This week, the biggest deal in the history of beer is going down. Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, the two biggest names in beer, are coming together. Or, more precisely, AB InBev is acquiring SABMiller. It’s big news. Huge news, really. AB InBev will now control around a third of the global beer market. It’s just the latest shift in what has been a strange few years in the world of beer, which started with the big players buying up smaller breweries to gain some traction with beer drinkers presented with more and more options at the bar and the bottle shop.
As the dust settles from this deal, we figured we’d put together a little chart to help you understand the current landscape. It’s confusing, to say the least. Here’s a look at who owns your favorite brewery.
A Few Things We Should Mention
We want to be clear about something right up front: These companies don’t make it easy for you to figure out which breweries they own—it would kind of defeat the purpose of owning them. The information for the chart was acquired from sources we find reliable. That said, if you see any mistakes, feel free to contact us at tips@coolmaterial.com.
We also want to toss in one small caveat: It is believed that for the deal AB InBev has to sell a portion of SABMiller’s U.S. properties. It is rumored they will do this by selling them to MolsonCoors. In the graphic, we’ve gone with this assumption. If it turns out to be incorrect, we’ll update accordingly.
Anyway, our brains hurt from trying to figure it all out, so we’re going to go relax with a locally-made IPA and quit stressing.
