(Sparta, TN) – Recall last week’s story in which Calfkiller Brewing called out Anheuser-Busch for taking kegs from some of its accounts that the company alleges that it attained through proper channels.
This afternoon, Calfkiller reported on its Facebook page that the two sides came to an agreement.
We are very pleased to announce the keg issue with Budweiser has been resolved, and we are losing NO KEGS! Thank you fans for your support, and THANK YOU BUDWEISER!!
Calfkiller has not yet responded to a request for more details around the agreement.
Earlier in the day, Beer Business Daily’s Harry Schuhmacher took Calfkiller to task, offering perspective from Anheuser-Busch’s point of view.
[…] maybe they just saw stolen assets at a competing company and are attempting to get them back. Regardless, A-B has expressed that they don’t want craft brewers or their consumers to hate them, and Calfkiller’s kegs are small beer to them, but when you add up all of the keg shrinkage out there, it turns quickly into millions of dollars and something’s got to be done. It’s not just A-B: A source says they’ve seen Calfkiller beer in MillerCoors, Yuengling, and others’ kegs as well.
Kegs are creating a bottleneck of sorts for craft beer growth. While at the Craft Brewers Conference, the topic came up frequently. One brewer noted that the issue with Calfkiller was more widespread and that they had heard of a couple other local brewers affected by the same batch of rogue kegs. Another brewer, speaking more broadly, said “There is a lot of money to be made in kegs right now.”
Kegs. Yet another supply-side business that people should be considering along with the 1,119 breweries-in-planning.
As the Brits say about Budwiser, “Headache in a can.”