I wonder what the craft beer folk who hate “big” will think of this. A large foreign brewery looking into acquiring ‘Merican owned craft breweries. Does Duvel Moortgat get a pass because of Ommegang and Brasserie d’Achouffe (among other holdings)? Or will the following quote “We would like to acquire two or three U.S. craft breweries over the next five years,” that Simon Thorpe, the president and CEO of Duvel USA and Brewery Ommegang gave to Brewbound.com scare the bejesus out of people?
Will the anti-“big” brigade believe the next Thorpe quote, “We view ourselves as a craft brewer that happens to be based in Europe and has a brewery in the U.S.,” ?.
Duvel has a few prerequisites for potential partners: long term growth, potential for scaling up, geography and type of market the target brewery is targeting. The last generated this intriguing statement from Thorpe, “We are not interested in brands where margins and pricing is low,” Thorpe said. “We are only interested in the luxury end of the market. We are looking for premium, high-end, beautiful brands.”
Informal talks have been held but no names released. But this may be the start of a consolidation phase for craft beer.