Heineken takes 100% stake in Brixton Brewery: capitalism tends to monopoly
Brixton Brewery has announced that global brewer Heineken will take a 100% stake in the venture after previously taking a minority stake in 2017.
Clearly Heineken having taken a good look at the brewery and its beer has determined that it has a bright future and that is good news both for the continued production of the beer and its 25 employees in very difficult times.
As the beer writer Matthew Curtis noted on twitter it is no huge surprise. Its roughly the same timescale as Heineken had to take full control of Lagunitas after earlier buying a stake. It also raises questions over the independence of Beavertown Brewery where Heineken also have a considerable interest.
As with Camden Brewery which has been subsumed directly into ABI after a 5 year period one suspects that eventually Brixton may become just another Heineken brand. The owners are staying on (as they would, its not a hostile buyout) but while they talk of eccentricity that doesn’t play well with corporate culture. Men in suits like KPIs and targets. Experiments less so.
The wider issue for independent and craft brewers is that Brixton beers decent as they are, with the full weight of Heineken behind them will reduce space in the on and off trade for others.
It’s a reminder that capitalism while it promotes the ideas of free markets and competition in fact left to its own devices tends to monopoly.
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