Dive Brief:
- Anheuser-Busch InBev has filed a lawsuit in Kentucky to force regulators to expedite its request to buy a distributor in the city of Owensboro.
- Local brewers oppose the purchase, fearing the competitive power of AB InBev, the world's largest brewer. AB makes some of the best-selling beers in the country, including Budweiser, Bud Light, and Stella Artois.
- At issue is a law enacted with the repeal of Prohibition that forbids brewers from owning distributorships or retail operations.
Dive Insight:
AB InBev knows that state regulators have granted some exceptions to the no-distributor rules. AB already owns a distributorship in Louisville, for example, which it acquired after filing a lawsuit and winning an exception back in 1978.
But the lawsuit is probably aimed less at winning another exception in Kentucky than it is aimed at similar laws in place across the nation. Ohio, for example, blocked AB InBev from buying a distributor in the state last year.
AB InBev, looking for growth in a shrinking market, may have decided that its best option is to pick a fight over distribution laws on a national basis. If the brewer doesn't get what it wants in Kentucky, look for shift to the federal courts as the brewer seeks to throw out the Prohibition-era prohibitions on beer distribution.