One of craft beer’s biggest deals of 2023 has been finalized. We’ve that, a critical beer shortage paralyzes Rugby fans, and more

Cannabis Producer Finalizes Acquisition Of 6 Craft Breweries Offloaded By Anheuser-Busch

On August 7^th Tilray Brands, a global cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company, announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire eight beer and beverage brands from Anheuser-Busch.

And on September 29^th, Tilray closed that massive deal, finalizing its acquisition of six American craft beer brands including Shock Top; Breckenridge Brewery; Blue Point Brewing Company; 10 Barrel Brewing Company; Redhook Brewery; Widmer Brothers Brewing, as well as Square Mile Cider Company and HiBall Energy.

This journey started when Aphria Inc., a Canadian pot-producer, purchased SweetWater Brewing in 2020.It was a $300 million transaction involving both stock and cash, which gave Aphria, a publicly traded company, entry into the US market and the infrastructure to advance its cannabis business as state laws evolved.

Two weeks after closing on the acquisition of Atlanta’s Sweetwater Brewing, Aphria reached an agreement to merge with Tilray, a Canadian pharmaceutical and cannabis company forming the world’s largest cannabis company valued at $3.8 billion.

Then in December 2020 SweetWater announced that it was acquiring San Diego, California-based Green Flash Brewing and Alpine Beer, both companies that have seen better days. In 2023 Tilray Brands acquired Montauk Brewing Company, another move that the company stated would assist in expanding its reach across the US.

And with this six-brewery acquisition now finalized, the company is poised to become the fifth largest producer of craft beer in the nation and triple its beer production, up from 4 million cases per year to 12 million.

Words to Drink By

“If you want to be big, you must do the opposite of everybody else. You want to be unique, you want to create your own lane.” – Bob Lefsetz, Music industry writer and media analyst

Extreme Heat Limits Beer At Rugby World Cup

ESPN is reporting that Rugby World Cup tournament organizers pledged to improve their beer delivery services ahead of the second round of matches, blaming a reported lack of beer its opening weekend due to “heatwave” conditions.

But tournament organizers claim they did not run out, rather that the extreme heat had made it difficult to keep the kegs cool as supporters’ thirsts swelled more than they had expected.

“The fans’ experience is at the heart of our concerns and we understand the disappointment of fans after the first weekend,” Julien Collette, France 2023 CEO, told media at a tournament press briefing last week. “We have had a heatwave in September, which has never happened before, which had two major consequences.

The unanticipated heatwave led to two unexpected consequences that impacted the beer’s availability…

“The fans drank a lot more – we thought we had sufficient supplies based on previous records, but those records were broken And the barrels have been difficult to keep refrigerated. It was not so much the supplies but how cold the barrels were. We are working hard with our teams to improve the efficiency of the refrigeration and service. The consumption of water also broke records too.”

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