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Is the nation’s largest beer company on its way to becoming America’s largest craft beer company as well? Josh Noel at the Chicago Tribune reports that it already has…depending on the metrics and definition of “craft beer” that you use.
Here’s the deal…
In an effort to combat the declining sales and eroding market share that it was losing to the emerging craft beer sector, Anheuser-Busch embarked on an extensive acquisition strategy, starting with Chicago’s Goose Island in 2011 and ending (at least for now) with Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville, North Carolina in 2017.
Over that six year period Anheuser-Busch also picked up breweries in Oregon (10 Barrel), Virginia (Devils Backbone), Seattle (Elysian), Los Angeles (Golden Road), Houston (Karbach) Phoenix (Four Peaks), Denver (Breckenridge) and Long Island (Blue Point).
And while some in the industry like Beer Marketer’s Insights still count those acquisitions as “craft” the Brewer’s Association, a Boulder-based trade organization with its own very specific definition of what a craft brewery is, clearly does not.
If you still count Anheuser-Busch’s 10 ‘crafty’ properties as craft, then the world’s largest beer company’s bet is paying off…
Last month, Beer Marketer’s Insights reported that, based on data provided by Chicago-based market research firm IRI Worldwide, Anheuser-Busch has surged past Boston Beer and Sierra Nevada in the first half of 2018 to become the nation’s top craft beer company in terms of dollar sales.
According to Beer Marketer’s Insights’ industry newsletter Anheuser-Busch’s family of ‘crafty’ brands grew 20 percent to $107.3 million of sales, year-to-date sales through June 3rd.
Over that same period, Sierra Nevada was up 2 percent to $100.7 million, and Boston Beer was down 6.5 percent to $94.4 million.
So assuming that you still consider Anheuser-Busch’s 10 acquisitions craft beer, which clearly the Brewers Association does not, then as Josh Noel cleverly puts it ‘the King of Beers is also on its way to becoming the King of Craft Beers.”
Noel also cites the particular parameters which inform Anheuser-Busch’s perceived ascension…
“Anheuser-Busch’s craft beer supremacy exists in one very specific metric at the moment; IRI tracks sales in grocery, big box, drug and convenience stores.”
“When factoring in draft and liquor store sales, Beer Marketer’s Insights estimates that Boston Beer remains ahead of Anheuser-Busch in terms of both volume and dollar sales. But the passing of that torch is all but an inevitability during the next year or so.”
