> My problem with this is from the deception; imagine if it turned out that Dogfish Head and Stone brewing were actually buying their beer from MillerCoors!
Kona Brewing has the vast majority of their beer brewed in facilities on the mainland. Many people buy the beer thinking it's a brewed in Hawaii beer, but realistically it's just brewed on the mainland according to Kona's specs.
With consolidation in the craft beer industry I'd only expect more of this sort of truthiness in the future.
Consolidation is a ways off. The large beer producers have acquired a few craft producers in the last few years, but the artisan beverage market will continue to grow in both number of firms and amount of production.
I think it will be at least another 10 years until we start seeing large craft brewers purchasing smaller craft brewers. This has already happened in coffee with Blue Bottle (venture backed) purchasing Tonx Coffee and Handsome Roasters. Artisan Coffee has had ~10 years of growth on Craft Beer.
Kona Brewing has the vast majority of their beer brewed in facilities on the mainland. Many people buy the beer thinking it's a brewed in Hawaii beer, but realistically it's just brewed on the mainland according to Kona's specs.
With consolidation in the craft beer industry I'd only expect more of this sort of truthiness in the future.