like Matt stays on board, it means he has the freedom to do it his way.
I toured Boulevard a couple weeks ago and the tour guide brought up the partnership with Duvel Mortgaat. He said nothing has changed about the brewing operations except Duvel Mortgaat has helped with distribution and they are helping to finance an expansion at the KCMO brewery. I am sure there is more to the relationship but outside of that brief discussion you would never know Boulevard had a parent company.
I’m 2013, Firestone was ranked 16th in Craft with 140,000 barrels. Duvel USA (boulevard and ommergang) were 8th at 185,000. It reads like the output doesn’t include the European brewery.
Overall, I think this will be no biggie for existing customers, and a good thing for new markets.