• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Can’t buy new breweries? Start some. AB InBev continues to open destination breweries (now Veza Sur in Miami)

April 20, 2017Keith Gribbins

beer on beach
One beer company to rule them all.

Beer Voltron grows bored. After the long-anticipated, $100-billion-plus merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller last year (the third largest acquisition in the history of acquisitions), AB InBev (a.k.a. Beer Voltron) isn’t going to let billions in revenue and a few anti-trust laws keep it from expanding and eating ever more market share around the world — lest it run low on the investor returns that fuels its steely, greed-powered thingy you’d maybe call a heart.

The Belgium-based brewing giant, which owns famed big beer brands from Budweiser to Beck’s and infamous “craft beer” brands from Elysian Brewing Co. to Devils Backbone Brewing Co., has had a new strategy of late — capitalize on the popularity of destination breweries by opening in strategic locations. The U.S. government has basically said, “yo Beer Voltron, you can’t buy any more breweries in the United States without our approval because, like, you control about 45 percent of the market. That’s not cool. Also, that’s not good for competition, growth, diversity and the consumer.”

But Beer Voltron’s all like, “Chumps, I’ll just start my own breweries and give them cool sounding craft names. Or better yet: I’ll just start destination breweries with the brands I’ve already assimilated. Wait! I’ll do both. Mua-HA-HA!”

Some examples.

  • Since Golden Roads’ acquisition by AB InBev in 2015, LA’s biggest brewhouse has been aggressively expanding in distribution all over the United States and in brewing destinations all over California. The brewery is currently constructing a brewing outpost in Anaheim, has already secured space in LA’s Grand Central Market and even opened a restaurant at LAX (its Point the Way Café). Golden Road has also announced new destinations in both Sacramento (last year) and (now) in Oakland.
  • Beer Voltron is opening a chain of pubs based on its Goose Island Beer Co. brand in the Euro community (yes, Goose Island is owned by Bud if you didn’t know). AB InBev is planning two Goose Island pubs in London, along with a third destination in its home country of Belgium.
  • AB InBev just announced it was adding another brand to its “High-End” portfolio (its so called craft- and import-focused brands) with the launch of Veza Sur Brewing Co. in Miami this summer. The beverage roll-up has turned to two of its properties, Colombia’s Bogota Beer Co. and Oregon’s 10 Barrel Brewing, to make it all happen. According to the Miami New Times:

Veza Sur is set to open at 55 NW 25th St. early this summer. The 10,000-square-foot space will include a 15-barrel DME brewhouse and a 5,000-square-foot taproom with a terrace.

The brewery gets its name from a mashup of “cerveza” and “sur” — a nod to its Colombian half. Veza Sur was inspired by the travels of twin brothers and 10 Barrel Brewing cofounders Chris and Jeremy Cox. They, along with Max-Antonio Burger, who is in charge of new ventures and innovation at Anheuser-Busch InBev, traveled to South America to explore its beer, food, and culture.

Voltron beer ab inbevIt definitely sounds exotic, and we’re definitely seeing AB InBev looking to go exotic in specific regional markets with the localized brewing brands its purchased (or is creating), and let’s not forget Beer Voltron has bought nine American craft breweries over the past six years. Very soon (if not already), one of those brands will be in your neighborhood — and not just on the grocery store shelf or on tap at bars — but as an actual entertainment beer destination that will help grow its brand presence in specific markets.

Do you think they’ll carry other AB InBev brands on their tap lists too? We’re guessing yes. From the same article:

Veza Sur cofounder and master brewer Asbjorn Gerlach has quite a resumé. The founder of Kross Brewery, the second-largest brewery in Chile, the German native brings more than two dozen years of brewing experience to Wynwood.

Gerlach will concentrate on eight beers to start, including two lagers (Latin and dark varieties), a session IPA, an IPA, a Belgian witbier, a coffee porter, a red ale on nitro, and a Berliner Weisse with guava. Additional guest taps will feature local breweries.

You know, local brands like Blue Point and Karbach.

AB InBev’s ‘craft’ brands speak out against BA’s independent seal, hope you’ll drink some of their Kool-Aid already
Beer Voltron Ab Inbev cbb crop
Anheuser-Busch InBev acquires minority stake in RateBeer.com (Dogfish Head asks to be taken off the site)
Budweiser horses carriage cbb crop
This 1997 Anheuser-Busch franchise agreement shows how distributors have always put Big Beer first
Beer Voltron Ab Inbev cbb crop
AB InBev, Goose Island play dirty in the Chinese market (surprise?)

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Hey Vermont non-profits, Lawson’s Finest Liquids is accepting applicants for its 2023 Sunshine Fund
  • People moves: Ohio Craft Brewers Association tap new board members + news from Migration, Bell’s, New Belgium and MobCraft
  • HAAS debuts Kettle Redi hop product for bitterness, light stability
  • Beer book: Brewing with Hemp: The Essential Guide

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • People moves: Ohio Craft Brewers Association tap new board members + news from Migration, Bell’s, New Belgium and MobCraft
    June 30, 2022
  • A behind the scenes look at branding a startup brewery
    June 28, 2022
  • robot beer salesThe future of retail beer sales is here
    June 27, 2022
  • Sapporo to acquire Stone Brewing, that one brewery that kept saying it wasn’t interested in selling out
    June 24, 2022
  • Reebok-x-Rec-2Harpoon collaborates with Reebok, Elysian reveals new tarot labels and more beers to know this week
    June 23, 2022
  • Carlsberg announces largest test trial of its fully recyclable Fiber Bottles (Mads Mikkelsen’s a fan)
    June 22, 2022

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2022 · CBB Media LLC

Posting....