Skinny Goose

Last week I was watching Good Morning America, watching may be a strong word, GMA was on the television and I was doing something on the laptop. Bethenny from one of those Housewives shows was the guest and she was talking about her Skinny Girl line of liquors. I paid some attention to this because coincidentally Stella had brought home a bottle of Skinny Girl Margarita the night before. I'd heard of the brand but didn't know it had anything to do with Bethenny. When she was asked why she sold it she said the "skinny" liquor thing was getting stolen left and right and in order to for her brand to come out on top she had to sell to someone big and she found the biggest baddest liquor company and sold to them. I thought to myself and actually mentioned to Stella yesterday that her move made perfect sense but wouldn't happen in the beer world because it wouldn't be "cool" for right or wrong.

So imagine my surprise when I heard the news that Goose Island was selling to AB InBev. My Twitter feed was filled with anger, disappointment and with the exception of Mike from StL Hops everyone was proclaiming they were done with Goose Island. I don't get this. I don't drink beer because it comes from a small brewery or because the brewery's family owned. I drink it because it tastes good. When that changes for a certain beer, I'll quit drinking it. When Goose Island Sofie no longer dances on my tongue exciting my taste buds, I'll quit drinking it.

What this merger or acquisition will do, however, is allow Goose Island to brew more beer. Maybe now Night Stalker won't be so hard to find. Maybe they can unretire Nut Brown Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Maybe they can brew even more great Belgian beers which haven't been beermagined yet, I mean, after all, they're part of a Belgian company now, may as well dance with the one that brung ya.

So while you're hand washing your 8 different kinds of beer glasses and drinking a beer you traded for on the Internet maybe you can look at the bright side of this. Good beer will be available to more people. You don't have to drink it anymore if it doesn't make you feel cool anymore. Maybe, just maybe, this will bring more people to better beer which can only benefit those breweries you think are still cool. Like Bethenny the owners of Goose just wanted to reach more people. This was the best way for them. As long as Sofie still tastes good, I'll keep drinking it.