It’s been a year of intrigue and plot twists—multimillion dollar deals begat billion dollar deals, while a half-dozen or more transactions constantly swirl in the rumor mill.
A look at the beer industry post-2015, the year that Big Beer acquired successful craft breweries left and right and infused mind-boggling amounts of money into the business. Their plan? Buy more shelf space.
Many craft breweries are cults of personality. But when these icons eventually fade, we’re left with the next generation to think about, as the brewery must go on. Craft brewing has always been a business.
American brewers win at European awards; wild hop variety makes commercial beer debut; SweetWater to build West Coast brewery; Wynkoop revives Beer Drinker of the Year awards; Bill Siebel passes away at 69; and Constellation Brands to acquire Ballast Point.
Anheuser-Bush Acquires 10 Barrel Brewing; New App Aims to Catalog Every Beer in the US; Beer Bar Files Suit Against Florida Growler Ban; and Green Flash Brewing Acquires Alpine Beer Co.
Consolidation is a natural byproduct of a maturing industry. It’s an inevitable part of the life cycle in nearly every field of business. You don’t have to like it, but you’d better get used to it.
Will Straub’s returnable bottles get canned?; Independent Brewers United acquired by North American Breweries; no Christmas this year for Goose Island; and Sierra Nevada teaming up with Trappist monks.
One problem with global and personal expansion is that each is based on an optimistic set of assumptions that perpetual growth is both realistic and beneficial.
