Should craft breweries be acquired by big beer companies to expand their reach, or does this compromise their integrity?

Beer Talk
1

While acquisition by big beer companies can provide craft breweries with the resources and distribution networks needed to expand their reach, I believe it often compromises the integrity and authenticity that made them popular in the first place.

The unique character and local roots of craft breweries are vital to their identity, and large-scale ownership risks diluting their quality and innovation. Supporting independent breweries helps preserve the diversity and creativity that define the craft beer movement.

2

Conglomerate breweries are antithetic to the culture of craft beer that I want to support. Sure, someone bigger may make a tasty beer once in a while but the decisions that conglomerates make often are not driven by product quality. I am paraphrasing from Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business by Josh Noel:

I want brewers, not accountants, making the decisions on what beer to brew.