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Dive Brief:
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Anheuser-Busch announced it will shutter a brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as it plans a $1 million investment in its craft brewing capabilities.
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The company will shutter the 104,000-square-foot brewery operated by Craft Brew Alliance, which produced Kona and Omission beers. Anheuser-Busch did not respond to a request for comment on how many jobs would be affected.
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The closure comes as the Bud Light brewer announces a $1 million investment in an Asheville, North Carolina, facility operated by Wicked Weed, a craft brewer owned by Anheuser-Busch's parent company AB InBev.
Dive Insight:
Amid an overall slowdown in beer sales, Anheuser-Busch has made a variety of changes to its manufacturing approach in recent months.
Last fall, it invested $16 million in its Los Angeles brewery in order to boost the production of canned cocktails like Cutwater and Nütrl vodka seltzer. Earlier this month, the brewer announced it will spend $4.2 million on upgrades at a Virginia facility producing drinks like Bud Light and Michelob Ultra. Anheuser-Busch also entered a deal at the start of 2025 to produce Pabst Blue Ribbon’s products.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Portsmouth production facility said the closure will boost the Craft Brew Alliance’s production capabilities, while adding that the company is aware of the impact on workers at the plant.
“We are committed to working with the local Union that represents some of the CBA facility employees to provide resources for impacted employees in Portsmouth, such as severance and preferential hiring at other facilities,” the spokesperson said.
The Portsmouth facility was previously owned by Cisco Brewing, which is a member of the Craft Brew Alliance, a conglomerate of craft breweries acquired fully by Anheuser-Busch in 2020 for $321 million.
The Craft Brew Alliance produces popular national brews like Kona Big Wave, Omission ales and Redhook IPAs. Anheuser-Busch’s parent company AB InBev bought Wicked Weed for an undisclosed amount in 2017.
Craft beer, a category that exploded in the 2010s, has slowed down considerably since the pandemic due to an overcrowded market. Sales of craft brews in the first half of 2024 declined 2% year-over-year, Craft Brewing Business reported.
Justin Kissinger, CEO of industry trade group the World Brewing Alliance, told Food Dive in an interview last month that while openings and closings of new breweries remain flat, he believes the American craft industry still holds influence over global beer trends.