Breaking News...from Brewbound via Albert Gattullo -
"Tilray Brands is acquiring eight craft brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev in a blockbuster all cash deal announced today.
Tilray – the Canadian cannabis firm that is quickly shedding that standalone image – will acquire the following brands once the deal closes later this year:
Shock Top; Breckenridge Brewery (Littleton, Colorado); Blue Point Brewing Company (Patchogue, New York); 10 Barrel Brewing Company (Bend, Oregon); Redhook Brewery (Seattle, Washington); Widmer Brothers Brewing (Portland, Oregon); Square Mile Cider Company (Portland, Oregon); HiBall Energy (which A-B discontinued in May).
The transaction will encompass 'current employees, breweries and brewpubs associated with these brands,' Tilray said in a press release.
Those companies will join an existing craft beer portfolio that includes SweetWater Brewing, Montauk Brewing, Green Flash, Alpine Beer Co. and the newly created Good Supply lager brand, as well as Breckenridge Distillery.
Post-acquisition, the sales volume of Tilray’s craft portfolio is expected to make it the fifth largest craft brewery in the U.S., with 5% share of the market, the company said. Pro forma revenue for Tilray’s craft beer portfolio is projected to top $250 million.
Four of the expected-to-be-acquired brands – Shock Top, Breckenridge, 10 Barrel and Blue Point – produced a combined 495,000 barrels of beer in 2022, according to the Brewers Association (BA). Production data for Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Square Mile and Hiball were not broken out separately.
The deal is expected to 'triple' the size of Tilray’s beer business, from 4 million cases to 12 million cases annually, Ty Gilmore, president of U.S. Beer at Tilray Brands, said in the release."
According to Al Gattullo, AB is keeping Goose Island, Karbach, Golden Road, Wicked Weed and Four Peaks. Also they sold Virtue Cider back to Greg Hall who was the original owner.
This seems to be the best case scenario for these craft brands. With the number of craft brands that AB InBev shut down earlier this year it's highly likely that eventually the same thing would have happened these eight.