Anheuser-Busch buys 10 Barrel Brewing

[Beer-lord]

Guess they see the writing on the wall and this looks like the 2nd brewery they bought.

ST. LOUIS and BEND, Ore. (November 5, 2014) – Anheuser-Busch today announced it has agreed to purchase 10 Barrel Brewing Company, located in Bend, Ore. One of the country’s fastest-growing and most innovative breweries, 10 Barrel was one of only four U.S. breweries to win three medals and tied for most medals won at this year’s Great American Beer Festival, the largest beer competition in the world.

“For the past eight years, we’ve been brewing beer, drinking beer and having fun doing it.” said co-founder Jeremy Cox, who will continue to lead 10 Barrel along with his partners, co-founder and brother Chris Cox, and Garrett Wales. “We are excited to stay focused on brewing cool beers, get our beers in more hands, and make the most of the operational and distribution expertise of Anheuser-Busch,” said Cox.

10 Barrel expects to sell approximately 40,000 barrels of beer in 2014. Apocalypse IPA, the brewer’s most popular beer, accounts for nearly half of the company’s total volume.

“10 Barrel, its brewers, and their high-quality beers are an exciting addition to our high-end portfolio,” said Andy Goeler, CEO, Craft, Anheuser-Busch. “The brewery is a major contender in the Northwest, an area with a large number of craft breweries. We see tremendous value in the brewery’s unique offerings and differentiated style, which 10 Barrel fans know and love.”

In addition to the Bend brewery, the acquisition will include the company’s existing brewpubs in Bend and Boise, Idaho; and a Portland brewpub scheduled to open in early 2015.

Anheuser-Busch’s purchase of 10 Barrel is expected to close by the end of 2014. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

First Beverage Group acted as financial adviser to 10 Barrel, and Spencer Fane Britt & Browne provided legal counsel.

About 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

10 Barrel Brewing Co. is a Bend, Ore., based brewery with one simple mindset … brew beer, drink beer and have fun doing it. They currently distribute their brands in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. For more information, check out http://www.10barrel.com or get social at fb.com/10barrelbrewingco and @10barrelbrewing on Instagram and Twitter.

About Anheuser-Busch

For more than 160 years, Anheuser-Busch and its world-class brewmasters have carried on a legacy of brewing America’s most-popular beers. Starting with the finest, all-natural ingredients sourced from Anheuser-Busch’s family of growers, every batch is hand-crafted using the same exacting standards and time-honored traditions passed down through generations of proud Anheuser-Busch brewmasters and employees. Best known for its fine American-style lagers, Budweiser and Bud Light, the company’s beers lead numerous beer segments and combined hold 47.2 percent share of the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch is the U.S. arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev and operates 12 breweries, 17 distributorships and 23 agricultural and packaging facilities across the United States, representing a capital investment of more than $15.5 billion. Its flagship brewery remains in St. Louis, Mo., and is among the global company’s largest and most technologically capable breweries. Visitor and special beermaster tours are available at its St. Louis and four other Anheuser-Busch breweries. For more information, visit http://www.anheuser-busch.com.

[DaYooper]

Interesting....

I see in addition to the brewery, they are taking possession of the brewpubs. Last I knew it was illegal for the big players to own their own bars. Could this now become a trending thing where BMC takes over the brewpubs, upgrades the liquor license to be able to sell their mass market swill, and start locking competitors out? Stay tuned!

[FedoraDave]

Dismaying, in one sense.

In another, more hopeful sense, it shows how desperate InBev is to get into this niche market. They'll have their successes, but they won't have the total control they used to have, and which they want back. Some breweries (like Yeungling, bless their hearts) will just tell them to go pound sand; they ain't sellin' out. They can fight, they can try to wrangle, but they can't stem the tide, IMO. They will most likely always be the 300-pound gorilla in the room, but even big, powerful gorillas get annoyed by persistent fleas.

[D_Rabbit]

Interesting....

I see in addition to the brewery, they are taking possession of the brewpubs. Last I knew it was illegal for the big players to own their own bars. Could this now become a trending thing where BMC takes over the brewpubs, upgrades the liquor license to be able to sell their mass market swill, and start locking competitors out? Stay tuned!

I don't really think that is possible. They may require the bud and bud light to be on tap but the second they stop offering what made the place special it will lose its revenue and close down. With that being said I think that will open the door for a place similar to it to open up and be successful.

I think the BMC Craft divisions are starting to see a growth in that market to the point where it is now worth them jumping in. Before it was 1-2% of the market was craft but now it is starting to creep in to the 5-10% range and now worth the investment. Having a BMC craft division back a smaller scale operation is such a benefit to these guys. They may be able to double or triple in size in half the time they expected to.

I think this is a plus for the craft brew industry, as long as the big boys play nice and let the craft brewers continue to do what was making them successful, just on a large scale now.

[DaYooper]

I don't really think that is possible. They may require the bud and bud light to be on tap but the second they stop offering what made the place special it will lose its revenue and close down. With that being said I think that will open the door for a place similar to it to open up and be successful.

I think this is a plus for the craft brew industry, as long as the big boys play nice and let the craft brewers continue to do what was making them successful, just on a large scale now.

The reason big breweries arent allowed to operate their own bars is because they dont place nice. I dont see them simply replacing the craft beer with their swill, but it allows them to lock out other swills as well as other crafts down the road. I know different states have different rules as to how many locations can be operated under a license, etc, so difficult to say what will happen long term.

I am sure that InBev will allow their craft acquisitions to continue as they have, but they will use this as a path to start wiping out the smaller competitors who dont have deep pockets. BMC has always been out to destroy their competitors by any means necessary. By them buying more crafts, they can also demand more and more shelf space, also limiting our choices. Look at how much space they take up with the same darn beer in different packaging: bottles and cans, 6-packs, 12-packs, 15-packs, 24-packs, 30-packs, 40oz, etc. And that is just basic Bud and not including light, lime, and all that other junk.