South American breweries and independence

Ownership.

 

I have a few beers from Chili coming my way soon, so I am told. Hope they are interesting.

Enjoy

 

Chili is soup.

 

Got some from Basil en route

 

Ummmmm, All breweries are commercial.

Some are privately owned, meaning by a handful of individuals
Some are publically ownec, meaning shares trade on a public stock exchange.
Some are financed by venture capital, meaning there are private investors
Some are owned wholly or partially by larger companies.

But all are commercial.

Except for home brewers that do not sell their beer.

An international brewery is any brewery that sells its product in more the one country.

So I suppose an international independent brewery would be one that sells its beers in multiple countries, and is owned by a limited numbers of partners, that does not except venture capital, public funding, or larger company's investment.

 

Toña is owned by a big brewer in Nicaragua, but they are independent of the huge multinationals like InBev, Heineken, SAB, what-have-you. That independence doesn't guarantee good beer, though

 

I am guessing those will far exceed the $1 price point.

 

Actually they will be free. I fully appreciate your worry though.

Enjoy

 

Hmmm... I don't know about that - I'd say a truly "International" brewing company is one that owns (or has partial investment in) breweries in more than one country. Does simply exporting beer outside their home country make breweries truly "international"?

Some small breweries, here and aboard, likely just sell their beer in their home country to a outside firm that then (by contract) exports it. Would every small Belgian, UK, German or other country of origin brewer that sells beer to US importers like B. United, Shelton Bros or even TBS become "international" simply because of that deal? Even ones with a significant percentage of their annual barrelage exported?

I guess one could say that certain brewers (say, from BBC in the US, Moosehead in Canada, Coopers in Australia or Fuller in the UK - down to the tiny ones) are national brewers with an international market and/or brand(s).

 

Yes, I would agree that this definition should be included in the definition of an international brewing company.

One of the primary reasons to contract with exporters is to avoid having to deal with the local laws and regulations in each company, while still gaining access to that market.

So I do think of small Belgian, UK and German breweries that distribute internationally are internal breweries.

But I also agree this is a grey area that reasonable people could disagree on.

Clearly, brewers with a whole or partial owned footprint in multiple countries should be considered international brewers. One example that comes to mind is Stone.