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Anheuser-Busch InBev has been in the news a lot lately. Both adding to its growing family of crafty beer properties and pissing off craft brewers with aggressive marketing moves.
Here’s the deal…
There’s no doubt that news that Anheuser-Busch InBev had made an estimated US$321 million deal to purchase the rest of Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) was a big deal.
It was an unexpected U-turn by Anheuser-Busch that surprised many industry analysts who assumed that when the company passed on the opportunity to acquire the family of craft brewers last August, it was signaling that it was moving away from the craft beer acquisition game.
After all, even though craft beer sales have continued to buck the beer market trend, volume growth has been slowing, up just 3.9% last year.
And the brewing giant’s own craft brew portfolio is facing challenges. AB InBev’s 11 crafty brands grew sales just 1% last year, and sales of its two biggest brands, Goose Island and Shock Top, declined by 7% and 23% respectively, according to Brewers Association.
So yes, Monday’s announcement confirmed that Anheuser-Busch still wants in on the American craft beer market. And two recent regional incidents proved that the brewing giant was stepping up its challenges to craft beer competitors as well.
Karbach Brewing, which was purchased by Anheuser- Busch InBev in 2016, recently took direct aim at the Spoetzl Brewery’s best-selling beer by putting up billboards around Shiner Texas hyping its own Karbach Bock and announcing that there was a “new Bock in Shiner.”
And on Tuesday, Oregon’s Flat Tail Brewing called out 10 Barrel Brewing, which Anheuser-Busch acquired in 2014, taking issue with the Bend, Oregon-based brewery’s use of the slogan “Dam Good Beer,” a tagline that Flat Tail brewmaster and co-owner, Dave Marliave, says they’ve used for almost a decade.
(Courtesy of Dave Marliave- Flat Tail Brewing)
In a series of Instagram posts, Flat Tail accused 10 Barrel of not only stealing its slogan, but for escalating things by driving a semi-truck painted with the slogan outside its brewpub.
This from Flat Tails Instagram post…..
Marliave also posted a photo of the Flat Tail team giving 10 Barrel Brewing the finger while proudly displaying the catchphrase on a banner.
(Courtesy Flat Tail / Instagram)
