In theory this sounds like a good idea. Stone Brewing co-founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, on 2 May 2016, announced the formation of True Craft, a USD 100 million company aimed at investing in craft breweries. The new organisation will buy small stakes – no more than 25 percent – of interested craft breweries. That will allow the breweries to expand or fund other improvements without compromising their independence by borrowing from banks, dealing with venture capitalists or selling to the Big Brewers.

It’s a cruel world out there. Boston Beer, once the darling of the financial markets, is about to turn into its pariah. Why? Because its growth rates have disappointed. The volume shipped by Boston Beer, the maker of Sam Adams beer, last year rose just 3.6 percent after enjoying double digit increases for years.

Mr Brito, we hear you. The same day – 27 April 2016 – AB-InBev’s CEO Brito told shareholders that his future acquisitions are more likely to be in beer rather than in other beverages, a panel of Wall Street analysts at the Beverage Forum in Chicago said that AB-InBev could either do several smaller beer acquisitions or take on a heavyweight like PepsiCo or Coca-Cola.

Continuing its strategy of snapping up leading craft brewers in individual states, AB-InBev on 12 April 2016 said it agreed to acquire Devils Backbone in Virginia. Financial terms of the deal, expected to close in the second quarter, were not disclosed.

After several years of impressive growth, cider sales slowed down to grow by just 10.8 percent in 2015, according to Nielsen market research. In 2014, sales increased by 71 percent and in 2013 by 89 percent.

There must be something in the beer, or why do U.S. beer drinkers tend to drag AB-InBev to court? The most recent plaintiff is Henry Vazquez, an optometrist who said that AB-InBev’s deceptive packaging caused him to overpay for Leffe beer.

The Teamsters Union have struck a small victory. North Carolina has decided to investigate MillerCoors’ decision to close its Eden brewery, U.S. media reported on 30 March 2016. The East coast state will join the U.S. Department of Justice in its antitrust investigation into the merger of AB-InBev and SABMiller, the latter being one of the current co-owners of MillerCoors.

Soon Esau & Hueber will supply yet another pilot brewery "System Nerb" into the United States: BSG, one of the largest suppliers to the craft brewing industry in the US can expand their services in future. The plan is not only pure research on raw and auxiliary materials. Breweries can also practice product development there.

Craft beer sales enjoyed another year of double-digit increases in 2015 that added up to a 12 percent stake of the U.S. beer market, according to the Brewers Association.

Why did they change their mind? After months of rumours, it was finally announced that Florida’s craft brewer Cigar City would be sold. But it was not to AB-InBev as many had assumed. While there were talks between AB-InBev and Cigar City, and even a letter of intent signed in late 2015, the exclusivity period expired without AB-InBev having made a formal bid. We wonder why? In any case, this allowed Cigar City to negotiate with other interested parties.