USA: AB InBev acquires Texas craft brewer Karbach Brewing

Houston’s local beer scene is stronger than ever, and major players are starting to take note.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Karbach Brewing Company has been acquired by Anheuser-Busch-InBev for an undisclosed sum. The brewery will join the company’s High End unit alongside Chicago’s Goose Island, Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery, and Seattle’s Elysian Brewing.

According to Karbach owners Ken Goodman and Chuck Robertson, the brewery’s current staff will stay on during the transition, and that they’ll maintain a great deal of independence from the massive beer conglomerate while accessing resources that will allow the company to expand. "The financial piece wasn't that important at the end of the day," Goodman said. "It was the resources."

For the most part, the beer won’t change, but there will be more of it. Karbach is on pace to produce 150,000 barrels of beer by 2019 thanks to their new partnership. Whether or not this acquisition is a good thing for craft beer and the city’s independent brewers, though, remains to be seen.

03 November, 2016