Blumenthal tells Connecticut brewers he’s got their back

HARTFORD >> Connecticut craft brewers are concerned that a merger of two of the nation’s biggest beermakers will have chilling effect on their business.

Representatives from about two-dozen small breweries from around Connecticut met with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Monday afternoon to discuss their concerns about the $107 billion merger between Anheuser Busch InBev and SAB Miller. Blumenthal met with the local industry leaders at the Thomas Hooker Brewery in the city’s Colt complex.

“You have a great American story, an enduring one,” Blumenthal told the brewers. “There’s nothing more important than insuring free access to the open market.”

Because the combination of Anheuser Busch InBev and SAB Miller accounts for about half of the beer sold in the United States, the approval the U.S. Justice Department granted the deal between the two companies in 2016 contained a number of provisions to keep them from monopolizing the market.

Blumenthal, who opposed the merger, said if there is evidence it results in the brewing giant having a stranglehold in such areas as product distribution or availability of ingredients, he is willing to call for Senate hearings.

Among the brewers attending the meeting with Blumenthal was Ed Crowley, founder of Branford’s Stony Creek Brewery. Crowley said some brewers in other parts of the United States already are feeling the impact of the merger.

“Craft breweries in California use South African hops in making their beer,” he said. “AB (Anheuser Busch) has said they will not allow non-AB brewers to use their South African hops.”

The merger between Anheuser Busch InBev and SAB Miller included the latter hop farms in South Africa. South Africa produced 1.81 million pounds of hops in 2016, according to the website MarketWatch, more than the entire crop produced in the United States when excluding Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The concern Connecticut craft brewers have about the deal is a little more long-term, Crowley said.

“The men and women in this room today are very passionate about their craft,” he said. “I think we are very concerned about what the merger is going to mean in terms of our ability to grow five years from now.”

Right now, business is booming for small breweries in Connecticut, said Dana Bourque, co-owner of Firefly Hollow Brewing in Bristol and president of the Connecticut Brewers Guild. Currently, there are about four-dozen craft breweries operating in Connecticut, Bourque said, with another 60 in the planning stage.

“We want to see everyone succeed,” he said. “We don’t want to get to a point where growth is curtailed.”

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-680-9388.