The sky is not falling and a look into the farmhouse

The social media fallout about Duvel's recent purchase of a controlling stake in Boulevard Brewing Company has been enormous and filled with fear and hurt. These feelings most likely stem from the loyalty to a hometown icon of the past nearly 25 years and the uncertainty of the future.

 I was very surprised by the news. I will admit that I was afraid. I didn't want one of my favorite beers to change. You hear of mergers and acquisitions, where the company was purchased just for the name and the rest being dismantled and discarded. That would be horrible!

However, I did some research approaching the subject with a business framework. I came up with some positives and negatives for the move by John McDonald.

Negatives?

• Does it suck that Boulevard sold from a Kansas City pride standpoint?
  • Yes, but not for John McDonald. He got his American dream. He got paid very well for all of his hard work, and now can spend time with his family.
    
• Does it suck that Boulevard is no longer wholly domestically owned?
  • Yes, but that is more a pride issue where you should be more proud of the accomplishment.

Positives?

• Should I be scared that the quality of Boulevard beer will decline?
  • No. I don't need to worry because historically Duvel, while acquiring similar craft breweries, has kept them in intact, but more on that later. The really exciting part is that Duvel will give Boulevard an influx of cash allowing the brewery to make more of my favorite beer and then open established distribution lines allowing me to have my favorite beer in New York, California, Florida, and eventually internationally.
    
• Should I be worried that Duvel will move Boulevard operations out of Kansas City?
  • No. In fact the owner of Duvel is eyeing Kansas City as the center for company operations in the US. This could be interesting for me as it might provide me an opportunity to one day work in the brewing industry.

There are quite a few of positives and very few negatives for this transaction for everyone involved, but I will let you do some additional reading from the Kansas City Business Journal.

If you still feel the Boulevard sale is bad thing here is some reading from the magazine Esquire.

One of the domestic breweries that Duvel had previously acquired is Ommegang Brewery out of Cooperstown, New York. I recently picked up a bottle of their Hennepin Farmhouse Saison. I wanted to see the quality of the beer to help assuage my fears of declining quality for Boulevard.

For those who aren't familiar with a farmhouse ale or a saison beer, this is a beer that used to be made in 19th Belgium and France as a refreshing drink for farm workers during the heat of the summer. During this time the alcohol content was around 3.5%. Over the next couple of centuries that alcohol content has more than doubled in most farmhouse ales.

Ommegang's Hennepin is a very crisp beer which slight different from other farmhouse ales. You can taste the citrus flavors and I would consider this a hoppy beer, but not in your face like an IPA. This 7.7% beer is very similar to Boulevard's Tank 7. I would definitely suggest this beer for anyone wanting to try something new.

I would give this beer a 7 out of 10.

Have a night and go try something new!