Will AB-InBev’s international craft beers join troops in battle for high-end segment?

MillerCoors, the number two brewer in the US, is worried. According to its blog, rival AB-InBev plans to bring several of its international craft brands in kegs to the US in order to carve out a bigger share of the lucrative high-end segment, currently dominated by craft beer and imports.

However, before it can sell its foreign beers, AB-InBev has to secure US regulatory approval. MillerCoors thinks beer labels from the UK’s Camden Town, Brazil’s Cervejaria Colorado, Mexico’s Artesanas de Malta y Cebada, South Africa’s Newlands Spring, Canada’s Archibald and Belgium’s Belle-Vue Brouwerij have received clearance from the regulators in June 2018 and are heading to the United States.

Apart from Bel-Vue, which Belgium’s Interbrew acquired in 1991, all the other craft beer brands only joined AB-InBev’s stable in the past three years. The beers span a wide spectrum of styles.

MillerCoors has found out that AB-InBev plans to serve these beers at a company-sponsored craft beer and music festival in New York this autumn. It is unknown if there are plans to distribute and sell the beers beyond that.

AB-InBev is also rolling out the Australian brand 4 Pines, Spain-based Cervezas La Virgen and Mexican import Bocanegra in the US this year.

One thing is sure: shelf space will get tighter for independent US craft brewers.