The world’s largest brewing company has struck ‘down under’ and purchased Pirate Life Brewing which was recently voted as Australia’s best craft brewery in Beer Cartel’s 2017 Australian Craft Beer Survey.
Different continent, same ‘Big Beer buys promising craft brewery’ story….And although AB InBev may have slowed their US craft beer buying spree (or at least put it on hold for the moment) clearly they’ve shifted their international beer acquisition strategy into high gear
The Belgian-based global beer conglomerate took control a number of Aussie brands last year, under the Carlton & United Breweries umbrella — which includes the Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draft, Pure Blonde and Great Northern brands.
And this acquisition comes just two months after AB InBev bought Sydney craft beer company, 4 Pines, which was their first true craft play ‘down under.’
Founded by Jack Cameron and Jared Proudfoot in 2104, the Adelaide-based Pirate Life took hold fast and the brewery struggled to keep up with consumer demand almost immediately …
In their announcement Pirate Life co- founder, Jack Cameron, said all the right things of course… that the new partnership ”would help them share great quality beer with more people and focus on their brand, people and customers by providing team Pirate Life with new facilities and expertise.”
And again just as with all these acquisitions, everybody’s ecstatic, while terms of deal remain undisclosed…
And as usual it’s all about the money (and distribution).
Pirate Life made this deal to increase capital (obviously) to up their capacity (AB InBev has already committed a cool $10 million to fund a new brewery) and to benefit from the global giant’s considerable distribution infrastructure (which might eventually even reach into the lucrative Asian sphere).
In the end that’s essentially why all these acquisitions happen…just sayin.’
But there’s no denying that this is a big ‘get’ for AB InBev…And given how hot craft beer is currently in Australia, we expect that it won’t be their last either.