Rumor Mill: Stella Artois Production Moves To US / Canadian Rock Band Sues Toronto Brewery

American Craft Beer|February 12th, 2021|

(Courtesy Anheuser-Busch)

A bestselling Belgian import will be shifting its US production to, well, the US. We’ve that, The Tragically Hip, Mark Twain and more…

Anheuser-Busch Moves Stella Artois Production To US

On Wednesday Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it would be shifting production of its bestselling import Stella Artois, which was first brewed by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium, and has European roots that can be traced back to the 14^th century, will move it American production, to four of its US breweries.

The move, which includes its St. Louis flagship brewery, is part of the two-year, $1 billion capital investment program at its U.S. production facilities that Anheuser-Busch announced last week.

Stella Artois’ shift to US production will limit “international supply chain issues which cropped up in all sorts of industries in recent years due to trade tensions and then the COVID-19 pandemic.” Brendan Whitworth, Anheuser-Busch’s US Chief Sales Officer explained to the ST Louis Post-Dispatch. “To avoid those disruptions, to bring the best products possible to consumers, under a brand as premium as Stella Artois, we can do that with local production.”

Words To Drink By

“The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” – Mark Twain, American writer and entrepreneur

Canadian Rock Band The Tragically Hip Sue AB InBev Owned Brewery

Legendary Canadian band, The Tragically Hip has filed a suit in Federal Court against Mill Street Brewery, a subsidiary of Labatt, which is owned by Belgian multinational brewer AB InBev.

At issue is the brewery’s promotion of its 100th Meridian Organic Amber Lager. “At The Hundredth Meridian was a hit single on the Tragically Hip’s 1992 album Fully Completely, according to the Toronto Star. “Its title refers to the line of longitude that marks the beginnings of the Great Plains.”

In 2017 Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, died of complications from brain cancer at the age of 53. While the band never broke into the upper 50 of the Billboard 200 in the US, it placed seven No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Canadian Albums chart.