Comments on: Heineken in Talks to Buy Staropramen

By: Chris Shallow

Chris Shallow — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:13:26 +0000

Mestan also ended up redeveloped. I remember the great Mestan 12 which used to be sold, on draught, in Sv. Tomas, and, in bottles, on the station kiosks at the main station . . . My bet is, once the recession is over, the Staropramen brwery will be closed and the site redeveloped: quick ‘cash back’ for whoever ends up buying it. Maybe its sale to, say Heineken, will enable Anheuser-Busch InBev to buy Budvar after the autumn election. Heineken will get to distribute its (Brno-brewed?) brand instead of Prague-brewed Stella Artois (nothing like as good as the original, so no loss) and AB InBev will get a Czech premium beer brand which they can really develop as a world brand. I hope that Heineken will not mess around with Budvar which still tastes alamost as good as it did in the early 90s. (Interestingly, my British friends also like Staro in the UK.)

By: Velky Al

Velky Al — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:02:08 +0000

Pretoria,

Alternatively we can support the smaller breweries trying something different.

By: pretoria

pretoria — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:20:40 +0000

It the same for the South Africans as well: they brew Pilsner Urquell in Poland and in Russia.

Also Gambrinus volumes come for a big part from the Kozel brewery or Ostrava!

So a brewery is simply no longer linked to any particular brand. The same beer can be made in every brewery; just use the same ingredients and processes!

It something we all have to get used to!

By: Pivo Prosím « Stockczech

Pivo Prosím « Stockczech — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:46:35 +0000

[...] Prague Monitor brings the news that the Dutch firm Heineken is negotiating to buy the Staropramen brand. This [...]

By: Velky Al

Velky Al — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:00:52 +0000

It is not as though the loss of Smichov made Stella would be a great loss to the market. It is interesting that Staropramen has a bad reputation given the amount of people in the UK who think it is a decent lager (yes I know it is only the UK, but we are talking about some well regarded bloggers in that group of people). Pulling out of Staropramen on the part of AB-InBev does make me think that there will be some attempt to buy Budvar on their part. I had a friend working at InBev and they were apparently very interested in buying them and had positive discussions with the government.

By: pivero

pivero — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:23:34 +0000

A dead pool of Heineken owned brands, or breweries. From the moment they bought Drinks Union the word on the street was that Velké Brezno was going to be shut down with production shifted to the nearby Zlatopramen Brewery. I woulnd’t bet on a long life for both Louny or Kutná Hora, either.

The most interesting thing, however is the possibility of Staropramen being shut down. The brand has a very bad reputation in the market already, but it is still very valuable and the brewery has massive capacity that I don’t think could be absorved by any of the other Heineken breweries, not even Krusovice.

As for Heineken buying Budvar, I would actually put chips on Carlsberg, who are already working with Budvar. Though, what if AB-InBev has decided to drop the cumbersome Staropramen in order to raise some cash to buy the state brewery? One of the promises they made AB shareholders last year was that they would make Budweiser a household name in Europe, with the latest Euro Court ruling I don’t see that happening any time soon, unless both brands suddenly get one owner… I truly hope not.

PS: If AB-InBev does pull out of the Czech market, will that mean that we won’t see Stella around anymore?

By: De store og giganterne - tirsdag « Beerticker.dk BETA

De store og giganterne - tirsdag « Beerticker.dk BETA — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:59:38 +0000

[...] Heineken in Talks to Buy Staropramen (Prague Daily Monitor) [...]