Craft beer drinkers, prepare for the hair on your presumably hipster-bearded faces to stand on end. You are being mocked, yet again, during the most widely watched TV event of the year, the Super Bowl. And yet again, it’s Budweiser dishing the disses. 
 
 The fact that you yourself probably mock the “King of Beers” and Bud drinkers on a regular basis may offer some degree of comfort. But that’s likely not enough to stop craft beer brewers and fans from being agitated by the latest craft beer-bashing Super Bowl ad from Budweiser. 
 
 Last year, there was considerable backlash to Bud’s Super Bowl commercial, which proclaimed Bud as “proudly a macro beer” and made fun of hipster types who enjoyed fancy, “fussed over” brews. Understandably, the craft beer world was outraged, and some even created parodies of the Bud commercial. 
 
 Even fellow beer giant MillerCoors issued a statement condemning the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial. “We believe each and every style of beer is worth fussing over,” the message from MillerCoors stated. “Quality isn’t something that belongs to a single style of beer or a single brewer.” 
 
 Read next: Big Beer’s 5-Point Plan to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution 
 
 A big reason people were upset with the ad is that Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is clearly infatuated with craft beer, and the message was hypocritical. The company has been buying up craft beer labels left and right, including brands like Breckenridge Brewery and Four Peaks very recently. What’s more, Anheuser-Busch InBev not only created one of America’s most popular faux indie “crafty” beers with the Shock Top label, but it is featuring Shock Top in a Super Bowl commercial this year for the first time ever. 
 
 Nonetheless, the Budweiser Super Bowl ads of this year and last mock craft beer. In fact, despite the fact that Shock Top is often served with an orange wedge—and the logo and tap handles even feature an orange—the Bud commercial this year points out that Budweiser is “Not a Fruit Cup,” while showing a grizzled old-timer at the bar flicking a fruit wedge off his pint of Bud. 
 
 This year’s Super Bowl ad features a pounding soundtrack and a series of proclamations pointing out what Budweiser isn’t. We learn in boldface CAPS that Budweiser is… 
 
 NOT SMALL 
 
 (Most craft brewers are small, indie operations, and presumably, small is bad?) 
 
 NOT SIPPED 
 
 (Sipping is for sissies who drink beer for the taste.) 
 
 NOT SOFT 
 
 (More subtle messaging that craft beer is for wusses.) 
 
 NOT A FRUIT CUP 
 
 (See above; also, if you haven’t gotten the message yet, Bud is macho, not fruity.) 
 
 NOT IMPORTED 
 
 (Considering that Anheuser-Busch InBev is not an U.S. company, Budweiser is not really an American brand either, but why point this out in a commercial seen by more than 100 million viewers? Side note: The 4,000 craft breweries in the U.S. aren’t imported either, and unlike Budweiser, they are, in fact, American-owned.) 
 
 NOT FOR EVERYONE 
 
 (Something we can all agree on!) 
 
 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF711XAtrVg&w=640&h=390] 
 
 If the point of such an ad is to stir up some controversy in the beer world, Bud’s ad will probably succeed. Yet there’s probably another reason the commercial was created with such an anti-craft stance. It’s not supposed to win over craft beer drinkers by insulting them. That would never work. 
 
 Read next: Why Super Bowl Advertisers Are OK That the Commercials Don’t Boost Sales 
 
 Instead, the goal seems to be making Budweiser drinkers feel OK, perhaps even proud, that they are Budweiser drinkers. They aren’t trendy. They aren’t soft or small, or fruity. And apparently, they feel so insecure that they need for Budweiser to point all of this out. ||||| However, at Black Project, we have deep and serious issues with many of ABInBev's business strategies, mission, and overall ethics as they relate to craft beer in America. In Denver alone, we've seen several instances of highly aggressive, predatory, and what we consider to be unethical practices. We truly believe that ABInBev intends to systematically destroy American craft beer as we know it. We don't personally buy, seek, trade, or acquire any of their products for this reason, and we've been known to encourage our friends to do the same. 
 
 As some of you may know, and something many people have asked us about today, we have two collaboration beers with Wicked Weed currently in-progress; one beer at our facility and one at theirs. We also had plans, and were looking forward to attending, the Wicked Weed Funkatorium Invitational this July. We had a decision to make - to continue a business relationship with Wicked Weed now that they will be owned by ABInBev, or to cut ties and hopefully remain friends. 
 
 For us, the choice is clear. At this stage, we don't feel we are able to have a business relationship with Wicked Weed because that connection, ultimately, is one with ABInBev. Unfortunately, we don’t feel that having any connection with ABInBev is something we can do while still maintaining our mission, values, and core beliefs. 
 
 What this means is that we will not be able to lend our name to the unfinished collaboration beer currently aging in Asheville, NC. Additionally, the beer we brewed with Wicked Weed here at Black Project will be blended with other existing aged beer we have on hand to make something totally different which we will not consider a Wicked Weed collaboration. Finally, we will not be attending the Wicked Weed Funkatorium Invitational in July. 
 
 We wish the best to everyone at Wicked Weed and we are happy for their success. We know they will continue to make great beers and we hope to remain personal friends in the future. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 
 
 James Howat and Sarah Howat 
 
 Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales ||||| WASHINGTON The U.S. Justice Department is probing allegations that Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR) is seeking to curb competition in the beer market by buying distributors, making it harder for fast-growing craft brewers to get their products on store shelves, according to three people familiar with the matter. 
 
 In the past few months, the world's largest brewer has rattled the craft beer world by striking deals for five distributors in three states. Many states require brewers to use distributors to sell their product, and once AB InBev buys a distributor, craft companies say they find that they can't distribute their beer as easily and sales growth stalls. 
 
 Antitrust regulators are also reviewing craft brewers' claims that AB InBev pushes some independent distributors to only carry the company's products and end their ties with the craft industry, two of the sources said, noting that the investigation was in its early stages. AB InBev's purchase of several craft beer makers in recent years means that it is in a position to offer a greater variety of products itself. 
 
 State regulators in California, where AB InBev announced wholesaler purchases in Oakland and San Jose in September, are also looking into the matter, the people familiar with the matter said. 
 
 The beer giant confirmed that it was talking to regulators. "Anheuser-Busch has been in communication with the Department of Justice and California attorney general’s office about the transactions. We are working cooperatively to address any questions they have," an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said in an email. 
 
 Craft brewers, who produce everything from well-crafted classics to odd flavors such as pumpkin or raspberry beer, have been a bright spot in an otherwise dull U.S. beer market. While beer sales rose 0.5 percent in 2014, craft beer sales rose by 17.6 percent to capture 11 percent of the U.S. market. 
 
 The Justice Department review comes at an awkward time for AB InBev as it is seeking to buy No.2 SABMiller Plc (SAB.L) for more than $100 billion in what would be the biggest-ever merger of brewers. AB InBev is widely expected to sell SABMiller's stake in U.S.-based MillerCoors if the merger goes through, leaving its U.S. market share unchanged at 46.4 percent. 
 
 Small craft brewers have already been rattled by AB InBev's purchases of craft beer makers, including Golden Road in September, Blue Point Brewing in 2014 and Goose Island Beer Co in 2011. 
 
 As AB InBev also snaps up distributors, craft brewers have expressed concern that the company would push distributors to only carry its products. 
 
 To retain the craft title, a brewery must make less than 6 million barrels annually. That means those that get taken over by a big brewer like AB InBev lose that identity even if they still make small batches with distinctive flavors. 
 
 It was not clear if other state regulators were looking at the recent purchases of two distributors in Colorado and one in New York as well. 
 
 The Justice Department declined comment. The attorney generals' offices for California, New York and Colorado did not respond to requests for comment. 
 
 QUICKLY STALLED 
 
 Nikos Ridge, CEO of Ninkasi Brewing Co in Oregon, said that when two of his distributors were bought by AB InBev in 2011 and 2012, he saw what had been healthy sales growth quickly stall until it found alternative distributors. 
 
 "Our feeling was that we weren't getting the same level of representation," said Ridge. "We saw our trends drop and we have seen improvements since we've switched." 
 
 An executive at a second craft brewer, who asked not to be named, said that AB InBev had recently bought one of its distributors. "It (the distributor) is slowly but surely divesting itself of everything that is not ABI. And we're one of the last ones," said the executive, who noted that its other options for distribution were limited. "We're at the mercy of a lot of big players." 
 
 Their experience is not unique. Conversations with at least four other craft brewers told the same story. 
 
 There were some 4,000 craft beer companies as of September, brewing everything from artfully made classics like Dale's Pale Ale, Brooklyn Lager and Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen, as well as quirky brews like Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, and the super hoppy Palate Wrecker from Green Flash Brewing Co. 
 
 A handful of antitrust experts say that craft brewers have a case, albeit not an easy one. 
 
 The authorities could step in if AB InBev bought so many distributors that craft brewers lost significant access to a local market, said Jonathan Lewis, an antitrust expert at the law firm Baker Hostetler LLP. He estimated that the breaking point could be when AB InBev owned some 50 percent of distributors in a given area. 
 
 Andy Gavil, a former head of the Federal Trade Commission's Office of Policy Planning who now teaches antitrust law at Howard University Law School, said he believes the problem could be resolved by scrapping a requirement for alcoholic beverages to go through liquor distributors in most U.S. states. That would allow the craft brewers to go directly to the supermarkets, liquor stores and bars. 
 
 "There are some older justifications that it's about preventing underage sales but since the ultimate sale is done by a retailer, that's a bogus argument," Gavil said. 
 
 (Editing by Soyoung Kim and Martin Howell)
– To a craft beer aficionado, the only sin worse than drinking a Bud would be if your favorite brewery sold out to the company that owns it. That's the situation that has fans of the Wicked Weed brewery now crying "treachery," per the Washington Post, which reports on the news that the Asheville, NC, institution has teamed up with Anheuser-Busch InBev "as a strategic partner." The reason for the move by Wicked Weed—which the Citizen-Times notes was founded in 2012 by Walt and Luke Dickinson and friends Ryan, Rick, and Denise Guthy—is, as Walt Dickinson explains, to stay competitive. A fellow craft brewery owner in Oregon backs him up, noting that his own brewery's acquisition by AB InBev offered him access to better ingredients and distribution. But the buyout has craft beer fans livid, especially after Budweiser's 2015 and 2016 Super Bowl ads that mocked craft beer drinkers. Wicked Weed's Facebook announcement was met with angry and sad emoji, with "very disappointed" and "disheartened" just a sampling of the negative comments. Some of Wicked Weed's distributors and partners aren't happy, either, with Denver's Black Project brewery cutting its ties to WW—not because it doesn't love the beer, but because it believes AB InBev has "unethical practices" and "intends to systematically destroy American craft beer as we know it." Other commenters on Wicked Weed's Facebook page say they will remain loyal fans. "At the end of the day, great beer will win," Walt Dickinson tells the Citizen-Times. (Walmart recently took heat on the craft beer front.)