Anheuser-Busch InBev Has A Taste For Craft Beer, Gobbles Up Blue Point Brewing Co.

Craft brewers around the country are probably pouring one out in honor of their fallen comrades at Blue Point Brewing Co. Not because the brewery is out of business — nay, the opposite: It’s been slorped up by beer behemoths Anheuser-Busch Inbev.

Apparently your hipster cousin Colby (the one with the questionable knuckle tattoos, obviously) isn’t the only one with a taste for craft brews: AB InBev announced its newest acquisition today, reports the Los Angeles Times, without saying how much it paid for the company.

AB InBev seems intent on stretching its sprawling hold on the beer industry: Last year the maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois gathered up Grupo Modelo in its beery embrace after a long courting period for the merge that finally won the Department of Justice’s approval.

Blue Point started brewing craft beers in 1999 in Patchogue, N.Y. and has done well on the East Coast especially, with its popular Toasted Lager brand. The brewery sold 60,000 barrels last year, half which were Toasted Lager, the company says.

“Together, our talented brewing team and Anheuser-Busch will have the resources to create new and exciting beers and share our portfolio with even more beer lovers,” Mark Burford, one of Blue Point’s co-founders, said in a statement.

I asked a friend who’s quite the beer aficionado if this is some portent of doom, and he seems pretty relaxed about it.

“This is not a harbinger of the craft beer apocalypse; there are plenty of independent breweries creating incredible beers and more opening every day,” he says. “So if you’re adamant about only giving your money to independent craft breweries you can do that. If you don’t care who owns the brewery because you really like the beer then that’s fine, too.”

When reached for comment, your hipster cousin Colby simply sniffed and turned his head slightly as if he’d just smelled something distasteful. Then he slowly set down his Toasted Lager and left the room to play pinball at some new bar you’ve never heard about.

Anheuser-Busch buys craft brewer Blue Point Brewing Co. [Los Angeles Times]

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