After 17 Years, Major Brands and Schlafly Part Ways

Major Brands, the largest Missouri-owned distributor of beer, wine and spirits, has released Schlafly Beer’s brand rights to the Saint Louis Brewery, ending the two parties’ 17-year distribution partnership as of Monday.

In a statement, Schlafly, St. Louis’ largest craft brewery, credited Major Brands with helping to grow the company’s business. But the brewer, whose sales declined 13 percent last year to an estimated 52,000 barrels of beer, according to Brewers Association data, said “it was in our best interest to explore other avenues for distribution.”

Those new avenues will include a network of eight wholesalers throughout Missouri:

  • Summit Distributing in St. Louis
  • Nauser Beverage in Columbia
  • Central States Beverage in Kansas City
  • Kohlfeld Distributing in Cape Girardeau
  • Grellner Sales & Services in Rolla/Lake of the Ozarks
  • Heart of America Beverage Co. in Springfield
  • Lloyd Distributing Co. in Kirksville
  • Mark Twain Distributing in Hannibal

“The distribution of beer is core to each of these distributor’s business,” Schlafly said in the statement. “They understand how to sell leading brands and have deep connections within their communities, to further our connections with consumers.”

Schlafly, which was founded in 1991, had previously partnered with the Nauser, Grellner and Summit operations (formerly known as St. Louis Sales), which generated $91 million in revenue last year, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Major Brands began carrying the Schlafly brand statewide in 1998.

In a press release, Major Brands said the release of Schlafly marked a “shift in strategy,” one that will include a greater focus on “relevant, visionary-led crafts.”

“Focusing on brewers that are committed to successful innovation in style and format best serves our retailers and the Missouri consumer,” Major Brands CEO Sue McCollum said.

Major Brands also said it would focus on a portfolio of “Missouri’s fastest growing beer brands, as well as the leading national brands.” The wholesaler singled out three Missouri breweries: Torn Label Brewing Co., Logboat and 4 Hands Brewing, which it said “are growing at internal rates higher than 185 percent 60 percent and 30 percent, respectively.”

Additionally, Major Brands will focus its sales on regional craft brands such as Brooklyn Brewery, Founders, Oskar Blues, Left Hand and Deschutes.

Last year, Major Brands generated $405 million in revenue, with beer accounting for 10 percent of the company’s sales, the Business Journal reported. Schlafly reported about $20 million in annual revenue, according to the outlet.

The news of the brewery’s wholesaler switch-up follows the departure of co-founder Dan Kopman, who announced in December that he would leave the company at the end of 2016 as part of a previously agreed upon deal with St. Louis private equity firm Sage Capital, which acquired a majority stake in the brewery in 2012. Earlier this year, Kopman accepted a position as the CEO of Heavy Seas Beer in Baltimore, Maryland.