RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The sale of North Carolina’s beloved Wicked Weed beer to the company that makes Budweiser is coming at a cost for the Asheville craft brewer.
Wicked Weed has lost its voting rights in a craft beer guild and was booted from collaborations with two independent breweries. A handful of stores and restaurants also say they will no longer sell the beer because it has been sold to the macro-brewer Anheuser-Busch Inbev.
Walt Dickinson co-founded Wicked Weed in 2012. He says the deal will allow them to maintain a high degree of autonomy and that he plans to win back any upset customers.