Tragedy: Bell's sold to Big Beer

Sold to Kirin - Lion. While I’m happy for Larry Bell, I can’t imagine this is anything but fatal for long-term continued high quality.

Saw this coming. I’ll put my money on Founders next as far as Michigan is concerned.

Edit: well apparently that’s already happened, according to the article!

Over the years I drink less beer every year, but Bell’s is probably my single favorite brewery. Wish Larry the best, good for him, but do not think this is good for beer lovers.

Having attended U of MI for college, and given that my college days is when I was first exposed to craft beer, Bell’s will forever hold a special place in my beer-drinking heart. They do (did) so many different styles of beer so well, yet somehow managed to retain a brewery signature across most of the range. Sad sad day … beers of theirs I feel are/were particularly notable for their respective styles:
Two Hearted IPA
Porter (one of the three best made in USA, imo)
Amber Ale
Sparkling Ale
Oberon Hefe (the best Hefe made in USA, imo)
Expedition Stout
… and that’s just from their core offerings. A year or two ago they made a smoked Porter that was phenomenal.

So … Founders bit the dust. Now Bell’s … who’s next? Those two selling-out leaves behind a huge void in the MI craft scene, and I don’t think there are obvious replacements for them, either. It seems the past few times I’ve been to MI (including as recently as three weeks ago), the overall quality of MI craft brews has fallen behind the strong pace they set in the early 2000s. Although beer is hyper-local, causing most in the country to never taste most of what’s around, my current operating viewpoint is that CA is the current King of the Hill when it comes to American craft.

Founders get paid for their lifetime of work. Creates an opening for someone new. I like Bell’s (harder to get out here so my experience is relatively limited) and I hope the new owners stay true to the original recipes. If they don’t, the founders still got paid and the opening is even bigger for someone new.