Founders Brewing Co. Announces Minority Partner, Mahou San Miguel

Let me rephrase: if I had to make a list of breweries that I could see selling out, NG and RR, along with HF, would be either at the very bottom or left off entirely. Founders doesn't surprise me that much since they always had a bit of a commercial tinge to them in my mind, but NG, RR, and HF (amongst others) always struck me as artisans first and businesses second.

"On a long enough timeline [and with enough money], the [independence] rate of every [brewery] drops to zero," is basically what you're saying, and while you're not wrong since it's unknown, it feels like a cop out to say "never is a long time."

 

No problem....

 

Well, I think the B.A.'s reasoning behind the Duvel/Ommegang/Boulevard deal was that, though "foreign", Duvel Moortgat's annual barrelage was still well under 6m US barrels at 766,951 barrels.

At this point, until the 2014 rankings come out from the Brewers Association, we still don't know which breweries of primarily adjunct lagers will be newly-christened "craft brewers"- it seems they'll do it on a case by case basis.

And, of course, they have ignored "alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer" ownership before - Anchor is now owned by the Griffin Group.

 

I have a question. Why don't more breweries sell stock in their companies instead of going down the foreign investment route? Maybe there are some publicly traded breweries that I don't know about. I would love to have had some Sierra Nevada or Founders stock twenty years ago before the craft boom.

 

Bob's Discount Legal Services and Small Engine Repair

 

I could honestly see Shaun giving up and cashing out at some point in the future. Classic troubled artist leaving behind commercial pursuits to refocus on his passion, with a fat check in his pocket. No real reason and I'm sure it wouldn't be for a very long time, but just a hunch.

 

It's really expensive to do and you lose control of who the other owners are. Especially if you issue shares with voting rights. You want Sierra Nevada battling a hedge fund in a proxy battle?

 

No. Not really. It's probably better the way it is. Would have been nice to get in on the ground floor though.

 

Love this!
They should probably change their, "Brewed for us," slogan, though

 

The only thing that I could see becoming a potential issue is when the owners reach retirement age. That's essentially what happened with Boulevard--John McDonald got to the point where he had to start thinking about the future of the brewery after he was gone and wasn't really interested in handing it down to his kids to run the show.

At some point, all these owners will be forced to make a choice between passing ownership down to their offspring or selling to someone, be it an ownership group, a single company, or to the employees in a sort of New Belgium type approach.

 

This is a worry for sure. Only time will tell, I suppose.

 

This reads to me like one needs to sell 30% of their company in order to get in emerging markets? You can't just have good products that people want anymore. International distributors should be lining up at their door with red carpet treatment... Unless I'm reading who gets what wrong.

btw, that founders blog piece reads like all the others.

Could you PLEASE have at least 5 week old beers on your shelves in Phoenix. Take care of the markets you already distribute.

I shall now run over every remaining Founders product I own

 

For Christ's sake they are in Okie & Arkieland, what did y'all do to piss them off???

 

nah, it's family land for centuries, right? He might just quit, beats me, but I absolutely can't see him selling.

 

I will stand by & see what this means. I don't think any really good or bad happens immediately with these kind of deals, they usually happen over an extended time...

 

This is not surprising in the least to me. They've wanted to be big for many years now. Seven-someodd months ago some suit from Founders marketing side i'd never met before dropped into my store and immediately started asking for better stack placements, eye level/on the handle cooler spots, and all kinds of other Asks & pitches i'm used to hearing from the very big boys that made me cringe as a longtime supporter. It was the first time i realized just how big they wanted to be.

I once referred to their market expansion and general growth policy as Scorched Earth, and i guess i wasnt too far off.

Still, they're a solid brewery with some great people working for them, so i hope it works out and wish them the absolute best.

 

This news doesn't bother me too much.

I bought a BCBS a couple weeks back. You know, from the company owned by Anheuser-Busch? If the beer's good, I don't really care if "fat cats" get my money. I prefer companies don't "sell out", but it isn't a huge deal to me.

 

Sounds like a solid plan you have there, well thought out.

Are you complaining about a lack of supply in New Mexico? If so, this partnership will create the capital needed by Founders to triple their production to not only ship overseas but meet demand across the United States.

 

They're thinking globally, not little o'l NM. They already jumped us as they went for the AZ and TX markets. It may happen soon. But even on Founder's facebook page, we see a guy in Chicago who can't even get any of their hoppy beers newer than 4-6 weeks old. I believe this will help distribution as a whole (it can't hurt) so for that, I remain optimistic.

I was trying to be sarcastic about running over my remaining Founders. I love their breakfast stout. No thanks to 6 wk old IPAs or other hoppy products that will sit. I do like their more burly rich products. I shall wish them luck with a caution to not to try and overlook the small things. Don't mess with hometown happy with visions of world domination.

 

Hell, I would have sold out. 300 million isn't chump change.