There are a couple of craft-beer related mergers and acquisitions on my mind at the moment.
The first is the recent announcement by a much-loved, stalwart craft brewery known as Bottle Logic that they are joining “The Bruery and Offshoot Beer Co. as part of The Bruery Group, bringing together three Orange County craft beer brands with a shared focus on innovation, quality, and ambitious brewing.”
Had I written this column 12 to 15 years ago, I would likely have mentioned The Bruery a lot. (Offshoot is a brand The Bruery founded in 2017 for “hop-forward beers,” because the original owner, Patrick Rue, refused to make IPAs at The Bruery.) The Bruery focused largely on Belgian styles, but became known for barrel-aged, high-alcohol strong ales in various forms, along with sour ales at another sister brewery they’ve since shuttered (Bruery Terreux). Today, I don’t mention The Bruery much, because for the most part, the beers I’ve had from them have been unremarkable—outside of a series The Bruery does called Ruekeller, for which they make German-style lagers quite well.
I found Offshoot unimpressive when I tried their beers years ago, but it has been a while, so I decided to give them another crack. I went with their Relax West Coast IPA, which boasts Simcoe, Mosaic, Strata and Amarillo hops. The first whiff I got was actually malt. Was this perhaps 2-Row malt? Did I really get pine and grapefruit aromas? I don’t know if this is the same beer I tried years back, but I see now that they’re making a modern, less-bitter take on the old-school IPA. There are a few of these out there which I might explore in a future column, but in conclusion: Not bad!
As for the “partnership”: The aforementioned announcement says that “Bottle Logic will remain a distinct brand and continue operating its Anaheim brewery and tasting room.” Perhaps this is a way for Bottle Logic to get into more markets. While I’m tired of their huge adjunct stouts, Bottle Logic makes an incredible Czech-style pale lager. Ultimately, I’m rooting for everyone involved—but if things somehow go south, there are plenty of other breweries within a few miles.
Speaking of an incredible Czech-style pale lager (that’s Pivo Pils, by the way): Firestone Walker Brewing Co. has been in the news quite a bit of late. Earlier this year, they bought the rights to brew Trumer Brewery’s pilsner in the U.S. (they are an offshoot of an old Austrian brewery with the same name), which meant the closing of a beloved taproom in Berkeley. Then, mere months later, Firestone announced the purchase of Stone Brewing from Sapporo.
This might be confusing for those who want to try to keep track of all the pieces on the figurative board, and it gets even more confusing when I add in the fact that Firestone Walker itself was sold to Duvel Moortgat in 2015. But unlike other large companies that have been buying craft brewers, Duvel seems to be a beneficent parent, allowing the breweries they own to mostly keep doing what they do—while focusing on making a good chunk of change in the process.
Craft beer is not dead, but the excesses from a decade ago or more are being counteracted by changing consumer habits and the closing of breweries and taprooms across the country.
What this means exactly for Stone beers remains to be seen. In the case of Trumer, it was very simple: Firestone is brewing the pilsner now. I have all the confidence in the world in the capability of head brewer Matt Brynildson and the brewing team at Firestone to brew any of the beers in Stone’s portfolio, but I have questions that I don’t know if I have the juice to get answered—like, “Are you sticking with the current core beers like Stone IPA or Delicious IPA, or might you rewind the clock a little with beers from when Stone was really firing on all cylinders under former head brewer Mitch Steele (i.e., the original Ruination IPA or Sublimely Self Righteous Black IPA)?” I do know they are keeping most of the current Stone locations (like the great Liberty Station location, in San Diego, that has brewed most of Stone’s interesting beers in the past decade). One exception: the Escondido Bistro and World Garden location, which—in yet another twist—Stone Brewing founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner just announced they are buying back.
While some of these beloved breweries changing hands could be a cause for concern, it seems to largely be a market correction. Craft beer is not dead, but the excesses from a decade ago or more are being counteracted by changing consumer habits and the closing of breweries and taprooms across the country. I’m not terribly worried, though, because there was a small increase in the U.S. market share held by small and independent brewers in 2025, to 13.4%, according to the Brewers Association.
Regarding Firestone’s acquisitions: We not only get the Stone beers, but also a further-strengthened Firestone Walker. Usually when a brewery gets bought up, it’s because some big, uncaring conglomerate wants to gut it, sell it for parts, and then use it as part of their “craft beer” distribution portfolio (e.g., so many AB InBev and MillerCoors’ purchases in the past decade or so). Well, Firestone certainly ain’t that, and if they somehow end up being that, you have my consent to find this column and throw it in my sad face.
I’ll be happy if the end result of all of this is simply more good beer available to us locally … even though our local market has its own issues which are causing a serious dearth of good beer brands finding their way to our shelves while at all fresh—but that topic will have to wait for a future column. For now, we must all wait and see what happens with everything mentioned above.
Please, merciful gods of drink, let it all go in our favor.
