Who owns LAND SHARK LAGER?

LAND SHARK LAGER is owned by

CARLSBERG GROUP

Inside of Canada

First Brewed

2006

Origin

United States

Website

The Land Shark beer brand was created in 2006 and is currently owned by Margaritaville Brewing Co., which is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The name comes from the lyrics of the Jimmy Buffet song, “Fins.” In it, Buffet describes men looking for vacationing women as “sharks that can swim on the land.” The land shark motif quickly became a motif of much “Parrothead” merchandise, leading to the eventual deal with Anheuser-Busch.

Buffet, who had had a long-term sponsorship relationship with Corona, had helped change that brand’s reputation from Hispanic working man’s beer to “vacation in a bottle.” Seeing the success of his endorsement, Buffet and his holding company’s CEO, John Cohlan, decided to make one of their own. Buffet teamed up with Anheuser-Busch to create Land Shark originally as a house beer for his Margaritaville restaurants. Anheuser-Busch had been eager to find a beer similar to Corona of their own, after the recent failure of their Tequiza to catch hold of the nation’s attention.

The beer was initially called “Lone Palm Lager” after another one of Buffet’s songs, but changed it after consumer research that “nobody wanted to drink a ‘Lone.'” The company also considered calling it Margaritaville Lager, but felt that the name would be too confusing.

The beer also had a sponsorship deal with the Miami Dolphins football team, and during the 2009 stadium in which they played was renamed “Land Shark Stadium.”

In 2015, Waterloo Brewing Company secured the license to produce the beer for the Canadian market for ten years. That deal was extended in 2020 for a further five years to 2030, with the option to extend to 2040. In 2022, Waterloo Brewing was purchased by Carlsberg Group.