Successful Ohio Brewery Now Part Of A-B InBev’s Brewers Collective
Anheuser-Busch InBev is pretty craft when it comes to craft breweries.
It notices a successful brand and then it swallows it up like a craft beer lover downing his favorite brew in a tasting room.
Platform Beer Co., a fast-growing brewer in Ohio, is the latest acquisition of the big-time beer company, following in the line of Goose Island, Elysian, 10 Barrel, Golden Road, Wicked Weed and Craft Brewers Alliance (Kona Brewing Company, Red Hook and Widmer). A-B InBev refers to this group as the Brewers Collective.
Platform, founded in 2014, has taprooms in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus and a 60-barrel production brewery in Cleveland. In 2017, it was the country’s fastest-growing regional brewery.
“In speaking with the other craft brewery founders in Brewers Collective, we know partnering with Anheuser-Busch means we will have the resources and the autonomy to bring our vision for Platform Beer Co. to life,” Platform co-founder Paul Benner said in a press release announcing the deal. “Being able to continue leading the day-to-day operations was an important factor in our decision and we have no doubt that this partnership will benefit our loyal staff and passionate customer base.”
Of course, Platform can now longer be considered a craft brewery, according to the trade group Brewers Association. Craft breweries must be small and independent, meaning less than 25% of the company is owned by “a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.”
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
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