Big breweries muscle in on the micro scene

“Near beer” is a new kind of sparkling low-alcohol water drink that sounds like it’s been made in a land far, far away from anything that tastes good.

Interestingly, AB InBev, the owner of Budweiser, has decided they need more “near beers” to complement their flagship lager and rejuvenate their stature in the beverage market.

It’s all part of their $2 billion drive to shake things up and tackle the growth of craft beer – in a large part by buying up microbreweries.

The North Carolina Wicked Weed group is the latest small brewery to be bought by the mammoth drinks group and is their 10th craft brewery acquisition in the US.

Lagunitas, another well-established US microbrewery whose beers seem to be appearing more and more on the shelves and taps in this part of the world, is now fully owned by the Heineken group.

On the European scene, Scotland’s “punk” Brewdog last month announced that a private equity firm had bought a 22 per cent stake in the company.

London brewery Camden Town was bought out by AB InBev in 2015 (Brewdog, at the time, said they would stop stocking them in their bars following the move).

In Ireland, Franciscan Well was one of the first Irish craft breweries to draw interest from the macro sector and was bought out by Molson Coors in 2013. Last month Hijos de Rivera (owners of the Estrella brand) bought a 32 per cent stake in O’Hara’s, one of Ireland’s oldest microbreweries.

By the way things have been looking recently, big breweries are going to continue to muscle in on the micro scene.

In a way, their growing interest has solidified craft beer’s place in the market – officially it’s not a fad (and never really was).

Yes, craft beer is here to stay – though who owns or makes your favourite pint is worth keeping an eye on.

@ITbeerista

beerista@irishtimes.com