Farewell then, Greg
The sale of Stone | Times change. People change. Trends change. Remember the howls of treason several years ago when a slew of US craft brewers sold themselves to the Big Brewers? The cognoscenti vowed to shun them, seeing their sale as a betrayal of the breweries’ local, independent roots. When Stone was acquired by Japan’s Sapporo this summer, did the commentariat call out its founder, Greg Koch, over his broken promise to “never sell”? No. It was more like “Ok. Here goes another one.” Brewery sell-outs are no longer punished, they are simply shrugged at. But the departure of Stone’s founder still proves momentous for American craft brewing. It marks the end of an era.
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