Anheuser-Busch Aims to ‘Elevate’ Its Acquired Craft Beer Brands

Anheuser-Busch aims to elevate its craft beer brands (and sales) twith a new initiative aptly called Elevate.

Created by The High End division of A-B, its portfolio of premium beer brands in the U.S., the campaign’s goal is to raise awareness and sales of its 11 craft beer and cider brands in the U.S.

Tactics include more transparency on labeling, local philanthropy, wooing beer and wine drinkers who are also foodies with content around suggested food pairings, and differentiating its brands from rival craft brands with initiatives A-B hopes will inspire others and elevate the entire category.

The High End division includes imports and 11 craft breweries A-B has acquired since 2011, including 10 Barrel Brewing, Blue Point Brewing, Breckenridge Brewing, Devils Backbone Brewing, Elysian Brewing, Four Peaks Brewing, Golden Road Brewing, Goose Island, Karbach Brewing, Virtue Cider and Wicked Weed.

Whereas the division was once focused on acquisitions, it’s now spending its money Elevate as a platform to promote those craft beer brands. To that end, The High End portfolio will start adding “Best consumed by” date coding on all craft beer labels to reinforce freshness.

“It’s a key step that will ensure our beer drinkers enjoy the best tasting, freshest beer,” The High End division president Felipe Szpigel told reporters this week, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes. “Ideally, this inspires other brewers and other players in the industry to do this as well.”

As AB InBev notes on its newly launched Elevate website:

At The High End, we believe we can create the best future for the beer industry. That’s why we and all our craft partners are committed to lifting up the beer category through measurable actions, on behalf of an industry only scratching the surface of what is possible. Elevate is our way of forging a new collaborative path forward for the entire industry. Here’s to what’s ahead.

Szpigel, named one of the most influential beer drinkers in America by Men’s Journal, said the four pillars of the initiative include commitments and investments into beer, the environment, communities and the industry.

Better Beer: “We’re dedicated to brewing the freshest beers with the best ingredients by the best brewers. Our beer drinkers will know when their beer is freshest with ‘best consumed by’ date coding in 2018.”

Better Environment: “We’re doubling down on setting and achieving best-in-class environmental standards. Solar panels will be installed at all our craft breweries in 2018, and we’ll transition to 100% solar and wind renewable electricity with a 20% reduction in water usage across all our craft breweries by 2020.”

Better Communities: “Our craft partners are all deeply connected to the communities where they live and work. With that, we’re committing $2,000,000 in 2018 for distribution to organizations of their choice to strengthen the connections to the communities in which our craft partners live and operate.”

Better Industry: “We’re committed to opening up the world of possibilities for beer through experience, education and opportunity. From elevating our events and creating new experiences to advancing our education programs and making our industry safer by hosting open-door quality and safety seminars—we’re striving to return our category to growth.”

“The incredible growth enjoyed by the overall beer industry has slowed,” Szpigel told Brewbound. “We need to be real about this and work together to return the beer industry to the growth we know it deserves.”

There are more than 4,000 craft breweries in the U.S., and 100,000-plus individuals brewing 15.6 million barrels of beer per year. Last year, craft beer sales generated $22 billion in sales across America, but that growth could use a boost—hence the “Elevate” platform.

On the sustainability, AB has committed to using 100% solar and wind power at its craft breweries by 2020 and reducing water usage at those facilities by 20% during the same period. “We are collectively motivated to double down on our commitment to achieve best-in-class environmental standards,” Szpigel said.

In addition, a $2 million donation budget for AB’s portfolio of craft brands will allow each to assist non-profit organizations in their local communities.

The move to highlight its beers’ freshness on labels follows a label-based inititiative by the Brewers Association, a U.S.-wide craft beer trade group based in Colorado, which is promoting a logo for its members’ craft beer labels. Its definition of craft beer: independent, traditional brewers that produce 6 million barrels of beer annually or less.

In October, the association launched a mock “takeover” of A-B, launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to buy A-B — and on a more serious note, to raise awareness of its craft beer brands versus those owned by “Big Beer” including Anheuser Busch’s craft beer brands.

As Ad Age noted in May, corporate parent AB InBev “will devote $2 billion in U.S. capital spending to bolstering its flagship beer brands and improve distribution. The money will also help support the company’s forays into “near beer,” alcoholic sparkling water and other products—like tea—that are far afield from its original mission.”

Below, hear more from Szpigel on growing AB’s The High End beer brands in a July 2017 interview with Brewbound:

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