Norman A Sabga, Chairman and Chief Executive at ANSA McAL, said the company has bought the world rights from Mackeson for every country in the world except the United Kingdom and Europe. “Quite frankly, sales in the European Union are less than the sales in Trinidad, but because it’s tied into other products in a multinational company, they could not separate it. In terms of the potential for that brand, we think it is phenomenal. And it was a no-brainer in terms of the acquisition because the royalty we were paying to the principle, it pays for itself,” Sabga said. He said the Group also decided to invest $310 million in the construction of a new clay block plant at Longdenville, Chaguanas.

“The decision was made, not that the market was declining, but we have right now three kilns and some of the kilns are over 45 years old. “Therefore, if we are staying in the business, we needed to invest in these operations. “The technology that we have bought is state-of-the-art and it will, in fact, use far less energy and far less labour,” he said. Sabga said there will no longer be a grading of its blocks with the use of the newly-acquired block-making technology, and that the plant’s output will equal that of the three kilns ANSA McAL now owns. He said the first commercial production from the new plant will be in August 2012. “We’re investing in areas in which we have expertise, which is one of our core businesses,” Sabga said.

May 27, 2011
Trinidad Guardian

That being said, I was looking for Mackeson for my husband (FunkyBlue) for his birthday. I ran the gamut of “no’s” from distributors and the like. Finally, I decided to start at the source. I called Boston Beer Co. They directed me to Anheuser Busch, who actually OWNS the brewery now in Cincy, Ohio that brewed and distributed Mackeson. The VERY pleasant woman on the phone not only told me “no”, but she even suggested ways for me to go about my search as well as similar beers that I might find for him (I know better than to buy a knockoff). For the last 3 days I’ve been researching and networking, on the web and by phone, to see where it would end up. Finally, I decided to contact Carib Brewery. No dice, no one would answer the phone. I ended up on their distributor page, and found some local distributors and made a few calls. Again with the “no’s” – until I reached one in which the young lady gave me a number for Carib that would most assuredly answer the phone after I remarked that no one would respond. It was the contact that the distributorship had on file, located in the US. So, I gave it a shot. To my surprise, someone answered the phone. A very nice gentlemen, and one that I began to realize was likely not accustomed to having his number given out, or speaking to an individual consumer. I gave him my well rehearsed question about the possibility of finding it in the US. His response, again “no”. Fan-freakin’-tastic… I then began my questions about how I could go about asking someone in the Carribean to import it, then speaking about the history of the beverage and how it ended up in this way. I quoted dates, and Whitbread, and the Mackeson boys as well as the implementation of his own company. With a bit of surprise in his voice, he remarked about how I’d “obviously done my homework”. I chuckled and this was his response: “I will tell you that we are working on the distributorship in the US. I can tell you it will be soon. Obviously, I can’t give you anymore details than that, but it will be soon.” When I queried what “soon” was in his world, he explained that it wouldn’t be this year, but they have a ballpark estimate of mid-2011. He explained that he was aware of the ground-swell of Mackeson drinkers in the US and they do pay attention to the public’s interest of having it again within the US.
In conclusion – there will be Mackeson. They will distribute it here and those who enjoy it will, no doubt, be happy.
I don’t even drink the stuff, but I still have his number… ;)

As was suggested above, I’ll try:
1)Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout
2)Left Hand Milk Stout

I’d love to hear of any other close substitutes for the unlucky US population?