Anheuser Busch-InBev is on a craft beer bender, announcing a third acquisition in a five-day span that shows just how important the fast-growing category is to the world’s largest brewer.
On Tuesday, AB InBev said it agreed to buy Colorado-based (BUD ^ 0.57%) Breckenridge Brewery, adding a seventh U.S. craft brewer to a portfolio that already includes Goose Island, Blue Point, and Elysian. AB InBevannounced a deal with U.K.-based Camden Town Brewery on Monday and scooped up Arizona’s Four Peaks Brewing on Friday.
The recent deals are meant to add faster-growing beers to AB InBev’s massive portfolio, which already includes Budweiser and Stella Artois. Because the craft brands are tiny in comparison, they won’t move AB InBev’s sales needle much – though the deals give the craft brewers vast distribution potential.
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"...Usry said that officials won him over by emphasizing that they were not looking to change any recipes, replace any leaders or to alter the way the brewery operates. Instead, they wanted to take the brewery that has gained a significant following, add it to a portfolio of six other former craft breweries that they have acquired and prime it for further expansion."