Southampton Bottling and Pabst Brewing Company have announced a strategic alliance that will expand the marketing and distributing of Southamptons ales and lagers.
This isn’t surprising as anyone familiar with Southampton has wondered when they’d try to "go national."
Kevin Kotecki, CEO of Pabst Brewing has said about the alliance, "Success in the craft industry today requires three key components: high-quality beers, a strong distribution network, and excellent marketing capabilities. This alliance combines all of these necessary elements. We are excited and energized by the prospect of working with a partner whose standards for quality and excellence are consistently recognized as world-class."
"The opportunity to distribute Southampton products to a wider base of consumers is something we have been interested in for quite some time," Southampton President Don Sullivan noted. "Pabst Brewing’s extensive sales and distribution network and its ability to provide superior marketing support ensures that our brands will have the ingredients for continued success."
Southampton’s brewmaster Phil Markowski will continue to oversee production of their current line of products. He will work closely with Pabst Brewing’s Robert Newman.
That is all well and good, but how many times have we seen terrific craft brews gobbled up by big brewers only to see the distinctive flavors disappear, resulting in watered down beers that are mere shadows of their former selves? I’m worried, but I guess we’ll see how this plays out.