Goose Island Founder Writes Op-Ed Explaining A-B Sale

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 3, 2011 8:20PM

"If my local brewery in Chicago one day told me, 'We're selling out,' I'd feel worse than I felt when Macy's bought Marshall Field's."

So begins Goose Island founder John Hall's op-ed in today's Tribune explaining his company's decision to sell to InBev/Anheuser-Busch last week for $38.8 million. Hall goes the extra length in the space he's given to accentuate the positives of the deal and reinforce his position that, while A-B may now own Goose Island, he'll still be the one calling the shots. Hall also takes some time to praise his son and outgoing brewmaster, Greg, as one of the reasons Goose has been successful.

"A lot of people, including those at Anheuser-Busch, think Greg is the most innovative person in American brewing. Everybody wishes that he would have continued with Goose Island, but he wants to do exactly what I did when I was his age, 45. He's going off and trying to do something on his own, and he's got the ability to do it now."

Meanwhile, for those of you who have already started looking at your other local beer options, the Tribune also ran a very interesting article that confirms what we and others around town have already known, that craft beer is a booming business locally, with breweries like Half Acre, Three Floyds, Revolution and Two Brothers struggling to keep up with demand. For those of you who have sworn off Goose Island since the announcement of the A-B sale, you might want to read the words of Revolution's Josh Deth in this piece. Deth is as sharp as they come and, with Revolution set to open a separate production facility early next year, he sees the Goose Island deal as one way of expanding his own business.

"We're following the Goose Island model of growth; I don't mind saying that," said owner Josh Deth, 36, who worked as a Goose Island brewer in the late 1990s.

Copying the Goose Island model might also include a similar exit strategy, somewhere down the road.

"I want to retire someday too," Deth said.