Monday I wondered about the difference between selling and selling out.
Today, there is a bit of news about Little Lion World Beverages buying Bell’s Brewery. Or as a Kalamazoo radio station put it, “Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Brewery to merge with Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing.”
I do not have great insight into “what does this mean?” Clearly, much will be made of it. Good Beer Hunting’s story points out that Bell’s Facebook page indicates all of its locations will be closed today (Nov. 10) and tomorrow to allow staff to “reflect on the past year and talk about what’s ahead.” Keeping it simple, it looks more like selling to me than selling out.
Expect to read many stories in the next few days about how the small brewery business was different when Larry Bell (pictured above at the brewery in 1994) and others were getting started. More than one will involve post-GABF parties and bathtubs.
Instead, on a personal note, when our family was traveling the country in an RV in 2008 and 2009 we slept in the parking lot of Bell’s production brewery outside of Kalamazoo. I might have stayed up late making phone calls that began, “Guess where we are.”
I’m sure that was a heckuva road trip with the fam Stan.