Dive Brief:
- Brew Hub, the contract brewer launched in 2012, will build company headquarters and a 200,000 barrel facility in the suburbs of St. Louis, home to Anheuser-Busch.
- The St. Louis brewery will be the second of five operations planned by Brew Hub, which offers equipment and production capacity to craft brewers seeking to scale their businesses.
- Brew Hub was founded by a former Anheuser-Busch executive named Tim Schoen, and is backed by billionaire Ron Burkle, who controls the private equity group Yucaipa that bought the Fresh & Easy supermarket chain.
Dive Insight:
Brew Hub is a fascinating business model as the first attempt to build a national chain of contract brewers to serve regional craft brewers. If it works, it will bring considerable scale and momentum to the craft brewing industry.
It would also be one more blow to the business of major label national beers ... which is the core industry of St. Louis.