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Wicked Weed’s recent announcement that they had sold their brewery to the world’s largest brewing conglomerate sent shockwaves across the craft beer industry and the consequences of their decision to buy in with Big Beer continue to unfold…
You’re Uninvited! Wicked Weed’s Cancels Their Funkatorium Invitational (Asheville, NC) – We’re not sure that Wicked Weed’s owners completely understood the depth of the consequences they’d be experiencing when they decided to sell Wicked Weed to AB InBev, the world’s largest and most powerful brewing entity – but we expect that they do now.
Just days after Wicked Weed’s announcement that they had indeed sold their operation to Anheuser-Busch and would be joining the company’s High End division, craft brewers, many of them friends and long-time collaborators with the Asheville-based brewery, started withdrawing from brewery’s upcoming Funkatorium Invitational and by the end of the week a majority of the invited participants had pulled out.
Described by the brewery as “a gathering of sour and wild ales from across the country featuring well established and up and coming breweries that are paving the way for sour and wild craft beer, the Funkatorium which was initially scheduled to take place in July. But with over 50 craft breweries now declining to attend, the Invitational was then moved to September 17th, understandably an effort on their part to somehow regroup after so many breweries had bailed.
But the prestigious Funkatorium Invitational has now gone down in flames and in a May 9th posting on Wicked Weed’s Facebook Page it was announced that they’d officially pulled the plug on the charity festival that had been originally planned to benefit Eblen Charities. They also announced that refunds would be available and that they were hoping to host a reimagined festival to raise money for the charity in late August.
Words To Drink By (Washington, DC) – “Actions have consequences, and fair or not, Wicked Weed will never be held in the same high esteem by its original supporters, the people who made them the powerhouse that AB In-Bev then purchased.” – Tom Bobak, American Craft Beer
Wicked Weighs (USA) – Sometimes it takes the most unexpected events to stir things up and bring out the best in the industry analysts and journalists that cover the biz. And the purchase of Wicked Weed Brewing by global giant AB InBev was definitely one of those times. And you can read their various takes on the matter in Craft Beer Media Weighs In On The Wicked Weed Acquisition – but be forewarned – people are pissed!
More Wicked Reactions (North Carolina / Austin, TX) – Following Wicked Weed’s announcement Jester King’s founder used their newsletter to share their position, and you can read Jeffrey Stuffings’ well-reasoned thoughts in Jester King Says Goodbye To Wicked Weed Beer.
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