Beers in Review: Savannah's Moon River Brewing Company

As previously mentioned, I spent the weekend in Savannah, Georgia, and amongst many many miles of walking, shopping, and eating, my family and I happened upon the Moon River Brewing Company. I will review a couple of the beers shortly, but having tasted 4 of their beers in all (Swamp Fox American IPA and Southern Sour Blend #2, in addition to the 2 below), I think the most notable thing I found about Moon River is how much they have going on in their beers.

As the site name suggests (if you get puns), I don't claim to be any kind of expert in beer tastings. My palate is slowly but steadily getting better, but I am not one of these people who can pick out a half-dozen distinct flavors or aromas from each beer, like some folks. In Moon River's beers, I could taste the depth, which was very encouraging for me.

First off was Duppy Conquerer, a relatively low ABV beer, but I would hesitate to call it in any way sessionable, just due to its formidable flavor profile. A collaboration with fellow Savannah brewery Southpoint Brewing Company, Duppy is a Sour India Red Ale that is immensely fruity, with a powerful citrusy kick. A small amount of hoppiness is present, along with effervescent and fresh feelings. This ale really starts to make its left turn as it warms up. Progressively, some funky flavors start to creep in--they don't overwhelm the ale, but they are quite prevalent. The sourness also spikes as it warms up. The end result was that the last third or so of the pint was both a bit tough to get through while still being enjoyable. It's a really interesting ale, but I one must be into sours in order to enjoy Duppy.

The second beer I got a good taste of was the Boucane Brown Ale. I've started to stray away from browns in general, but if they all tasted like Boucane, I'd be downing browns with regularity. Oats and nuts were highly prevalent in both the aroma and the flavor, and was very smooth and tasty overall.

I wish Moon River made it across the Savannah River and here into South Carolina. One can only hope that some future expansion plan will make that possible. Moon River makes wonderfully complex beers that need to be appreciated by many more people.

A happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Coming up this weekend, some beers from my cellar, and the first of the winter/Christmas seasonals.

Beer in Review: Sixpoint Sweet Action (or, that funny-looking can)

It's been a quiet week on the beer front, frankly, though I hope to have lots of content out of tomorrow's Vista Lights celebration and this weekend's trip to Savannah.

A beer I am having right now is Sixpoint Brewery's Sweet Action. Now, there are two things I have noticed right away. First, the beer is named, but Sixpoint, even on their website, declines to note the type of beer, calling it "an undefinable beer...that your brain cannot categorize but instead speaks directly to your palate."

The second thing is, the odd can shape. This 12oz. can seems shaped more like a Red Bull can than your standard 12oz. beer can. Certainly not a bad thing. Just very apparent.

The beer has a pretty mild hop profile, but overall tends to be malty and smooth. Peaches are strong in the aroma--in the flavor, I tend to get more of the peach skins. Also, some apricots. Were I to label this beer, I think it'd fall into the APA category. Solid beer.

I hope to bring you lots more from what should be a fun weekend on Sunday and/or Monday.

Beers in Review: Beers from New Belgium and Highland

Just a reviews of a couple of beers I ahd this week.

First off is New Belgium's Long Table. It has the standard farmhouse ale sweetness, but also features pretty prominent notes of toasted bread or grains. It makes for a bit of an interesting balance, as the grains kind of put me in a Pilsner state of mind. But that saison/farmhouse fruitiness is fairly prominent, and tends to hang around the palate quite a bit after the sip.

Highland Brewing Company is one of my favorite regional breweries. I could drink their Gaelic Ale forever and probably not get tired of it. Like the Long Table above, Highland's Lost Cove APA also evoked some Pilsner-like feelings. This beer had some mild hop bitterness, but nothing overpowering, along with a nice citrusy bite. (Undoubtedly caused by the hop strains used in this beer, the bitterness and citrus came out in two separate stages of the mouth experience.) The finish went Pilsnery (a word I just made up), with prominent crackery malt notes.

Local news: new place in Columbia's Five Points with definite craft beer potential

I may be dabbling into local affairs a bit too much this week, but I was kind of excited by an Instagram picture I saw today.

The village of Five Points in Columbia, SC is typically seen as the collegiate night life district. It has a lot of great shopping spaces, and some great restaurants, but when the sun goes down, the students from USC take over. The result is a lot of PBR, Bud Light, and cheap liquor specials. And believe me, I can absolutely be down with cheap booze. But given the level of competition (Flying Saucer, World of Beer) in the Vista, Columbia's slightly-more-grown-up entertainment district, a few Five Points joints HAVE been making an effort to improve the Five Points beer scene. (shout-out to the Village Idiot and The Attic)

The scene may be taken to the next level with Publico Kitchen and Tap, a brand new beer joint and taqueria. Now, the picture that excited me is right here, and that is a really solid group of (mostly regional) craft beers, and a considerable number of taps for the Five Points area.

I am excited to check out Publico's beer AND food menu. The taco list is pretty crazy! Banh mi! Pad thai chicken! Tuna poke! Insane!

Best of luck to Columbia's newest restaurant! Hope you because yet another Five Points institution!

Beers in Review: 3 beers, including an oldie and an oh-so-goodie

Red Hare Cotton Tail Pale Ale: A solid pale with largely piney hops, maybe with a hint of citrus (unless that was just hop bite). Pretty refreshing overall with a clean finish. Again, solid all around, but nothing too deep. At just 5% ABV, also fairly sessionable for a quality craft pale.

From time to time, beers tend to unintentionally stay in my pantry or fridge for a little too long. As a general rule, I tend to not publish reviews for these beers, as it can represent an unfair view of the beers' qualities. Rest assured, in a situation such as this one, I will always publicly make a note of it. While I have no doubt this beer's flavor changed, I found it still held up well, flavor-wise. The beer in question is Founders Centennial IPA. The hop profile tended to be in the background compared to flavors of dark fruit, possibly plum, and some caramel. There was also a fairly noticable booze note (7.2% ABV). The bottle was right at one year old, and I wonder if that contributed to some of sweetness, or at least the lesser hop notes. But I found it to still be a quite drinkable beer.

The final beer in this review is a simply legendary Abbey Ale from Brouwerij St. Bernardus. St. Bernardus Abt 12 is a Belgian Quad, and one of the original, long-time tentpoles of the craft beer industry. Coming in a 10% ABV, the boozy note comes through at the end of the sip as it warms up, but the flavor is dominated by dark fruit, red wine notes, and a solid cherry sweetness. It's exceptionally smooth, as those dark fruits follow all the way through the sip until the beer leaves your mouth. An excellent beer, to put it mildly, and one I can put on my imaginary top shelf of great beers I've tasted.

A brief congratulations to Hunter-Gatherer!

I am glad to see that a local beer institution able to expand!

As originally reported by the crew at Soda City Suds Week, the Hunter-Gatherer will be adding a new brewing facility and taproom to compliment their existing Brewery and Alehouse (and restaurant) on Main Street in Columbia. The new Hunter-Gatherer Brewery will be located at Owens Field beginning in 2016 (more info in the link below). Hunter-Gatherer, which typically features an ESB, Wheat, and Pale Ale, as well as specialty brews, will be able to expand their operation, including having a bottling line. The new Owens Field facility will also have a taproom and observation desk overlooking the Owens Field airport.

Congratulations to Hunter-Gatherer on their upcoming expansion!

H/t: Free Times

Beers in Review: A trio of beers from the Carolinas

Today's review features beers from 2 North Carolina breweries and one from Charleston, SC.

The first offering comes from Palmetto Brewing Company's 843 limited-release series, named for the Charleston area code. The Ghost Rider IPA features citrusy hops spiced with ghost peppers and maraschino cherries. Now, to me, the peppers and hops combined for a fairly bitter hop taste. Also evident is a mild burn from the ghost peppers, but it is not overpowering like I've tasted in some other pepper-infused beers. The ghost pepper use should not cause people to shy away from this beer. The front end also had a bit of fruity sweetness from the cherries.

Carolina Brewery's award-winning Oatmeal Porter is a very solid offering style. The beer is hearty, but not super-thick, as some darker beers can be. It also sports a nice creamy head. The aroma and taste tend to feature cocoa/chocolate notes. Despite it being only 5.9% ABV, I found it to have a bit of a boozy aftertaste. But overall, I found this beer to be a strong contribution to its style.

American Pales have arguably become my style of choice. While I can appreciate, and even want, the heavy-hopped IPAs often, I appreciate the better balance of flavors that tend to come from APAs, and Unknown's Over The Edge was no different. It definitely shows its Paleness, with piney hops being a strong part of the flavor, especially early on. The hops give way to sweetness, and I what I identified as cherries, in the middle, before resolving to a pretty clean finish. Another enjoyable example of style, and my first time experiencing Unknown Brewing Company. I may need to seek out some more of their collection.

Beers in Review: Aviator Cretaceous Black IPA

Today's review is the Cretaceous Black IPA. This beer from North Carolina-based Aviator Brewing is brewed, then "short aged" in bourbon barrels. The short aging lends some smooth alcohol notes to the aroma, and adds a hint of the same to the taste as well--this is a bit surprising, given the fairly low 5.3% ABV. A pitch black beer, the "Black" and the "IPA" are represented pretty well. There is a mild hop flavor combined with a bit of that unsweetened cocoa-type taste you find in stouts. But these flavors tend to be pretty well-balanced, making for an enjoyable beer. Just don't expect "IPA" when you see it on the can.

Beers in Review: Finally caught up!

So, this review includes beers from the last two weekends, meaning I'm all caught up on my beers I've drank while out and about in Columbia. This means I need to start drinking more beer--what a torturous life to lead.

Before starting one comment on a beer from a couple of weeks ago. I had Stone's Go To IPA at a local establishment. Now, I don't really have a frame of reference for how this beer should taste, but this beer seemed very obviously off. A colleague of mine with a better idea for Go To's flavor confirmed the same thing, describing it with a pretty unsavory descriptor. This leads me to believe it was a single bad keg or something bad in the bar's set-up. I want to give both the beer and bar the benefit of the doubt, so I am declining to say much about the beer itself, other than I will give it another try at some point, if for no other reason than Stone's quality reputation.

Onto the reviews.

Westbrook Brewing Company has certainly established a reputation as arguably THE top brewery in South Carolina, and one of the best in the country. Beers like their Goze and Mexican Cake are held in the highest regard, and White Thai is a personal favorite. Their seasonal collaboration with The Charleston Beer Exchange, called Citrus Ninja Exchange, is a Double IPA that is pretty light in color. Grapefruit is one of prime ingredients of this beer, resulting citrusy hops and a fruity taste with a pretty clean finish. At 9% ABV, I felt the booze came through more and more as the beer warmed up.

Another Charleston, SC brewery, Revelry Brewing Company, is new to me. They seem to finally be making their way inland from the SC coast. I got to try one of their IPAs, Funkmaster Brett and the Furious Hops. Officially listed as a "Belgian IPA", this beer didn't have a huge hop flavor. I detected some citrusy sourness. I also got a bit of a red wine-like aftertaste. Perhaps this is a result of some blending of styles. Overall, a pretty quaffable beer.

Redhook's Longhammer IPA is a pretty commonly available craft IPA among the Columbia watering holes. Longhammer brought a balanced hop flavor with some mild bitterness. There was also a hint of caramelly sweetness early in the mouthful that resolved to some more piney hop flavors pretty quickly. However, I found that sweetness mixed with some maltiness to hang around longer as the beer warmed up.

This was a trio of varying-style IPAs that were all quite enjoyable.

Beer in Review: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

Ballast Point is one of the few breweries from whom I have NEVER had a negative experience. Even if a certain style hasn't been my thing (like, say, the Sculpin until recently), I could appreciate that it was a high-quality beer.

As my IPA palate has developed, I have come around on the Sculpin IPA. I find the Sculpin to be a pretty smooth drink, with a lot of fruity hops. The hops resolve into apricot and tropical fruit flavors. A very slight hit of alcohol at the start (7.0% ABV) and a pretty strong aftertaste prevent this from being  sessionable (which may be a word I just made up), but this IPA is very tasty.

I have one or two of the Grapefruit Sculpins floating around my refrigerator, so expect a side-by-side comparison in the not-too-distant future.

Austin 3:16 says "I finally made a beer!"

FIle this under "10-15 years too late, thought I supposed the craft beer scene hadn't really caught up at that point.

Wrestling superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin was famous back in the day for his beer-swilling, every-man, anti-hero antics against owner of the then-WWF (now-WWE) Vince McMahon, to the point that Steve would celebrate his successes by toasting beers in-ring. Today, this legendary performer in the squared circle spends his time as a tv personality/game show host and podcaster while still making the occasional WWE appearance.

Austin has now expanded his empire's reach into the craft beer scene with the long-overdue Broken Skull IPA, named in honor of his Tilden, TX ranch. He has partnered with Los Angeles' El Segundo Brewing Company to create a "bad ass beer". Steve took a "hands-on approach" to create "the ultimate IPA designed for the working man and woman who love great beer." El Segundo will be hosting a sold-out trio of Austin-hosted special events next month to celebrate the release of Broken Skull.

H/t: The Full Pint

More information here.

Beers in Review: The night is dank, and full of hops

If I were better at this internet personality/blogger thing, I'd definitely have the "Game of Thrones" theme running in the background of this page. It's fine. Just sing it in your head. I know you know it. Anyway, we'll get to that.

Low Life Pilsner, another in Evil Twin's eclectic line-up, produces grainy, straw-like notes combined with some hoppy sweet notes that set it apart from your typical Pilsner. Initially, I thought I detected some citrusy hop varietals, but these quickly fell into more herbal notes as the beer warmed up.

As folks living in the crossover of the craft beer fan/"Game of Thrones" Venn diagram are no doubt aware, Cooperstown, New York's Ommegang has been producing "GoT"-inspired beers on an annual basis, with Three-Eyed Raven Dark Saison marking their 5th release. Three-Eyed Raven is nearly pitch-black with a thick tan head. Hints of red wine mix with sweet chocolate notes and a fairly strong alcoholic note, pretty surprising given the relatively low ABV of 7.2%. Pretty dry finish.

New Belgium Ranger IPA featured a strong piney hop profile. This hop bitterness dominates, especially in the middle and end of the sip, along with a powerful hop aftertaste. Not for the casual IPA drinkers (whatever that means), in my opinion, but I enjoyed it well enough. It did kill my pallet a bit for  the beer that followed (which was Terrapin Hopsecutioner, which I will retry before giving a fair review).

Dude...

I have to admit something. Lindsey Graham is one of my Senators. Now, this is not a political blog, and I have no intention of going that route.

That being said...

I mean, come on, Senator. That. Is. Awful. He even knows it, too. Look at that half-hearted smile. I'm also not sure if CNN's Dana Bash (right) is trying to sell it, or incredulously show bad it is.

Sigh. Now I'm going to have a "Lindsey Graham" tag on this site for all time.

H/t: Huffington Post's Igor Bobic

Beer in Review: New Belgium Pumpkick

So, I may have previously mentioned my relative disdain for the fall beer season. To summarize, no Halloween beers before Labor Day, no Christmas beers until November 1st. But, given this IS a beer blog, I know I have a responsibility to try SOME of the beers of the style. The things I do for a blog that almost nobody reads. So, enjoy my first live review.

New Belgium's Pumpkick spiced ale is pretty obviously loaded with spices like cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg to go with the strong pumpkin flavors in this ale. The items that help to cut those spices and sweetness are lemongrass and, according to their notes, cranberry juice--this latter addition really kind of kicks it into a more Thanksgiving-appropriate beer. Anyway, for me, the lemongrass is faintly evident as a flavor, but more serves to temper the fall spice mixture, resulting in a more balanced flavor overall. I'm not getting much flavor of cranberry, personally. There is perhaps a slight hint of tartness, and perhaps the flavor itself comes out more at the end and in the aftertaste. Regardless, I'm sure that tartness is also helping to cut down the strength of those fall spices.

I bought just a single bottle of this beer, but I would consider buying a six-pack for the house. I'd probably wait to drink it until Thanksgiving dinner. Overall, pretty decent.

Beers in Review, Labor Day Weekend Part 2: Beer Flight Style

I'm struggling to stay caught up, so I'm going to fly through a bunch of beers from Labor Day weekend.

Anchor Steam: a nice malt/fruit flavor, and pretty clean

Widmer Upheaval IPA: dank aroma, with some dark fruit notes--it's listed as an "American" IPA, but it's pretty hoppy, if so

River Rat Broad River Red: nice malt sweetness, pretty clean finish

Stone IPA: surprisingly mild citrusy hop profile with some sweetness in the middle

Finch's Pale Ale: somewhat mild flavor; the hops are evident but not super-flavorful, pretty clean

Well, that happened...

(This post was originally written on October 8th, 2015, and accidentally not published.)

Hello, all.

For all the non-locals, I am based in Columbia, South Carolina, home of some hellacious flooding last weekend. While I am okay, many in South Carolina are several days later still struggling with flooding and recovery, to say nothing of the lives lost during the storms. Given the overall situation, blogging about beer was pretty damn far from my mind.

I hope to get a post up this weekend, and get things back to normal-ish next week.

Be safe and be good, everyone.

Beers in Review, Labor Day Weekend, Goose Island Edition

Goose Island was, of course, the subject of some scrutiny 4 1/2 years ago. As has been mildly mentioned in this space, Goose Island was one of the first craft breweries to become a NON-craft brewery, with their acquisition by AB-InBev in 2011.

Since that acquisition, Goose Island seems to have managed to utilize Budweiser's money to expand their reach without sacrificing their quality. First up from Labor Day weekend was Goose IPA. This was an enjoyable IPA that game a fruity start that transitioned into an interesting mix of hop flavors (mostly on the dank side, to me). Those hop flavors tended to linger on the palate for a little while after drinking, but overall the Goose IPA was an enjoyable beer.

Next up was Goose Island's Autumn Ale. Now, the last 4-5 months of the calendar year are my least favorite beer seasons. The cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, etc. all easily overpower beers, and the fall and winter beers tend to become major turnoffs for me. Add to this the fact the fall/pumpkin beers are being released seemingly earlier and earlier (mid-August? Really?), and I tend to really dislike the Fall and Winter beer seasons. If I had my way, the pumpkin beers could be released on September 15th, and not a damn day earlier!

Digression over.

Goose's Autumn was...pretty good! Hops play an unexpectedly strong role in this beer. Officially a red ale, that style of sweetness, perhaps merged with some of the spices listed above (or is it just my imagination?), is evident early, but eventually gives way to their own unique hop variety that provides a dank, piney push on the back end of the beer. The result is a nice balance for people like me who tend to be overwhelmed by the usual Fall seasonal. Goose Island has a couple of other Fall beers in their seasonal lineup, and I expect one of those may be the more common spice bomb that the industry is used to this time of year.

Plenty more beers from this long weekend, but this entry already got verbose. Check out 5 quickie reviews later this week.

AB-InBev Can't Stop Won't Stop

AB-InBev's assimilation of craft breweries continues, bringing a 5th such entity into its ranks. Golden Road Brewing, Los Angeles' largest craft brewery, will be joining Goose Island, Elysian, and others in AB-InBev's portfolio, with the deal expected to be completed by the end of the year. Brewbound first reported on and posted the press release about the acquisition early this afternoon. Like many of these acquisitions, it spurs an opportunity for Golden Road to utilize Anheuser-Busch's "incredible distribution network to bring our beers to more people”, according to Golden Road president and co-founder Meg Gill. For AB-InBev, it serves as another strong entry in their expanding craft beer portfolio.

Not much to say about this one, really. As mentioned previously, many craft beer enthusiasts were concerned about diminishing quality when AB-InBev began these acquisitions with Goose Island in 2011. To date, there doesn't really seem to be much of an indication of quality loss. So long as that pattern continues, there should be little cause for concern about this acquisition, and even hope that Golden Road's presumably quality selections can be enjoyed by a greater number of people in an expanded distribution network.

Beers in Review, weekend of 8/28: 4 and 1/3 beers

I've been a long-time fan of Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY). The availability ebbs and flows here in South Carolina. I find the Lager to be solid, and have heard very good things about Sorachi Ace, but the home run hitter for me was the Pennant Ale. I discovered one summer about 4 or 5 years ago, and literally couldn't stop buying it.

It had been a while since my last Brooklyn beer, but I found the Brooklyn Brown Ale at Pinch a few weekends ago, and remembered why I was a fan. I'm starting to move out of the brown/red ale phase a bit, but I found the Brooklyn Brown to be quite enjoyable. It contained a good amount of maltiness, which I enjoy (especially the roasted variety). Also a mild hoppyness which, for me, combined with a caramel sweetness. A nice balance and pretty smooth.

I call Boulder's Hazed and Infused (which is now simply known as "Hazed", no doubt a result of some cease-and-desist letter from Hollywood) a gateway beer for one wanted to start their journey towards the hoppyness of IPAs. This session pale ale has some evident hop notes, but puts a lot of the focus on a fresh, clean beer that combines with a peach or apricot sweetness. With those evident hop notes, but not much of the normally-accompanying bitterness, this "Hoppy Session Ale" was one of the first hoppy beers I tried and legitimately enjoyed. Hazed served to be a first step to my enjoyment of stronger and more bitter pale ales and IPAs.

The goal of this blog is not to diss the pale lager crowd, despite certain producers' disses of the craft beer industry (Pumpkin Peach Ales, anyone?). Regardless, the Miller Lite rep was in a local bar and bought everybody an aluminum bottle. I drank about a third of it. It was about what you'd expect.

Terrapin's Liquid Bliss is a damn tasty beer. Liquid Bliss is their chocolate peanut butter porter, with a good combination of both. I found the peanut butter to be prevalent in the aroma and the aftertaste, while the chocolate side seemed to dominate the in-mouth taste. Very tasty, but can be a bit overpowering if drank quickly--enjoy as a sipping beer, and you will be well-rewarded.

Swamp Cabbage is one of the newest breweries in Columbia's quickly-emerging local craft beer scene. Just over a year old, their ESB is one of the more commonly-found beers in Columbia's bars and restaurants. It's pretty clean, with a small amount of bitterness. Overall, a pretty solid ESB.

The Lagunitas-Heineken pairing...

Last fall, I got to spend close to a month in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on a work trip. I had only a few days off during the trip, but I made the most of them, playing tourist and enjoying the sights and sounds of Amsterdam. Even more important, of course, was the food and drink of Amsterdam. Frankly, this aspect of the trip was somewhat disappointing, as most restaurants in Amsterdam are fairly American-ized. I had a few of the local delicacies, such as bitterballen, which is an oddly-textured beef croquette. The food scene probably would have gone better if I had had more time to explore the guts of the city. I expect, given such an opportunity, the beer scene would NOT go much better.

With the exception of The Beer Temple, an honest-to-goodness American craft beer bar, the Amsterdam beer scene was similarly disappointing--an endless collection of pale lagers and weak dunkel-style dark beers. The beer scene is led, of course, by a titan of Dutch industry: Heineken.

As you are probably aware, Amsterdam has been home to Heineken for well over a century. While I would never cop to being a big Heineken fan, there certainly was the Guinness-in-Ireland sort of effect--whether a result of freshness, a question of who is producing it in the U.S., a mere illusion, or some other reason--the Heineken IN Amsterdam DOES taste better--a slight hint of sweetness early on that I never recalled tasting here in the States.

Regardless, based on my time in Amsterdam, and my general experience with the Heineken brand, I never expected to see "Heineken" and "American craft beer" cross paths.

Until now.

Earlier today, Heineken announced a 50% ownership stake in California's Lagunitas Brewing Company. This seems to be a bit of surprising announcement in the craft beer world, especially from a brewery that seemed to have a fairly singular presence in the pale/light lager category of beer. But according to today's announcement, Heineken is, indeed, seeking to change their reputation, claiming "Lagunitas provides HEINEKEN with the opportunity to build a strong foothold in the dynamic Craft Brewing category on a global scale, with the category growing in popularity almost everywhere now." The agreement utilizes Heineken's distribution and production resources (some 180 breweries) to expand Lagunitas' on a global scale, a reach that will only be furthered by the 2017 opening of their 3rd brewery in Azura, California (joining existing facilities in Petaluma, CA and Chicago, IL).

In a quote to the Santa Rosa/Sonoma County, CA Press Democrat, Lagunitas owner Tony Magee says the new union "would not change the soul of the...company or diminish the quality of its beers." History seems to support that statement. While some craft beer consumers continue to bemoan macrobreweries' continued acquisitions of microbreweries--such as AB InBev's purchase of Goose Island in Chicago, among others--there is no evidence that such acquisitions result in declines in craft beer quality. In fact, the AB Inbevs of the world acquire breweries because they want to ACQUIRE THAT CRAFT BEER QUALITY! A declining product would only be a waste of their investments. Now, part of continuing that quality is making sure you retain the people, and Magee and the Lagunitas work force are apparently going to remain. Thus, while keeping an eye on things, I see little reason to expect a loss of quality from Lagunitas' impressive beer line-up.

Though, it would be nice if Heineken made sure they didn't make ads bemoaning craft beers, like our friends at Bud Light did.