Why Do Beer Nerds Freak Out When a Large Company Buys a Small Brewery?

Is it the indie mentality of the craft?

By Laura RiceNovember 4, 2016 12:27 pm

There’s a lot of support for local brews in Texas, which has beer drinkers upset that Anheuser-Busch InBev is buying up independent craft brewery, Karbach. Karbach isn’t going away. In fact, if anything, AB Inbev plans to pump a whole lot of money into the operation. So why do beer fans react so strongly when small brewhouses sell to big companies?

Tiney Ricciardi covers the statewide beer scene for the Dallas Morning News. She talked to brewers, sales representatives and beer drinkers and she says many reactions stem from fear of giants monopolizing the industry.

“The biggest thing from an industry perspective is the limiting of competition in the marketplace,” she says. “As smaller breweries get picked up by bigger entities, industry personnel are worried that’s going to limit small brewers’ chance at competing.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– Skepticism from beer fans that mass producers will be able to maintain the quality of the beer
– The “indie mentality” of preserving craft beers as the industry underdog
– The future taste of Karbach under AB Inbev

Post by Betsy Joles.