from the now-hold-your-horses-a-minute dept.
Asahi Breweries, Ltd. has paid nearly 10 billion euros in 2016 to buy European beer brands owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV:
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy SABMiller Plc's central and eastern European assets from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV for 7.3 billion euros ($7.8 billion), in a move that catapults Japan's largest brewer to third place on the continent.
Asahi expects the acquisition -- which spans five countries and includes beer brands such as Pilsner Urquell, Kozel and Tyskie -- to close in the first half of 2017, the Tokyo-based brewer said in a statement Tuesday. The deal would help Asahi position its overseas business as a growth engine to transform itself into a global powerhouse, it said.
The deal further strengthens Asahi's foothold in Europe after the Japanese brewer agreed to pay 2.55 billion euros for AB InBev's Peroni and Grolsch brands earlier this year. For AB InBev, the divestment brings it a step closer to meeting the antitrust commitments that allowed it to buy SABMiller for about $100 billion.
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Mexican craft beer: Coming from south of the border for your taste buds
While overall U.S. beer industry sales remain flat, Americans' thirst for craft beer continues to grow and Mexican beers such as Corona Extra and Modelo Especial have unquenched market appeal. Could craft beer made by Mexican brewmasters be the next big beverage trend in the U.S.? A trio of former Anheuser-Busch executives and a Mexican entrepreneur are betting on it with a new venture, Quest Beverage. The company has already introduced four beers into Houston and St. Louis and throughout Missouri, and the beers are now hitting markets in California, Illinois and Texas.
The beers currently being imported are a citrusy Crossover IPA and crisp Blonde Ale from Cerveza Urbana, based in Mexicali, Mexico, and a light, dry Kölsch ale and a malty, mildly bitter London-style ale from Monterrey, Mexico's Cerveza Rrëy.
A trio of trends points to potential success:
• A growing Hispanic population in the U.S. now makes up 18 percent of Americans.
• Mexican imports are hot. Corona Extra and Modelo Especial each owned 5 percent of the retail market last year, according to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. Modelo Especial sales rose 18 percent, dollar-wise, from 2017.
• Growth in craft beer, brewed by small, independent breweries, has slowed, but its share of the overall $111 billion-plus U.S. beer industry is expected to increase beyond the 23.4 percent it captured in 2017, according to the Brewers Association.
Related: Congress May Lower Beer Taxes, Sam Adams Could Cease to be "Craft Beer"
Kettle Souring Makes Sour Beers on the Cheap
Playing Small is Okay, Says Judge in "Craft Beer" Case
Asahi Buys SABMiller's Eastern European Beers for $7.8 Billion
Kelp in Craft Beer
(Score: 5, Informative) by FatPhil on Thursday December 15 2016, @03:16PM
E.g. in 2000, in the UK, Carling, Worthington, and Bass all used to be owned by the same company (Bass Charington), but upon sale to Belgian Interbrew (the "In" in "InBev"), it had to ditch many of its brands (it kept Bass, probably the most historically prestigous one).
E.g. in 2008, around Europe, Hartwall (FI), Baltika (RU), Fosters (UK), and Kronenbourg (FR) were all owned by Scottish and Newcastle, but when a consortium of Heineken and Carlsberg wanted to do a Molotov-Ribentrop on their ass, those brands ended up being flung left and right until neither dictator had so much of a particular market that regulators would had any further complaints.
All you have to remember is that with all of these *brands*, it's not about beer any more.
(OK, One exception, the Urquell Brewery tour is 100% worth going on, just so you can try live, unfiltered (and cloudy), wood-tunn-matured pilsner, that's the beer that permits the head brewer to get a good night's sleep. The restaurant next to the brewery also sells it from tap, but I've not had it there.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday December 15 2016, @04:18PM
"All you have to remember is that with all of these *brands*, it's not about beer any more."
This. And it's true in just about every branch of industry, especially as you head towards luxury items. It's not uncommon for companies to have more people in marketing than in production. "Building the brand" is far more important than "improving the product".
Makes me crazy, but this seems to be modern life...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Thursday December 15 2016, @04:36PM
Sometimes "improving the product" is breaking what works. See New Coke, etc.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 15 2016, @05:28PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 15 2016, @05:37PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:49PM
Urquell Brewery? Is that the one where the brewer opens the fermentation vessel, stares at it, and goes "Did Ah brew tha-yat?" and gigglesnorts?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:30PM
In the US, if these mega-corporations didn't have such a cozy relationship with the distributors, I wouldn't care so much. There are ups and downs, of course. It is nice to get a beer that you've always heard about but never had because it was from a craft brewery on the other side of the country, which was made possible because they were bought by InBev-AB-SABMiller-(fill in the blank) and are now part of their distribution network. But, that comes at the expense of forcibly keeping stuff you should be able to get off of the shelves because of sweetheart deals or old fashioned strong-arming the sellers.
Support your local brewery!
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Friday December 16 2016, @11:45PM
Unless you live in Germany. Just head over to any gas station and pick up whatever local beer there is. We are getting craft beers here in the US now, but almost all beers in Germany are locally produced. Sure you could buy Becks, but why when there is Parkbrau Helles Export brewed right down the street?
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday December 17 2016, @12:13PM
And your complacency about german breweries is misplaced - Germany has lost *hundreds* of independent small breweries in recent decades.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @04:09PM
running MS Excel and Powerpoint.
That's how we got to $7.8 billion.