Will Craft Beer Survive AB Inbev?

 byMatthewBoyleandDuaneStanford  After 19 years of running Elysian Brewing, a craft beer maker in Seattle, Chief Executive Officer Joe Bisacca was ready for a change. He was tired of worrying about making payroll, feeling guilty about the company’s miserly 401(k) plan, and trying to keep pace with the ceaseless demand for Elysian’s irreverently named beers, such as Space Dust, Superfuzz, Mens Room, and Loser Pale Ale. The last was inspired by the grunge-rock band Nirvana and carries the slogan “Corporate beer still sucks.” So he and two partners, David Buhler and Dick Cantwell, talked about selling. Before long they were in touch with Andy Goeler, CEO of craft beer for AB InBev’s Anheuser-Busch division. Elysian and AB InBev might seem like a strange match. AB InBev, the world’s biggest beer company, manufactures Budweiser and its sister brand, Bud Light, the kind of corporate products that get the rhetorical middle finger from Loser Pale Ale. AB InBev is also an assiduous cost trimmer. That didn’t seem to bode well for Elysian’s 217 employees. ...more-wwwbloombergcom