There’s a quote above the bar at Temescal bar Hog’s Apothecary: “Beer carried quietly three miles is better than one shot across three thousand on a fast freight.”

Food critic MFK Fisher composed those words in 1942, though they serve as something of a manifesto for the staff of Hog’s Apothecary, which only carries brewery-direct beer, with an emphasis on local craft breweries.

But just being local isn't enough, said bartender Josh Hill. “We don’t carry Lagunitas because it’s owned by Heineken."

Since Hog’s Apothecary opened in September 2013, Hill has worked as beer director, dishwasher, general manager and now as a bartender. He's lived in the same Temescal apartment for fourteen years, “back when this was still Mosswood."

Hill told Hoodline that he's deeply skeptical of the proposed Golden Road beer garden, a new spot slated to occupy seven shipping containers in a parking lot at 40th and Broadway, just behind butchery/restaurant Clove and Hoof, and catty-corner from Hog’s Apothecary.

Though brewed in California, Golden Road was acquired in 2015 by InBev, a multinational conglomerate owned and operated by Anheuser-Busch. Having the world’s largest brewing company set up shop would be a major departure for a neighborhood known for supporting small and independent businesses.

“The thing that made Temescal Temescal were locally-owned small businesses owned by people that are interested in quality food with a soul,” said Hill.

Hill notes that there are already breweries or other beer dispensaries anchoring three of Temescal’s four corners, with another, Rose’s Taproom, in the pipeline. By his reckoning, the neighborhood is already saturated with beer.

“I don’t think that we need another beer garden,” he said. “I certainly don’t think that we need a corporate beer garden.”

At nearby Temescal Brewing, owner Sam Gilbert affirmed the tradition of local excellence. “We're committed to being an extraordinary neighborhood brewery above all else,” he said via email.

Also an Oakland resident, Gilbert lives five minutes away from his business and echoed many of Hill's statements about what makes the beer business—and Temescal—special.

“Golden Road will not be harmful to our business in the short term,” he wrote, “[but] their Temescal project is part of a larger, deliberate attack on local, independent beer by a multinational beer conglomerate that does not share the values of us or our customers.”

Golden Road's owner, Meg Gill, hosted a meet-and-greet in May with residents to discuss concerns for the neighborhood and to lay out her own vision for Golden Road.

Gill, who used to work at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, told East Bay Express that Anheuser-Busch wouldn't be involved with Golden Road's day-to-day operations.

"This isn’t, like, a stake in the ground," she said. "There’s no market-share grab."

Besides owning and operating a brewery, she also hosts Beerland, a program run by Vice News. In each episode, Gill travels the country to meet with homebrewers, taste their brews, and offer one a chance to join Golden Road.

For many local brewers, Golden Road represents the gentrification of the independent beer scene, with large multi-national companies buying up small mom-and-pop style operations and running them so as to appear independent.

This is the sticking point for Temescal's existing brew houses. Even if Golden Road makes an excellent beer, financially, it operates little differently from the large multi-national corporation that owns it.

"It's extractive," said Hill. For Hog’s Apothecary, Temescal Brewing, and many other neighborhood businesses, money earned locally is spent locally.

Hill said he changes the beer selection weekly at Hog’s Apothecary so he can introduce customers to new brews carried quietly from a short distance away.

“We’re not looking for name recognition,” said Hill, “and that’s the only thing those guys have.”