They just announced a 30% stake goes to Mahou San Miguel.
Discuss, compare and contrast to 10 Barrel.
I guess they are no longer “craft” 
Interesting in that none of their brands are major US brands. I can’t find info about what other breweries they may be invested in - if any - though.
Check Wikipedia. It has a short breakdown of a few acquisitions.
I like it. Pay back those relatives and in-laws who have helped get you started/kept you afloat with some retirement funds, open some distribution channels, and still keep the majority of the business and make beer the way you want to.
+1. A nice influx of $$ while keeping control. Great brewery.
Founder’s is my favorite brewery and their All-day IPA is my goto. As long as it doesn’t affect the quality or taste of their beer its pretty much a moot point for me.
I see this as totally different from the 10 Barrel topic and it doesn’t bother me at all.
Absolutely, totally agree.
So, what happens when InBev acquires San Miguel? Is Founder’s still your favorite brewery?
The bigger breweries get, the more mergers are going to happen, the more breweries InBev is going to acquire.
great read. happy for them and keep the great beer coming.
Yeah, good point.
In this case, they’ll still only own 30%, so I guess my answer would be yes, not because of who the investors are but because they make my favorite products. If the product quality stays the same, the investors could be nazi war criminals and it wouldn’t bother me.
What does bother me about mergers and acquisitions like 10 Barrel is when the new company takes over and changes everything just for the sake of “making it their own.”
There have been way too many instances where a huge company like in-bev has purchased a brewery, then shutdown the business, fired all the employees, sold off the equipment and real estate and just slapped the acquired brand on some mass-market product that has nothing to do with the original.
edit: spelling, added a word
but why wouldn’t they get a note to do that? loaning on craft beer is popular these days (a friend that runs a community bank virtually categorized it as rubber stamp underwriting, more signs of the bubble we’ve been discussing for years but that is another topic).
I just don’t see, from founder’s position, why they would sell a minority stake rather than get a note, especially since the publicity isn’t the best. they’ve proven themselves, and could probably take the note out via cashflow in a reasonable amount of time.
I’m assuming this is all in conjunction with the news article I saw a week or so ago where Founder’s is doing a 30 MILLION dollar expansion. 30 MILLION.
That’s Million with an “M”.
Maybe it is to access the price point on consumables that big brother gets. And in light of what Keith just posted, maybe on the hardware also.
And wider distribution perhaps?
I’d imagine thy would also increase their distibution. FTR we have had Founder’s here in AL for about 2 years now. Not sure where all they are but they are here.
It’s the little homebrewer in me that just can’t fathom 30 MILLION dollar expansion. I was up there this summer with the NHC and thought there place was outstanding. I drool at the thought of a limestone barrel aging cave…
They have been expanding for a long while now, Keith. This last expansion will build out the whole city block into brewery. The capacity will be around 900k bbl/year. Parking is a little challenging for the brewery workers now.
The barrels are aged in an old gypsum mine, just to be exact.