Who Owns What Beer? Here’s a Brief Rundown

Ownership of the beer brands we enjoy is as varied and intriguing as the world that produces them.

The roster of players includes a billionaire politician from India; a huge, faceless Belgian-Brazilian corporation; a Mexican-born marketing whiz; a Chinese municipal government; the Czech Ministry of Agriculture and a nonprofit foundation in California headed by a Jesuit priest.

“Beer continues on its divergent path,” said Paul Gatza of the Boulder-based Brewers Association. “It moves toward both the world of global mergers and acquisitions and toward the world of small, independent companies that are integral parts of their communities.”

Fortunes can still be made in brewing startups, even when playing hardball with the giants. The Boston Beer Co., 23-year-old maker of the Samuel Adams line, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its founding chairman, Jim Koch, 57, remains one of the biggest shareholders; his 380,000 shares were worth more than $17 million Aug. 6.

One of the more curious beer-company owners is the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation of Mill Valley, Calif., which owns the Pabst Corp., despite the IRS’ insistence that it divest all beer interests. There are no breweries left, but its brands _ including Pabst Blue Ribbon, Stroh’s, Olympia, Lone Star, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee and Colt 45 _ are produced under contract by SABMiller at its Fort Worth plant and elsewhere.

Run by a Catholic priest, the Rev. John LoSchiavo, chancellor of the University of San Francisco, the foundation, founded by a Jewish couple, now deceased, has been given until 2010 to find a buyer after a search two years ago failed.

Another charitable owner is Denmark’s Carlsberg Foundation. After a merger with the Tuborg Foundation, it holds 60 percent of Denmark’s biggest brewer, Carlsberg A/S. Profits support scientific research and the Frederiksborg Palace museum.

The Heineken family still holds a large stake in the eponymous brewing concern, which bottles Affligem Belgian ale, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr from Germany, and Ireland’s Murphy’s Stout.

Families or their trusts still control Molson Coors; Warsteiner, Thai Beverage (Singha) and Mexico’s Modelo.

The most famous Irish stout, Guinness, is owned by the publicly traded drinks giant, London-based Diageo (Dee-AH-gee-oh), which also produces Harp and Smithwick’s.

The world’s biggest suds producer was formed in 2004 by Belgian and Brazilian interests, InBev. It’s not a household word, but its brands are: Beck’s, Bass, St. Pauli Girl, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden, Labatt, Leffe, Spaten, Franziskaner, Boddingtons, Tennant’s and Brazil’s Brahma.

Global consolidation prompted Japan’s Sapporo to buy Canada’s Sleeman, which had just finished acquiring Quebec Province’s Unibroue, producer of La Fin du Monde. And an American investment firm, Steel Partners, owns 17 percent of Sapporo.

One out of every two beers quaffed in America comes from Anheuser-Busch, which also has interests in craft brews and imports, including a healthy chunk of Mexico’s Modelo, brewer of Corona. A-B also produces Japan’s Kirin beer in the U.S., under a licensing agreement.

Aside from its popular Miller brands, London-based SABMiller owns Leinenkugel’s, Henry Weinhard’s, Hamm’s, Milwaukee’s Best and Peroni, along with the jewel in its crown, Pilsner Urquell, the famed Czech lager.

Foster’s Group Ltd. brews Foster’s in Australia, but not in North America or in Europe. Under a 10-year licensing deal with Miller, Foster’s will be made for the first time in the United States starting in November _ in Fort Worth, Texas and in Albany, Ga. It has been brewed in Canada by Molson Coors for the U.S. market. SABMiller last year reportedly paid $120 million to secure the brand for the increasingly affluent India market, while Britain’s Scottish and Newcastle was said to have handed over half a billion dollars for rights to produce Foster’s for Europe.

Budvar Budweis _ sold in some countries as Budweiser and in the U.S. market as Czechvar, because of a trademark dispute with Anheuser-Busch _ is owned by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture. Despite the branding lawsuits, A-B recently secured the right to import Czechvar, prompting rumors of an eventual takeover by the St. Louis brewer. In February, Czech Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovithe said there might be privatization in the state brewery’s future.

The Philippine government owns 24 percent of San Miguel, a top Asian brand. And China’s Tsingtao _ nationalized after the communist takeover in 1949 _ still counts the Qingdao City Administration among its stakeholders. But Anheuser-Busch has a larger slice of the Tsingtao pie, with 27 percent.

One of the more flamboyant brewers is Vijay Mallya, whose Bangalore-based United Breweries produces India’s top-selling brand, Kingfisher. Mallya owns a castle in Scotland, private jets and his own commercial airline.

When he’s not globe-trotting and buying up old Scotch whisky companies, he might join a debate as a member of India’s upper house of Parliament. In the United States, he took over California’s respected but ailing Mendocino Brewing Co. and merged it with Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. Aside from its flagship Red Tail Ale, Mendocino also produces a U.S. version of Kingfisher, a lager found in many Indian restaurants.

And Texas’ iconic Shiner Bock, from Spoetzl Brewery, was rescued from years of mismanagement by Carlos Alvarez, a Mexican-reared marketing maven responsible for much of Corona’s U.S. success. Long before he lost the right to import to half the country on Jan. 1 _ and with it more than 90 percent of his gross sales _ Alvarez had acquired Spoetzl, Pete’s Wicked Ale and Portland’s Bridgeport Brewery. A recent venture by the San Antonio entrepreneur is a Berkeley, Calif., brewery producing a single beer _ an award-winning lager of Austrian descent called Trumer Pils.

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(c) 2007, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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