Another Brick In The Wall – AB InBev Now Pushing It’s Craft Beer Properties To Homebrewers

, Another Brick In The Wall – AB InBev Now Pushing It’s Craft Beer Properties To HomebrewersAB InBev is a lot of things, some things we admire and other things we reject…But one thing’s for sure, they aren’t stupid.

The world’s largest brewing company didn’t spend millions of dollars scooping up craft beer properties like Asheville North Carolina’s Wicked Weed without a masterplan.

And it didn’t purchase the country’s largest homebrew supplier, Northern Brewer, because it needed a hobby.

Intertwining and maximizing these acquisition’s is clearly part of AB InBev’s overall strategy so it should be no surprise Northern Brewer is now marketing homebrewing recipes from their craft beer properties Goose Island Brewing, Elysian Brewing, and Golden Road Brewing.  

The Motley Fool reports these are “the very same recipes you would get if you bought the beer at the store or in a taproom.”

But more importantly this new initiative is clearly part of AB InBev’s ongoing effort to dilute the distinction between mass-brewed and craft beer as defined by the Brewer’s Association, and to extend that strategy into the homebrewing arena.

Like the many brewers who came into the industry as homebrewers first, a lot of craft beer fans begin their journey into full-on craft geekdom as homebrewing hobbyists.

One of AB InBev’s strategies to legitimize it’s many crafty properties as authentic, and not just subsidiaries of a global beer entity, is to indoctrinate its craft beer newbies early…

And co-branding your breweries by offering their recipes on the nation’s leading home brewing supply internet platform, as AB InBev now does…certainly furthers that effort., Another Brick In The Wall – AB InBev Now Pushing It’s Craft Beer Properties To Homebrewers

As Motley Fool analyst, Rich Duprey succinctly writes…

‘Home brewing is a fragmented industry, and though it’s the biggest, Northern Brewer accounted for just 6% of the industry’s approximately $764 million in annual sales. By buying its way into the field, Anheuser-Busch ingratiates itself into the growth end of the beer market, and home brewing is of particular note because it is where many, if not most craft brewers, got their start.”

Which brings us again to AB InBev’s recent partial purchase of RateBeer, a leading beer-ranking site and a popular destination for many serious craft beer enthusiasts.

Nothing to see there either…right?

 

 

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