Lagunitas Personal Post About Merge With Heineken

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by DogTown, May 4, 2017.

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  1. BrewsOverHoes

    BrewsOverHoes Grand Pooh-Bah (3,485) Nov 17, 2013 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm going to drink Lagunitas. High Westified is one of the better BA stouts for the money. If they've got the funding to put that out and keep adding to their six pack repertoire they'll be profitable even more so than they are. Same with WW yesterday. If it keeps a steady quality I'm not turning away unless they sky rocket the price/ounce thing.
     
    VABA and Thecalmdrinker like this.
  2. flaskman

    flaskman Initiate (0) Aug 3, 2015 New York

    You can't blame Lagunitas for wanting to plug into Heinekens distribution chain. Sounds like a win-win to me.
     
    alucard6679, CSpoons and Redrover like this.
  3. Mebuzzard

    Mebuzzard Grand Pooh-Bah (4,216) May 19, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Yah, kind of insulting every other brewery out there.
     
  4. peej

    peej Initiate (0) Apr 18, 2013 New York

    I took that to mean he didn't really know what he was doing
     
  5. Bond111

    Bond111 Zealot (696) Feb 14, 2011 Minnesota
    Trader

    There are always going to be those people who will want to stick it to "the man" and "corps suck" but....

    I'm sure Tony @DogTown
    went down this road with the best of intentions for not only himself, but the hundreds of family members around the country that he employs. If you think he didn't have sleepless nights, & knots in his stomach about if he was making the right choice to sell 50% stake, you are kidding yourself. That was a huge decision, & this is even more impactful.

    Just like kids, you can teach them right and wrong, & be as hard on them as you want to be so they succeed in this world, but you cannot make them not date & marry who they want to. You can only hope that they do what is truly best for themselves.

    Right or wrong, it's been Tony & his family's, & wholly theirs to make.

    I personally can't blame him at all. I would trust him if I had a horse in the race.
     
    dripa8 and TongoRad like this.
  6. BStrummin

    BStrummin Initiate (0) Sep 8, 2014 California

    Quality has already been suffering at Lagunitas. Waldo was a mess this year in quality, not to mention the huge clusterfuck in delivery. Multiple pubs sitting on kegs that showed up weeks early, huge pallets being stored at Raleys in hot warehouses.... Tell yourself whatever you need to to make yourself feel better Tony. Doesn't change the fact that you didn't invent the IPA even though your lawyers tried hard.
     
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  7. BStrummin

    BStrummin Initiate (0) Sep 8, 2014 California

    And this "you'd do it too" argument is so old. That's easy to say you'd do it when you're sitting in a cubicle toiling away for pennies, but when you're the head brewer and owner of a well respected brewery with a pedigree, a future, and hundreds (thousands?) of employees to think about I'm not sure it would be that easy to potentially throw all that in the trash.
     
    Brolo75 likes this.
  8. t420o

    t420o Initiate (0) Jul 16, 2009 Colorado

    Congratulations @DogTown . You built up an amazing company and it sounds like you're genuinely happy with this deal and the arrangement you have with Heineken. Truly the American Dream and you've done California proud. Cheers to the road ahead for you and Lagunitas!

    And to the guys hating on this deal, I genuinely don't understand you. He built up a company from nothing in Northern California to what will now, I'm sure, be one of the most well known and respected Craft Beer Company's in the world and he got paid. Big time! I'm thinking you all are just butt hurt that you'll never reach such heights. Let the man enjoy his successes.
     
    flaskman, TrojanRB, dripa8 and 3 others like this.
  9. whitekiboko

    whitekiboko Initiate (0) Sep 22, 2006 South Carolina

    Both tolerable for about 10 minutes?
     
  10. keithmurray

    keithmurray Pooh-Bah (2,943) Oct 7, 2009 Connecticut
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Forget the haters and all of their false righteousness. I will continue to buy Lagunitas so long as the beer remains amazing and at a reasonable price point. My only gripe is that I never see their Imperial Stout on shelves by me anymore.
     
  11. GetTheYayo

    GetTheYayo Initiate (0) Aug 26, 2012 Pennsylvania
    Deactivated

    The fact that he felt compelled to write a letter explaining why he's not "selling out" speaks volumes about the current state of the craft beer community. We all knew that consolidation was inevitable (at least the smart people did). It's like being called a "sell out" is worse than being called a "child molester." Jesus, it's getting old.
     
  12. beergoot

    beergoot Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,596) Oct 11, 2010 Colorado
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    If the beer is remains decent, I'll drink it...'nuff said...
     
  13. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    American Beauty works for me. But, I agree.
     
  14. fuzzbalz

    fuzzbalz Pundit (887) Apr 13, 2002 Georgia

    Congrats Tony on the sale, I mean merger, or partnership.....what ever you'd like to call it. Going to miss a lot of great beers, but then there are a lot of great new local stuff to try popping up every day here in ga, so so long.
     
    SuperWhip and ebin6 like this.
  15. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,326) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I like Lagunitas, and while I always prefer to see craft breweries remain independent, I understand there are benefit$ to such buyouts. Lagunitas has great beers, and is relatively cheap so here's hoping Heineken sees fit to preserve the legacy of Lagunitas.
     
    Spikester likes this.
  16. Oktoberfiesta

    Oktoberfiesta Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2013 New Mexico

    Is this the same letter from his blog?

    Lots of WE and US and OUR. I like how these corporate folks play off the emotions of "independence" when really its all marketing. THEY now wholly OWN you. WE,US,and OUR are simply one big umbrella now.

    I know it must have been tough to go at it alone to try and get beer into all parts of the world. Now with Heineken, there really should be no issues (you, I mean 'Heineken' pushing out smaller tap handles can and will happen). New satellite production breweries will open up elsewhere. Who knows, 10 years from now, layoffs in America. It's' all branding and you can't keep saying WE and then THEM anymore. The entities are not separate.

    Maybe its all word play and in my mind. When he keeps saying Lagunitas this, or Lagunitas that, I can't help but want to correct him to say Heineken. Subsidiaries and branches happen in all walks of life. It just seems more apparent here. The big beer producers seem to own one large brewery in every country in the world. Congrats that Lagunitas got to be the chosen one. It's not a bad catch (there could be worse). And if more people have access to that next to regular Heineken (and not Budweiser), I would consider that one small win for the craft community.

    There are no two ways to look at it now. A successful Lagunitas is a successful Heineken big beer giant. I don't wish them ill will but I tend to stop caring of a breweries success when they get owned by someone bigger. I'll probably still buy their beer, but I won't feel vested. I won't buy their merchandise etc..

    TL;DR
    More Lagunitas everywhere is a really great thing. How they had to achieve that is disheartening. It's basically saying, when a brewery gets big enough, they WILL get owned by some big mega corp. It makes you appreciate the ones that truck along (SN/STONE), while the reality is grim as its inevitable the monopolies are growing
     
  17. anfield86

    anfield86 Pooh-Bah (2,594) Nov 21, 2006 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    The way I see it, we still get to see Born Yesterday once a year and the rest of the world just got a much better beer selection. I'm cool with this.
     
    GetMeAnIPA and flaskman like this.
  18. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,535) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah Society

    We're just beer geeks who spend working hours in line for beer. We don't know what it's like to own, and operate a business, let alone provide for a family from that our own company, so do what works for you. Keep brewing good beer, keep it fresh and keep it competitively priced and I willing keep buying it.

    On a side note, I am enjoying one my last bottles of Waldo and it's damn tasty. Thanks Tony.
     
    Jsteez, chipawayboy and bound4er like this.
  19. Jaycase

    Jaycase Grand Pooh-Bah (3,554) Jan 13, 2007 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'll say as long as a beer tastes good and is reasonably priced, most people will not care about merger machinations. Is that good or bad? Well, we all have our own opinions on it certainly. But my goodness, this post by Tony was one of the most incoherent, rambling posts I've read on BA or otherwise. Does Heineken have an editor? I kid. I have nothing further to add as @CNoj012 & @considerbeer captured my thoughts well. Go read their posts. :wink:
     
    chipawayboy and considerbeer like this.
  20. Amateurbrewmaster

    Amateurbrewmaster Initiate (0) Feb 5, 2016 New York

    9+32
    Realistically being in that situation and hypothetically being in that situation is not the same. In the hypothetical situation the poll would create, I'll bet you anything at least a half of the people polled will answer no to selling out. And I'll bet you a third of those who said no would in a real life situation change their minds for the right price.
     
    Jsteez and drtth like this.
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