(sell outs?)

It probably comes as no surprise that the industrial beer manufacturers were none too thrilled with the boom of craft beers.  Nobody likes an upstart.  Still, they behaved in a more or less civilized way, simply buying up those breweries that they could and allowing those companies to produce their goods in a more controlled way, giving them more reliable product in terms of taste, color, aroma.  Some small beers jumped at the chance to use big money.  They saw it as an opportunity to increase their production, their quality, and even get more creative with the types of beers they were making.  Some entrepreneurs took it as a good time to bow out and try a new project.  Some try to hang on to the bitter end, promoting themselves as true artisans and their beers as examples of authentic craftsmanship.

Interestingly, Spanish industrial beer was not so dismissive of the appeal of craft beers - and this in a country were craft makes up less than 1% of beer consumption - and did their best to appeal to those tastes.  It may also be an appeal to some national nostalgia that worked in their favor as well.  Mahou began to put out signboards with the old fashioned "Casimiro Mahou & Hijos" in loopy curly-q font.  They also produced four "special" beers, labeled at first with street names in central Madrid, adding to their product line styles that were now firmly in the public consciousness as "craft".  Well, when people were aware of them at all.  Amaniel (lager), Jacometrezo (ale), Maravillas (strong lager) and Marcenado (wheat) featured old fashioned designs on the label and artistic looking bottles.  The brand was clearly looking to stimulate longing for days gone by, when life was simple etc, etc.  Representatives also appeared at fairs and festivals around the city to give lessons on pouring the perfect "caña" at the taps.  More than distinguish themselves from the craft beers, Mahou seemed to want to have a foot in their camp, while also maintaining a more modern image for the typical neighborhood bars.  The company put their money where their mouth was in another way: several American craft breweries were invested in, although not purchased outright, including Founders of Michigan and Avery of Colorado.  Founders in particular found this investment to be a great stepping stone to a European market, appearing in a number of bars and beer stores around Madrid, even hosting a beer festival in June of 2018.  The fruits of their collaboration are also found in the newest thing on Mahou's product list, a session IPA.

Spanish craft beers were also willing to step up to the next level.  Cervezas La Virgen was purchased by AB InBev in 2015, leading to more regular beers and an expansion in the types produced.  Cibeles was not completely purchased by Heineken, but 51% of the company now belongs to that multinational.  Cervezas La Sagra, a busy brewery with quite a number of products to its name even as a craft brewery, reached "an agreement" with Molson Coors in 2017 to get a bigger piece of the beer pie.

Despite the consolidation of some, there are still literally hundreds of craft breweries in Spain, many depending on collaboration with other breweries to actually make their recipes.  Not only that, but home brewing as a hobby has become a fairly normal activity, with clubs and courses not hard to come by.  Several of the beer stores, in particular La Birratorium, offer brewing ingredients as well as bottled and canned craft beer from all over the world.  It seems likely that there will always be room for the little guy at this point.