“If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them” – Big Beer’s Strategy To Upend Craft Beer

, “If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them” – Big Beer’s Strategy To Upend Craft Beer“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

We don’t know who coined that phrase originally… but it certainly appears to be one of Big Beer’s answers to an irritating problem called craft beer.

“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

This was surely Anheuser-Busch’s thinking as they watched their market share erode for over a decade to upstarts like Stone Brewing and Sierra Nevada. It’s an ageless business strategy used by the economically powerful and it can be brutally effective.

“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

, “If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them” – Big Beer’s Strategy To Upend Craft BeerAnd if the recent addition of prestigious Devils Backbone to Anheuser-Busch’s growing craft beer portfolio, that already includes Elysian, 10 Barrel, Blue Point Brewing  Breckenridge Brewery, Four Peaks, Golden Road and Goose Island, wasn’t enough – we predict that they’re not even close to done.

“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

Anheuser-Busch is not the only Big Beer entity embarking on this strategy. Last Year SABMiller devoured Britain’s Meantime Brewing Company. And MillerCoors recently accelerated their acquisition strategy (under their Tenth and Blake banner) by adding Terrapin Beer and Hop Valley to a growing craft beer family.

“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

And in a time when breweries like Ballast Point can command numbers like $1 Billion – we’ve entered an era where once unassailable craft beer properties are no doubt rethinking their purity. Look for more craft beer majors to rationalize their futures this year.

“If you can’t beat them… buy them”

It’s not just Big Beer that has the potential to change the craft beer industry as we know it. Venture capitalists like the ones that now control Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing are on the prowl for viable craft beer acquisitions – and we’re not loving that development either.

, “If You Can’t Beat Them, Buy Them” – Big Beer’s Strategy To Upend Craft BeerIf you can’t beat them… buy them”

Maybe looking back, Firestone Walker’s  long term agreement with Duvel Moortgat was strategic in its own way. Maybe it echoed their deeper understanding of how Big Beer and craft beer’s relationship was evolving on a macro-level. Reflecting on his company’s partnership with the Belgian brewery, David Walker told us that Firestone Walker’s strategy was to “define change before it defines us.” And we think that his comments couldn’t have more timely.

If you can’t beat them… buy them”

Maybe we’re over-reacting to all this. Maybe were just getting paranoid and craft beer‘s essence and economic identity aren’t being undermined by Big Beer’s ongoing assault. But history has shown us that everything evolves –and that even the most wonderful things can change over time – so maybe it’s not stupid to worry.

If you can’t beat them… buy them”

And as Cyndi Lauper once reminded us back in the day, sometimes “Money Changes Everything.”

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