SABMiller doesn't gain a foothold in anything. They have already said that they intend to destroy how Meantime made their product by turning them into a corporate clone.

Corporations are the Borg, assimilating everything in their path.

...whether or not ratioing production up is going to ruin the beer is something that only time will tell. I'm always hearing complaints from fellow beer geeks that Thornbridge Jaipur hasn't been the same since they started making it at their big shiny new brewery.

But yes, many beer geeks will now be turning their back on Meantime beers as they won't be considered "craft" enough compared to the likes of Kernel or Beavertown.

Personally I only ever found 1 of their beers that I liked, and even then I still thought that it would have been even better if it was served on cask and not keg.

But even if they didn't increase production, move them to a new gleaming, highly automated, mass manufacturing facility, they would be changing the nature of the company. They can't help it, a corporation forces their will on an acquisition.

There is a saying about competitive chile cooking : "Anyone can make your recipe, no one can make your chile." SABMiller will take Meantime's recipes, scale them up, make some substitutions to make it cheaper (they can't help it) and brew it in submarine sized hunk of stainless steel. The only thing that is certain is that it won't be the same, and it won't be a craft beer.

SABMiller gets a foothold in the craft beer market only as far as their mass marketing convinces people that they do.

...Beer geeks have a habit of automatically turning against any beer that's seen as being too corporate.

Just look at Doom Bar since Molson Coors took over Sharps Brewery. I haven't noticed any change in the beer, but since Molson Coors came in beer geeks have suddenly been queuing up to pour scorn on the stuff as the epitome of "boring brown malty bitter".

Big breweries simply cannot duplicate for mass consumption a beer that is made in small batches with an original recipe. It's possible in theory but has never occurred. Even if a big brewery made a product equivalent to a craft beer, I would still reject it in favor of a true craft beer because big breweries produce piss water generally and I do not support them.

even something retro like a Budweiser will hit the spot...

Or not...