Big Beer Brands, Craft Beers, and Consumer Behavior

Craft beers are trendy and popular, as well as locally-known--which is why beer giants like Anheuser-Busch InBev are swallowing up many smaller brands. Above, logo of A-B InBev's Blue Point Brewing Co, founded in 1998 and serving the Long Island, NY area.

Fortune magazine has a map and video showing the extent of the "drink local, buy global" trend, including the news that A-B InBev recently purchased its 10th craft brand (Wicked Weed Brewing, based in North Carolina).

A-B InBev seeks two ingredients in craft beer acquisitions: (1) variety, so the parent's product portfolio isn't too heavily weighted toward one type or another; and (2) owners who are interested in working with a deep-pocketed, marketing-savvy parent for growth.

Craft beers aren't the huge growth niche they were a few years ago, but they're still growing. As the extent of involvement by beer giants becomes more widely known, will craft beer lovers be put off or will they be able to judge each brand and brew on its own merits? Marketers will be watching for clues to consumer behavior, attitudes, and actions as competition becomes even more intense between beer brands.