Craft ‘Ohana announced a pair of “strategic partnerships” for the future of the Modern Times Beer brand and hospitality business that will see the Hawaii-headquartered company step back from the daily operations to “focus and double down” on growing Maui Brewing.
While Craft ‘Ohana will “retain an interest” in Modern Times, the company “will not be directly involved” in the daily operations.
Josh Landan-led brand house Wings & Arrow will oversee the Modern Times Beer business moving forward. Landan founded Saint Archer, the San Diego craft beer brand he later sold to Molson Coors in 2015, and later created the Ashland Hard Seltzer and Harland Brewing brands.
In addition to Wings & Arrow’s portion of the deal, a group led by San Diego businessman Duncan Ward has acquired the Modern Times Coffee brand and hospitality businesses. Ward’s LinkedIn page lists him as the executive chairman of Victoria Corporate Strategists, described as “corporate strategy and turnaround specialists” with expertise in restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
The transition is expected to take place over the next month.
“As Maui Brewing Co. continues to experience significant growth, we recognized the need for strategic partnerships to help Modern Times flourish while enabling us to focus fully on our core Maui brands,” Craft ‘Ohana CEO Garrett Marrero said in the announcement. “We found two local San Diego-based partners who understand the nuances of Southern California’s market and bring deep expertise in their respective areas.
“This approach mirrors the leadership model we’ve successfully implemented at Maui Brewing Co. and Maui Brewing Restaurant Group to drive growth,” he continued
Landan added: “Modern Times is all I can hope for in a partner. I have watched the brand for many years and always believed in its potential. I am still reeling from the idea that I get to work on the brand each day, help to continue the great presence it has here in San Diego and future of a local fixture.”
For his part, Ward said a new Modern Times Beer + Coffee bar is planned to open in West Hollywood in early 2025.
The Modern Times announcement made no references to Great Frontier Holdings, the platform created in May 2023 through a merger of Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon, and the Wings & Arrow portfolio, which included Ashland Hard Seltzer and later Portland, Oregon-based Ecliptic Brewing via a November 2023 acquisition.
When the merger was announced, Landan was named Great Frontier’s CEO, while Ninkasi co-founders Nikos Ridge and Jamie Floyd held operational and leadership roles.
Speaking to Brewbound on Thursday, Ridge said he is now leading Great Frontier Holdings as CEO and Landan’s tenure ended around six months ago.
Ridge told Brewbound that Great Frontier Holdings holds a licensing and distribution agreement for Ashland Hard Seltzer, as well as both companies maintaining “shared equity” in the business. Great Frontier is also planning to roll out Ashland seltzer in the Pacific Northwest later this month.
The new partnerships are part of Craft ‘Ohana’s evolving strategy behind the Modern Times brand.
In early September, Craft ‘Ohana announced it was shifting production of Modern Times to fellow San Diego-based brewery AleSmith and closing Modern Times’ Point Loma production facility. The wind-down process, which resulted in the elimination of 57 jobs, was scheduled to take 60 days, Craft ‘Ohana president and COO Scott Metzger told Brewbound at the time.
Modern Times’ production, packaging and coffee roasting equipment from the Point Loma facility is slated to be sold during a November 7 auction.
Even after closing the Point Loma facility, which also housed Modern Times’ coffee roasting operations, the company maintained its North Park and Encinitas taprooms. The taprooms were not listed in the announcement, and Ward’s plans for them are unclear.
The production change was just the first step in unwinding then-Maui’s acquisition of Modern Times in 2022 via a contentious and complicated auction process.
During the auction, Anaheim, California-based Brewery X was selected as the winning bidder at $20 million, but opted not to buy Modern Times after all, leaving Maui’s backup bid of $15.3 million as the winner. The deal ultimately closed in October 2022 for $10 million, after which Maui and Modern Times merged under Craft ‘Ohana.
Before Modern Times went up for auction, the brewery operated eight taprooms in California and Oregon. Four of those closed in February 2022, and one more followed during the merger process. Records logged during Modern Times’ court-mandated receivership revealed that the company was behind on rent for some of its taprooms.
Modern Times’ dollar sales (-25.6%) and volume (-26.8%) have both declined double-digits in the 52-week period ending October 5, according to NIQ off-premise data shared by 3 Tier Beverages. Meanwhile, Maui has recorded reversed trends, with dollar sales increasing +17.7% and volume +22.7% in the last 52 weeks.
Craft ‘Ohana was the 26th largest craft brewery in the country by volume in 2023, according to the Brewers Association (BA). Combined, Maui and Modern Times produced 104,783 barrels of beer last year, a +3% increase year-over-year. Maui Brewing alone produced 78,515 barrels, and was the No. 6 largest BA-defined craft brewery in the pacific region (California and Hawaii) in 2023.