Justin Wilson wrote:
Other examples of the death of beers due to "contract brewing" Pete's Wicked
Ale, Bert Grant's, Redhook.


How so? "Pete's" was always a contract-brewed beer with no brewery
(tho' lots of rumors up until it's sale to Gambrinus)- altho' the
brewing company making the beer has changed often over the years, as
have the recipes and beers (currently coming out of Matts). For a time
there, "Pete" was giving Jim Koch's BBC a run for the money using their
"Business Model" but sure seemed to collapse rather quickly...

Seems to me that the failure of Bert Grant's was the incompetence of the
new owner(s)- being on the East Coast I never followed the beer that
much in later years so don't know if it was ever contract brewed (it
often sat around too long to be worth bothering with- I still see the
IPA on the shelves...).

Redhook built a new brewery in NH and coincidentally was later purchased
in part by A-B (which also coincidentally had a NH brewery) but they've
always brewed the beers in their own facility AFAIK.

Now, if you broaden the subject to beers that have changed for the worse
by moving the brewing to a different site and/or different owner- well,
that list is endless and still growing...