A-B InBev Forgets History and Invades the Retail Tier

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March 31, 2016

Ever since the Repeal of Prohibition, Federal and state laws have mostly banned the retailing of alcohol by producers. Some states fall under an exception, which permit microbrews and brew pubs the ability to produce and sell at the same location. Anheuser-Busch InBev has decided to forget the ugly public and safety history of producer-owned saloons and are purchasing brew pubs like Goose Island, with the main motivation to sell their own beer in these local establishments. 

The U.S. beer market is dominated by A-B InBev, which along with MillerCoors, owns 80% of the market. AB-Inbev has gone on a craft brew buying binge, recently acquiring three new craft breweries for a total of eight and counting. Not only does this pose an enormous public health threat, it has created unrest within the craft brew industry. 

Really CEO Carlos Brito, must you try to monopolize the production, wholesale, and on-sale tavern sectors of the industry?