Apparently microbrews are out of fashion now and "nanobrews" are the new thing where only a couple cases or kegs are made in any one batch. I also know a lot more people being their own beer.
I knew Lagunitas got too big though when I saw them in supermarkets in Boston and Europe. At that point you're just a brewery.
I fail to discern the difference. If the beer quality remains higher than the draft swill the major brewers have offered years, what does it matter that they've developed new markets?
Putting that aside, though, there may be reasons why it matters. Scaling up production while maintaining quality and consistency is actually very difficult. You simply can't stock supermarkets across the country using small-batch brewing methods, so it's inherently a sign that they've moved away from what made them good. Even if they're still much better than the "swill", they're probably no longer the best thing you could be drinking and it's time to search for a new favorite.
The existing craft beer community seems to have a big element of fashion to it.
I have a social circle of friends who are very into craft beer. I have seen them throw out beer they had already purchased just because a brewery had sold to a big brewer like InBev.
At first I thought it was an ethical boycott like boycotting Nestle. After talking to them I found out it was solely because they were cool anymore and they didn't want to be seen associated with the brand.
The exact quote I heard was "I don't want to be caught drinking anything someone in college knows about"
Seems similar to the scene among some heavy metal fans, where if a song wasn't recorded in an outhouse in Finland somewhere, by musicians nobody ever heard of, using instruments nobody ever heard of, then it's "commercial crap". It's almost funny to hear some of these guys talk...
I knew Lagunitas got too big though when I saw them in supermarkets in Boston and Europe. At that point you're just a brewery.