This wasn't exactly a surprise, although it wasn't exactly something I expected either.
Many have cried in outrage. However, I don't feel it is our place to tell somebody how to run their business. If they wish to sell, more power to them and I wish all employees who choose to stay, the very best.
As a fellow beer writer Lew Bryson put it, consumers have a decision to make. Fish or cut bait. Do you buy an ownership or a beer? Will you no longer buy Wicked Weed beers because of their new ownership? Or will you continue to buy them despite their new ownership?
If the support of small and independent breweries is important to you, as it is to me, then one must wonder if AB-InBev realizes this could backfire on them greatly or it could be genius. Though it is a crowded market at the moment for the breweries themselves, it is a great time for consumers. There are so many choices out there for all of us. We have the luxury of choosing to support an independent brewery or not.