American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
We blame the industry for this… It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates – things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed.
So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourself.
Anheuser-Busch Acquires Another Big Name Craft Brewery (Nelson County, VA) – For those of you who may have missed last week’s announcement that AB InBev has acquired Virginia’s prestigious Devils Backbone, to be part of their The High End craft beer portfolio. This landmark acquisition follows the global giant’s failed attempt to secure Cigar City, but is another huge step in the company’s campaign to lock up big name craft beer properties in key regions of the country. As Dick Cantwell alluded to when he spoke at the New England Summit recently, strong regional acquisitions has long been the company’s strategy ever since they scooped up Elysian in 2015. If You Can’t Beat Them Buy Them is now AB InBev’s directive – they’re succeeding and are far from done…So fasten your seatbelts everybody and get ready for more beloved craft beer properties to SELL OUT.
Words To Drink By (Baltimore, MD) – “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons…but at the very least you need a beer.”
Frank Zappa / Musician
Brooklyn Brewery Takes the Mash Tour To Europe (London, UK) Brooklyn Brewery’s 2016 Mash Tour, magnificent celebration of beer, music, art and cuisine is beginning its nine city run in London (May 11th-15th). Followed up with a stop in Stockholm (May 26th-29th). The Mash Tour is not a hit and run kind of thing – Brooklyn Brewery comes into a town and lives there for a week beer-fueled adventure and entertainment – and we can’t recommend it enough!
Craft Beer Making Inroads In Vietnam (Saigon) – The Vietnamese have long beer tradition and although the famous freshly-brewed Bia Hoi can still be found on street corners here and there, it’s the region’s mass-produced lagers, like local brewing giant Sabeco, that owns things. But now Forbes is reporting that craft beer has begun making inroads in the region, with independents like the Pasteur Street Brewing Company commanding an ever-growing following.
