My takeaway is that this allows Niko to get back to the NE brewery (which is now mostly just doing one offs and taproom beers) and let the process people run the production brewery. Given the drop off in sours in the tap room, my hope is that there is a focus to rebuild some diversity.
I thought it was a little strange to see only Ben doing the Darkness promotions recently but thought nothing of it since no one else said anything about Jerrod. I think the co-head brewer set-up is difficult and this maybe shouldn't be too much of a surprise that one of them left Surly. Hopefully Fair State doesn't grow too big distribution wise - spreading to NYC, Boston, Pennsylvania scares me a bit.
Surly lost another brewer? Can't say that I'm surprised. Doesn't really matter anyway, they will never be the same without Todd. Fair State get's a lot of love around here. Personally I think their stuff is alright, but I haven't been wowed yet. Let's hope hiring him is progressive and not regressive.
