Since its founding in 2012, the Asheville-based Wicked Weed Brewing has earned a reputation as one of the best and most innovative breweries in North Carolina, cranking out more than five hundred brews, everything from West Coast IPAs to a range of complex sours. (If you haven’t had the Oblivion, you haven’t lived.)
Today, we learned that it’s being purchased by InBev. As in the company that owns Budweiser.
Anheuser-Busch has dropped its latest news of acquisition, this time purchasing Asheville’s highly regarded Wicked Weed Brewing to join its craft line, The High End. […]
In the press release that dropped this morning, co-founder Walt Dickinson was quoted saying, “This is an exciting time for the entire brewing team. Our ability to create a wide range of really well executed beers that are focused on creativity, quality and drinkability is what makes Wicked Weed great. We have chosen to partner with The High End to position ourselves to make Wicked Weed what we imagined it could be when we first sat at a craft beer bar and talked about opening a brewery. As a brewer, giving our team more resources to continue innovating our portfolio and the ability to reach more craft drinkers, allows us to keep putting the beer and the people first.”
The website Brewbound reports that terms of the deal were not revealed.
Specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed and the deal is subject to regulatory approval. Recall that last year, the U.S. Department of Justice promised to “carefully scrutinize any future craft acquisitions” by A-B. […]
Wicked Weed, based in the popular craft beer-soaked mecca of Asheville, North Carolina, is the 10th U.S. craft brewery to sell to Anheuser-Busch InBev since 2011. It joins Goose Island (Chicago), Blue Point Brewing (New York), 10 Barrel Brewing (Oregon), Elysian Brewing (Seattle), Golden Road (Los Angeles), Breckenridge Brewery (Colorado), Four Peaks Brewing (Arizona), Devils Backbone (Virginia) and Karbach Brewing (Texas), in A-B’s craft and import focused “High End” portfolio.
Two thoughts: 1) I somehow doubt this latest iteration of the DOJ will be carefully scrutinizing very many business acquisitions. 2) As a Wicked Weed enthusiast—who is (true fact) wearing a Wicked Weed hat as I type this—I hope Dickinson’s optimistic words about resources and innovation don’t end up being more corporate blather in service of Adolphus Busch’s evil empire.
