“You can’t feel too bad for that favorite garage band that just got a world tour. They make great brews and I’m proud of those guys. The one glaring tragedy is the fight to keep craft alive suffers; this and the Lagunitas deal are daggers in the heart of what the Craft Industry is trying to create: a level playing field.”
— Scott Slater, Founder/President, Slater’s 50/50
“It’s pretty disappointing. This is unlike the Heineken-Lagunitas, or the Duvel-Firestone deal, in which I believe the integrity of their beers still have a great shot to remain, and the deals were created as an ability to spread the distribution as well as create expansion opportunities of a great brand. MillerCoors plays on a different team. The problem is these big beer companies, with their deep pockets, and deceitful propaganda, are doing whatever they can to squash the proliferation of the craft beer industry, as evidenced by their Superbowl, and all the legislation they are pushing to keep the little guys down. And now one of our own has gone to the other side. I hope I’m wrong about this. It’s hard to fault a bunch of skater and surfer kids from receiving such a big payday, but sometimes hard work, moral fortitude, and great vision can yield much more rewarding results. IMHO”
— James Limjoco, Owner, Sublime Restaurant Group
“Making great craft beer is born out of passion. It is however also a business. There can be no surprises when successful brands are courted by others who are interested in them. We wish the best to all who endeavor to build their brands including those who may be moving away from our intimate craft community.”
— Kevin Hopkins, Chief Branding Office, Mother Earth; President, San Diego Brewers Guild
“St. Archer may not be the rising star the San Diego craft brewing community was hoping for, but there are some notable bright spots in this new agreement with MillerCoors.
The financial condition and management status of St. Archer have not been disclosed, nor at this point are they likely to be. Perhaps this sale is meant to provide some sorely needed debt relief and personnel restructuring. Pay, benefits and hours are likely to increase for workers.
Product quality will almost certainly improve with the professional guidance and vast resources of one of the world’s largest breweries.
Historically, most corporate acquisitions in San Diego have ended up with the local company closing up shop and shipping good-paying jobs to the headquarters of the new parent company, all for cost-saving purposes. It’s clear that that won’t happen in the case with St. Archer and MillerCoors. St. Archer has announced it is staying in San Diego, and MillerCoors has been in the midst of a strategic corporate reorganization, relying more on their “craft” portfolio and producing less beer overall. Long term, it will be leaning on St. Archer and other acquisitions like it for growth and profitability.
It’s also possible that Saint Archer could be a starting point for global consumers to learn more about San Diego craft beer. That depends on how the product is sold, packaged and marketed. If anything, it seems more likely that San Diego ties will be de-emphasized for the broader surfer/skater/active lifestyle image the company has embraced. For those worried St. Archer will dilute or harm the San Diego craft “brand,” it is at best unknown how much this will be an issue, if at all.
Still, St. Archer presents an important debate – not a conversation, a debate – that San Diego and other craft beer regions need to have: what makes beer “craft,” and are breweries that enter into agreements with InBev and MillerCoors et al still craft? Debates that answer core questions like these can help provide clarity in a muddied marketplace where multi-million dollar advertising and clever packaging are blurring the lines between the craft and macro worlds. Long term, I believe the craft brewing community needs to begin exploring the use of conjunctive labeling, craft certification programs and regional craft seals as ways to regulate and define who’s in and who’s out of the craft beer industry.
I don’t begrudge St. Archer for effectively selling control of their business to SABMiller. There is no singular path to success in the brewing industry. The founders took risks and worked hard to build their company and sell their product. Failure in the marketplace was always a possibility. It still is.”
— Vince Vasquez, Senior Policy Analyst at National University System Institute for Policy Research
“We wish their staff and brewers the best of luck. However it is unfortunate that they are no longer part of the craft beer community. They have moved from local craft beer to crafty Big Beer. That’s the nature of an acquisition from Big Beer.”
— Beau Schmitt, Owner, The Brew Project
“It comes as no surprise that St. Archer was acquired by a large brewer. I think the only real surprise is that this is the first acquisition of a San Diego brewery by an outside company (Alpine being bought by another SD brewery). With so many breweries reaching large barrelage, some consolidation and merging seems inevitable. And San Diego is certainly a hot brand name right now across the country for craft beer.”
— Tom Nickel, Owner, O’Brien’s Pub/Nickel Beer Co.
“It’s the old ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say’ thing. You can quote me on that!”
— Dennis Borlek, Owner, Fathom Bistro
“This acquisition and the others that have happened in quick succession have given us cause to stop and reflect on where we stand as a craft beer steward in our community. We have not always been a 100% craft beer bar. My personal opinion of what defines great beer has changed lots over the years and never more so than during the 5 years that Urge has been open. It is painful for me to admit, but there was a time when you could get Stella on draft at Urge. And Guinness. And once we even bought a keg of Newcastle. There was a time when filling 51 taps with craft beer was tough and there was a time when I didn’t know any better even though I should have. Times have changed. However, the greatest thing about the craft beer industry is the people. They drive the innovation, they make great beer and they move mountains. The people define the beer, not the other way around, as marketing machines would like us to believe. This is the same credo we stick to when it comes to buying food from local farms and from coffee local roasters. That personal connection is everything and it’s worth far more to me than a quick buck.
So what does this all mean? As far as I’m concerned, it’s not some surfer or skater that defines Saint Archer. They’re not the ones making the beer. Heck, they probably don’t even drink it. I never bought into any of their advertising crap. The brewing team: Yiga, Kim, Greg and others are what makes Saint Archer. As long as they’re around and are allowed to keep doing what they’re doing, we will continue to support them, as people, and as our friends. The same can be said of Matt Bryndilson from Firestone and Jeremy Marshall from Lagunitas. Now, IF that changes, if we lose that personal connection, if the brewers move on (willingly or otherwise), or if the beer starts to fall off because of corporate cuts or whatever, then we will have to re-examine that. But until that time, we will stand by our friends and have a beer, just as we would hope they would do with us.”
— Grant Tondro, Proprietor, URGE Gastropub