“Heineken is first in line to acquire a minority stake in Beavertown, following the news that the London craft brewery is set to brew two of its most popular beers abroad to keep up with demand while future-proofing for a newer, larger brewery called Beaverworld. While minority, Mergermarket’s sources say that the stake is likely to be significant, “close to half the company, maybe a bit less.””
“The Times, citing reports published in Mergermarket, stated that Beavertown is in talks with Heineken over a possible sale of a minority stake in the business. According to Mergermarket, the deal is purported to be similar to Heineken’s investment in south London brewery Brixton, which saw it take a 49% stake in the business to fund a move to a larger site. Despite the investment, it is alleged that Beavertown, like Brixton, would continue to operate independently. Neither party is willing to comment on the reports.”
Think on the bright side. If Beavertown beers catch on “abroadly” and broadly, maybe those green bottles of nasty will disappear.
As Heineken own big beer in Austria and Beavertown is quite expensive (well above 4 euros), this might just as well boost distribution. But I think they’ll want to have more than a piece of the cake and can’t hope for much cheaper prices, as they’re already an established player in the field as well.
Macro brewers drool over the fact that a 20/30% markup on expensive craft is more money than the same on macro product. Macro beers will be with us forever to sell to those wanting cheap alcohol, but the macro brewers would much rather sell as much of the most expensive beer they can.
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Rumours like this have been flying around for ages with no concrete proof. But, it’s beginning to look more and more likely. The Spurs deal combined with the fact that Logan has remained completely silent on the matter hasn’t helped things at all for them, if it wasn’t true they could and should have shut this down immediately, as with any rumour.
I sense the general feeling has shifted since news first broke, with many assuming it to be true.
Today, The Veil pulled out of Beavertown Extravagaza '18, and didn’t give any reason which is a little curious. They’ve already been delisted from the official website too. Who knows… could this be the start of many? We all saw what happened with Wicked Weed’s festival following similar news.
I’m aware Heineken aren’t quite as hated as ABI, but Logan (allegedly) said “Beavertown will never sell out” or words to that effect. I can’t find a source for that but I’ve heard that is one of the reasons why some are so angry about it. Does anyone know if that’s true? And if so, source?
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I was waiting for something like this to happen. Could be seen as indirect confirmation. But it could also be a simple hickup with something else. But if this is connected, we will probably in line for news soon.
I was kinda hoping that to be the case but if it was don’t you think they’d say so? They’ve said they plan to do other events across the UK.
Until proven to be otherwise, it is possible. I wouldn’t keep my hopes up though.
I think those of us with BeaverEx tickets would prefer an announcement sooner rather than later so those breweries who would rather not be part of a corporate, non-independent beer festival can leave and we can decide whether the £60 ticket price is worth it.
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This is developing into one of the most boring will-they-won’t-they’s in a long time.
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“Heineken is a proud, independent global brewer but it also remains a family brewer. That family connection means they take a long-term view which Bridget and I value. From the family through to every person I’ve met in the company, the passion for quality has been paramount. It’s been front and centre of all our discussions and why I’m confident the partnership will give us the ability to make our beers even better.”
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Well, Heineken invested in Lagunitas, and it doesn’t seem to have harmed the beer or innovation.
I’m tempted to say they’ve bought Austrian beer a long time ago and it all went badly, but who am I to say Austrian industrial lager wasn’t not-so-great before? 
Still, I’m very much concerned with big players buying up anything in the food chain: resources, distributors, breweries, pubs.
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