Padre Fail

Gee, it is crap on Stone Brewing week (pun intended).  Today's San Diego Union Tribune's buiness section's front page has a headline blaring:  "At Petco, A Loss for Stone, Wins for AleSmith, Resident and Anheuser-Busch."  The headline does not seem to fully match the article.  Padre management decided to replace Stone Brewing's beer garden with some other pub concept.  You can still get Stone beers throughout Petco.   AleSmith's fantastic .394 Pale Ale, a beer brewed with Tony Gwynn, is the key beer in a new place called .394.  Good for AleSmith.  Local brewery Resident, gets a shot at the pub replacing the Stone beer garden, "for now" as the article warns. (If Resident can't keep up the Padres will replace it with that refreshing, kinda crafty Shock Top beer that comes with an orange slice.)  Come on Resident, deliver.

The big story of the article is Aneheuser-Busch dominating Petco's beer sales.  A-B's former craft breweries Elysian and 10 Barrel gets their own stands, and its Grupo Modelo unit is selling Michelada Especiales, in carts around Petco.  How much money did A-B pay the Padres to increase its exposure?  This is comes at the expense of local brewers.  In solidarity with Stone, I will drink Stone beers at home as I watch the triple-A Padres lose to major league teams.  The news about A-B's takeover of Petco's beer and yesterday's embarrassing opening day loss shows the misguided priorities of the Padre's bush league management.