Acquires assets of failed distribution business and bar
Earlier this year, beer specialist wholesaler and retailer The Bottle Shop went out of business. The short-term causes were said to be the loss of distribution contracts for popular beer brands Beavertown (now part-owned by Heineken) and Mikkeller.
Today, in an article on the Beer Insider website, it has been announced that the remnants of The Bottle Shop, including around £400,000 worth of stock, have been purchased by AB InBev. The multinational will be integrating it into its existing Beer Hawk retail operations, under the name “Beer Hawk (B2B)”. Negotiations to make the former Bottle Shop bar in Bermondsey the third Beer Hawk bar in London are under way, though other potential buyers are understtod to be interested.
The Bottle Shop’s founder, Andrew Morgan, will be transferring to AB InBev to head up the new subsidiary. He promises that the loose legal framework within which The Bottle Shop handled partner breweries and their wares will be tightened up in the new arrangement.
Beer Insider raises the question of whether the independent breweries who were previously customers of The Bottle Shop will want to transfer their loyalties to a company owned and operated by their largest global competitor.
Edited to add: On 5th July, UK beer subscription service Beer Bods announced that they too had been acquired by Beer Hawk.
This piece was further edited on 8th July to include additional reporting by Matt Curtis.
