1. From the standpoint of your average, youthful consumer -or member of 'Surly Nation'- Surly is an unlikely
candidate for sale.They are doing what appears to be -phenomenal- business! But in fact, they have faced
challenges in the past two years, particularly in the areas of Quality Control (brewing and packaging) and
transitioning to the new canning line in their new 'Destination Brewery'. Nobody speaks about these challenges
in the hobby without risk of being ostracized by their fellow hobbyist peers, but in the trade it is wellrecognized.Surly's plan was a massive, $30 million + undertaking which hasn't yet paid for itself, and the
challenges are not helping them to pay off that debt.To think that the owners wouldn't consider selling one of
the most talked about Craft Breweries in the country when so many similar Craft Era breweries (Ballast Point,
Elysian, Blue Point -- many others) have made high-profile moves is naive. There is for instance --just this week-talk of a buyout of New Belgium Brewing. Surly for that reason at the top of the list. 2. Summit is up there, too.
They've recently hired a QC and branding expert who in the past has worked with all of the biggest Craft Era
breweries, including Boston Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. I can't imagine that Summit would
do this unless they planned to add a handful of new states to their master distribution plan. They are likewise
nowhere near their last large scale capital improvement plan ($6 million) which added both canning and
barrelage to their brewery, and they are nowhere near their total estimated 250,000 BBl/Y brewing capacity, at
present.Summit has also lost placement at retail (coldbox) and on-sale (draught) in their home market of
Minneapolis/St. Paul. There frankly too many total brands and breweries in this market --over 10,000-- and
Summit either expands nationally or loses momentum. 3. Lift Bridge has taken a long time to mature, but has a
larger-than True Micro brewing capacity at their Stillwater brewery. While they have a handful of vocal
supporters within the local industry (especially at wholesale), their small-yet-vocal minority of supporters amongst
the hobbyists is not enough to drive brand recognition among the thousands of newly-legal drinkers who have
been funneled into the Craft Beer segment in recent years.Likewise, their taproom and brewery in Stillwater is too
far removed from the downtown core, and especially the above-identified, core demographic of newly-legal and
Millennial-aged drinkers who ordinarily flock to northeast Minneapolis' "Brewery District", and I have heard from
other reliable sources in the local industry that they have been treading water (financially) in recent years, having
lost a lot of name-brand-recognition and local market momentum to other local Microbreweries -- principally
Indeed and Bauhaus, but also Bent Paddle (Duluth) and Castle Danger (Two Harbors). 4. Fulton matured very
quickly early on, but is feeling the same pinch as Summit, in that there is too much new competition, especially on
draught.Aside from a very typical (I.P.A.) flagship and several specialty seasonal brands, Fulton has not made as
much headway in the market as they would have liked to -- especially in light of their larger-scale, new brewery.
They have lost just as much presence and recognition in the local market as Lift Bridge has, despite an even larger
capital investment in their new, northeast Minneapolis packaging facility (canning line). --Other Breweries--I won't
mention a number of the new, True Microbreweries (612, Insight, Lake Monster, etc) as they have either
implemented much needed improvements (larger tanks, new packaging lines) within the past year or will be
doing so within the coming year.I will, however, add this one which is very much under-the-radar for a couple of
reasons: North LoopBrewCo. Formerly known as Lucid Brewing, this six year-old company is out of cash after the
purchase of American Sky/Hudson Brewing Co. and their "InBound BrewCo." plan in the North Loop (former
Warehouse District) of Minneapolis).They also have a legal challenge in that they have been issued a cease and
desist order (unknown to most beer hobbyists) by Northbound, Insight, and other new, True Microbreweries,
Brewpubs, and Taprooms. North Loop BrewCo. owns InBound