The parent company of Budweiser plans to start brewing some of Craft Brew Alliance's beers as part of a renewed business agreement. The off-site brewing is part of an ambitious expansion for the organization that includes several Portland-based breweries including Widmer Brothers.

Craft Brew Alliance signed a new 10-year agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev to maintain a distribution agreement and lay out plans for future expansion. One of those goals is transitioning 300,000 barrels of production from the craft breweries to the Anheuser-Busch facilities, which already pump out Leffe, Hoegaarden, Landshark Lager, Natural Light, Michelob, Shock Top, and Bass Pale Ale on top of the Bud and Busch brews.

"We have not yet determined which beers we would look to brew in Anheuser-Busch's breweries," said spokeswoman Jenny McLean.

Widmer recently opened a brand-new Innovation Brewery, which has a dedicated staff of three that experiment with one-off brews, collaborations and bring back old favorites. Each of the other Craft Brew Alliance companies have their own version -- part of a $10 million expansion. Widmer, overall, is capable of creating 75,000 barrels at a time.

McLean said, given the recent investment, Widmer doesn't plan to off-load any brewing yet. "However, it's great to know that all of our brands have an option for growth should the need arise in the future."

Anheuser owns almost 33 percent of Craft Brew Alliance, which spans Kona Brewing in Hawaii, Red Hook in Washington, Resignation Brewery in Texas and Portland-based brands Widmer, gluten-free Omission and Square Mile Cider. Anheuser-Busch distributes the beers nationally, a boost that makes the beers much more pervasive in bars and on grocery store shelves than many independent breweries.

Next, the partnership plans to take the beers internationally. Kona is already being sold in Mexico and Brazil, according to a Craft Brew Alliance release.

The Alliance did not specify where the targeted countries might be, but Asia has shown interest in Oregon beers -- especially Japan.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger