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AB InBev Acquires Wicked Weed Brewing

It’s finally happened…  A local Asheville brewery has sold out to the multinational beverage company, AB Inbev.  The whole town went up in arms last year over rumors that New Belgium might be getting sold out to AB Inbev.  That never was a part of the plan for New Belgium though.

Some folks are completely surprised to hear that Wicked Weed Brewing has become AB Inbev’s latest acquisition.  Others seem to realize that Wicked Weed was founded by millionaire businessmen who likely had every intention of selling out when a proper offer was made.  After all, that is the goal of a successful business.

The thing that many find surprising is that Wicked Weed’s beer is adventurous, exciting, and different, which is unlike most of the other beers in Ab Inbev’s catalog.

It’s been very exciting and interesting to watch Wicked Weed grow seemingly exponentially.  Just 5 years ago the downtown Brewpub facility was where the entire operation went down.  The addition of the Funkatorium and the production facility in Enka seemed to happen overnight.

There is now a fourth facility in Arden, dubbed the Funk House, dedicated to producing massive amounts of sour beer.  I heard they even have a warehouse just for aging hops to use in sour beer.

We can no doubt to expect to see more growth from Wicked Weed with a surplus of funding that will undoubtedly come from this buyout.  They have made a lot of friends in the community in the past 5 years, it will be interesting to see how those relationships evolve and change in a city that isn’t typically tolerant to big business.

What do you think about Wicked Weed selling out to AB Inbev?  Will you continue to buy their beer?

UPDATES:  Wicked Weed is no longer a voting member of the NC Craft Brewers Guild.

Jester King has announced that they will no longer sell Wicked Weed beer on premises, they are also pulling out of a collaboration project and will no longer be attending the Funkatorium Invitational (announcement here).

Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales has also confirmed that they will no longer be attending the Funkatorium Invitational.  They have also decided to pull their name from their collaboration projects with Wicked Weed (announcement here).

The Rare Barrel has also pulled their name from a collaboration that they had in the works with Wicked Weed and  in an official announcement.

We reached out to the

The growing list of breweries that have confirmed that they will not be attending the Funkatorium Invitational includes:

  • Jester King Brewery
  • Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
  • Grimm Artisanal Ales
  • OEC Brewing
  • Jackie O’s Public House & Brewpub
  • Wooden Robot Brewery
  • Trillium Brewing Company
  • Haw River Farmhouse Ales
  • Steel String Brewing
  • The Rare Barrel
  • Creature Comforts
  • Almanac Beer Co
  • Beachwood BBQ & Brewing
  • Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
  • Captain Lawrence Brewing
  • Casa Agria Specialty Ales
  • Birds Fly South Ale Project
  • Paradox Beer Co
  • de Garde Brewing
  • Springdale Brewery
  • Cascade Brewing Barrel House
  • Ecliptic Brewing
  • Funk Factory Geuzeria
  • Holy Mountain Brewing
  • Side Project Brewing
  • Three Taverns Brewery
  • Haw River Farmhouse Ales

 

Wicked Weed has announced that the festival will continue as planned and that they will release a new list of breweries participating.

 

About Ben Dofflemyer

Since moving from Virginia in early 2014, mainly for the craft beer and the live music, I’ve been involved in following both very actively. My herbalist girlfriend and I also enjoy getting out in nature with our dog, wildcrafting the edible and medicinal flora and taking in the beautiful scenery. My past experience in graphic design and working with signs landed me my first job in Asheville, where I was fortunate to meet a lot of up-and-coming as well as long established local business people. Now I am a salesman for Arcdyn Inc., a local wholesale security camera distributor, while writing about beer and music as a hobby. I am also very excited to be a part of the Asheville Blog team!

2 comments

  1. Ben Dofflemyer

    Thanks for the reply, Jon.

    I saw that Jester King had made that announcement. They have also pulled from the Funkatorium Invitational. I also asked Black Project Spontaneous Wild Ales if they would still be attending, and they said they would not be. I’m sure we’ll see more updates like this and I’ll update this post as I get em.

    I’m also interested to see how Asheville reacts to this over time. We are notorious for not allowing “big business” into our city limits, while Wicked Weed just brought in one of the biggest in the world. Very interesting times.

    Cheers!

  2. ayersorama@gmail.com'

    Interweb is a buzz today. And this article just happened about an hour after you posted up on the blog… Collab beer with Jester King is a bust.
    It will be VERY interesting to see how Asheville will react to this. I’ve been around WNC since the early 90’s and it has evolved a lot. I’m not sure if this region has the same heart and soul it once did, but time will tell

    https://austin.eater.com/2017/5/3/15532202/jester-king-brewery-wicked-weed-ab-inbev-beer-collaboration