A recent Beer Advocate article highlighted one aspect of Corporate Beer buyouts that really irks many fans of craft beer:

If you’re a Big Beer-affiliated brewery, own that.  Don’t hide it.  In your company’s “About Us” or “Brewery History” page online, don’t omit that AB InBev owns y0u…  Don’t play cute about it with the press.  Stop telling consumers nothing has changed.  Anyone saying that is either lying or negligently naive.

Nailed it.  When it comes down to it, I think most people could understand the appeal in selling out to Corporate Beer.  I personally can’t say for certain what I would do if someone offered me a mountain of cash for my business.  Even if that someone is a company I really don’t like.   I might decide that the money (and everything it brings with it) is more important to me and my family than my buy-local-buy-small ethos is.

That said, if your brewery’s buyout is so good for craft beer and craft beer consumers, then why are you being opaque about it?  Put that shit on the label, on your website.  Own it.  Anything less is dishonest, plain and simple, and deserves to be called out, derided, and even boycotted.

And while we’re at it, going a step further and making a video about how it’s the rest of the craft beer world that’s got it wrong is just slimy.  No one buys it.  Don’t be surprised when your former customers mock you for being a shill and call bullshit whenever you open your mouth.  You’ve earned it.

Craft on.