This must be the Summer of Love for brewers. Or why are they snapping up San Francisco craft breweries? First Brooklyn Brewery bought into 21st Amendment brewery, then Sapporo took over Anchor and, on 10 August 2017, New Belgium agreed to purchase the assets of Magnolia out of bankruptcy for USD 2.7 million.

Given the agitation over Anchor’s sale to Japan’s Sapporo, which was announced on 3 August 2017, it makes you wonder if craft beer lovers are in denial over private equity’s game: buy a company, build it up and then sell it on.

Florida has a lot going for it. Sun, beaches, thirsty tourists and an as yet underdeveloped craft beer market. With only 195 craft breweries in 2016 it ranks near the bottom in the US in terms of breweries per capita (1.3 per 100,000 adults) according to the Brewers Association.

Is this the beginning of the end of gypsy brewing, now that its supremo, Denmark’s Mikkel Borg Bjergso, better known as Mikkeller, announced in July 2017 that he would open a brewery and restaurant in New York later this year?

Funny they should only think of it now: establishing a joint marketing platform.

It’s not just AB-InBev – Heineken is buying up craft brewers too, albeit indirectly through its subsidiary Lagunitas. In July 2017, Michigan’s Short’s Brewing Company sold a 20 percent stake to Lagunitas, which itself ranked sixth among US craft brewers in 2015 – the year it was part-sold to Heineken.

Never mind that Ballast Point’s parent Constellation Brands wrote down USD 87 million on the value of the brewery in its first quarter 2018 results because Ballast Point (bought for USD 1 billion in November 2015) “has not performed to expectations from a growth standpoint”, its national expansion continues smoothly.

Blame it on the consumers. In 2017, US beer sales may drop again. Worse still, craft beer’s growth could slow down further.

The world’s major brewer has expanded its NAB portfolio. AB-InBev has bought the San Francisco-based organic energy drink maker Hiball, media reported on 21 July 2017.

Love beer? And your nearby brewery? Celebrating local, independent breweries, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) unveiled on 19 July 2017 its inaugural 50-State Commercial Beer Clone Recipes Guide. The AHA compiled the list, which features recipes scaled down to five to ten gallon batches, after reaching out to breweries nationwide.