Goose Island has sold their original location to Anheuser-Busch. The location was not part of the Anheuser-Busch purchase over 5 years ago.
When the deal was made in 2011, Illinois law prevented Anheuser-Busch InBev to purchase the brewpub. That didn’t prevent the world’s largest brewery from proceeding with the offer.
According to a Goose Island employee that didn’t want to be identified, the original deal targeted the production facility and recipes, in order to bring them into the Anheuser portfolio. There was no initial interest in the brewpub.
Since the original purchase, Anheuser-Busch has been purchasing craft breweries that also own satellite brewpub locations. (ex. Golden Road, Breckenridge, Four Peaks.)
The apparent success of those purchases has prompted Anheuser-Busch to return to complete the sale of the brewpub as well. Neither Goose Island or Anheuser-Busch would reveal the financial terms of the deal.
Beer Street Journal called he Anheuser-Busch media line this afternoon, only to find this “doesn’t warrant a press statement. “
