Will local breweries be affected by the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by an overseas beer company?

It's being reported that Anheuser-Busch is begin acquired by Belgian-based brewer InBev for the total sum of about $52 billion.

The deal would create the world's largest brewer, and put the iconic American brewery in the hands of an overseas company.

The company will now call itself Anheuser-Busch-Inbev, and while it is said that Anheuser would have two seats on the company board, the merger would give the European-based InBev almost half of the United States beer market.

This comes as quite a switch, as Anheuser just rejected a $46 billion offer by InBev last month.

Now of course, the question is - what does this means for smaller domestic breweries throughout the United States?

Phil Leinhart is the Brewmaster at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, and has worked in the brewing business for more than a decade - including working at one time for Anheuser Busch.

He said that as of right now, it doesn't seem like the merger would have much effect on what are known as "craft" breweries such as Ommegang or F.X. Matt, as the craft beers that Anheuser Busch currently produces are minimal compared to their mainstream products.

"AB [Anheuser Busch] is already into the craft segment a little bit with part ownerships," Leinhart said. "They have a special beer division. I don't know if this would mean they would expand, if that's they're initiative. My impression doesn't necessarily mean that they will. It just means they're going to be one huge brewing company."

Now these types of mergers are not out of the ordinary, and Leinhart noted such other examples such as SAB-Miller and Coors-Molson as other beer companies that have over time merged into single companies.

And while Leinhart can only speculate, he says that whether this merger into an even larger company for Anheuser-Busch would mean they'd start setting their eyes on more smaller, craft breweries in the country remains to be seen.