World’s largest brewing conglomerate¹ was formed in 2008 through a merger of Belgian Interbrew with US-based Anheuser-Busch. Interbrew itself was formed in 1999 by a merger of Brazilian based AmBev and Belgian based Interbrew. In 2016 AB-InBev acquired the competitor SABMiller and now owns over 500 beer brands in over 100 countries² with recorded revenue of 56.4 billion USD in 2017 fiscal year³. The global and international brands AB-InBev owns include Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Hoegaarden and Leffe.
Quite a few craft beer fans and industry people blindly despise AB-InBev. Opinions should be backed up by facts. If you want to dig deeper, please read Josh Noel’s fascinating interview with Cloudburst Brewing’s founder Steve Luke, about his t-shirt stunt at the Great American Beer Festival’s awards ceremony earlier this year.
Here’s the interview link:
https://www.joshnoel.net/blog/2018/10/5/cloudburst-brewing-seattle-abi-tshirt
Notes:
- Alworth, Jeff. The Beer Bible: The Essential Beer Lover’s Guide (p. 250). Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev, last edited on
8 November 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anheuser-Busch_InBev - Anheuser-Bush Statistics and Facts, last edited on October 26th, 2018, https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/anheuser-busch-inbev-statistics-facts/