L.A.’s Craft Brewers Are in a Huff About the Mayor’s World Series Bet
The Los Angeles craft beer community has a lot to be happy about these days—the city has become a craft beer destination after years of playing second fiddle to the likes of San Diego and San Francisco, and their native L.A. Dodgers are in the World Series, facing the Houston Astros. But there’s one thing rankling them at the moment: Their mayor’s beer-related bet with the mayor of Houston.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted the contents of his personal wager with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday, promising to deliver “a uniquely L.A. meal” if the Dodgers lost the series. Turner, in return, will send Houston BBQ and beer if the Dodgers win. But it’s the choice of brewery by Garcetti that is contentious: Golden Road Brewing, which was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015.
If the @Astros win the series, we will send over a uniquely L.A. meal from our friends at @KogiBBQ & @GoldenRoadBrew.
— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) October 25, 2017
Local craft beer fans and breweries did NOT take kindly to that choice, arguing that a brewery owned by a multinational, Belgian-based brewing conglomerate was hardly a proper representative of the city of L.A. In a community that now has more than 70 breweries either in operation or planning, practically any of the others would have made a better choice if Garcetti was looking to actually represent a locally owned business.
The response from the city’s brewers guild was pretty swift, although fairly cordial. “We’re not trying to pick on the mayor,” said Frances Lopez, executive director of the brewers guild, speaking to the L.A. Times. “We want to encourage people to support local businesses.”
You should let @LABrewers send the #beer vs. supporting a brewery that sold out to an international megacorp. #labeer#independentbeer
— Todd Alström (@ToddAlstrom) October 25, 2017