Where Will Your Beer Come From?

June 1, 9:40 PMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

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Inbev, SABMiller, FEMSA, Anheuser-Busch, Heineken, Carlsberg; who’s going to swallow the other.   As previously discussed on this page I wonder where it will all end and wonder where your beer will come from in the future.   The latter question is much more of a practical question that is not discussed amongst business writers.  

            There’s talk of who Heineken will merge with next.   FEMSA sounds like a code name for an Italian shoe company, but actually it’s one of Mexico’s largest brewing companies.  They make Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, Bohemia  and are Latin America’s largest bottlers of Coca Cola. 
             Remember (if you’re old enough) when England had its own brewery heritage?   That’s all gone.  Bass, Whitbread, Worthington?  They all used to dominate the discussion of classic British Ales.  They have all been swallowed. All that’s left are the remnants of a few heritage brewers such as Fullers and Youngs.  They manage to continue in the shadows of SABMiller, Coors, Heineken, Carlsberg, Anheuser-Busch, etc.  
             Rise the small brewers of Great Britain.  With the loss of heritage brewers there has recently been a resurgence of small independent brewers throughout the United Kingdom.  Their organization is SIBA.   They bring a breath of fresh air and are the future of flavor and diversity for British beer drinkers.   They are the hope for choice and the UK’s homegrown brewers.
             Gone from the mainstream headlines for the moment is the proposed joint-venture between Coors and SABMiller.  Two other giants on the merger path.   Recall it wasn’t that long ago that Coors merged with Molson of Canada.   SABMiller stands for South African Breweries Miller.  SAB bought out Miller when it was sold by the tobacco giant Phillip Morris in 2002.  SAB’s main brand, Castle Lager dominated the Southern African beer drinking culture to the near exclusion of all other competitors.  That’s where they began to grow large enough to buy Miller, Pilsener Urquell, Peroni and dozens of other national brewing companies.   Watch for the rollout of Peroni positioned as an Italian designer beer.  The beer itself?  Another light international lager with little to differentiate itself from the others except for brand i.d. and marketed image.   So it goes… and continues.   See my other page regarding innovation.

            Where will your beer come from?   If the majority of beer drinkers are looking for inexpensive, efficiently brewed, technically perfect beer with character that appeals to the masses, the merging brewers are in great shape.

            However past and recent history continues to reveal that when the markets consolidates to a point of monopoly, opportunities arise for beer entrepreneurs.  In Brazil there's Inbev and now recently emerged small brewers.  Argentina has its largest brewer, Quilmes, owned by Inbev.   It also has seen the emergence of several hundred small microbreweries. 

Where will your beer come from?  To be continued…