Distribution of the Bell’s Brewery portfolio in Ohio will shift from Premium Beverage Supply, which sold Bell’s offerings statewide, to a network of four wholesalers, the Comstock, Michigan-based craft brewery announced last week.
“We thank everyone at Premium for their partnership and decades of support,” Bell’s VP of sales and marketing Matt Moberly said in a press release. “We are all very excited to work with our new partners and continue the level of service that is expected from Bell’s.”
The Bell’s portfolio will move to the following wholesalers:
- Superior Beverage Group in the greater Columbus and Cleveland areas;
- Bonbright Distributing in the Dayton area;
- Stagnaro Distributing in the Cincinnati area;
- Heidelberg Distributing in the northwestern part of the state.
Bell’s distribution footprint has been the subject of much conversation since last month’s announcement of the brewery’s impending sale to New Belgium’s parent company, Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages. Founder Larry Bell has famously refused to accept successor wholesalers owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, Molson Coors or the Reyes Beer Division. However, New Belgium has sought out partnerships with Reyes in California and the Chicago area.
The Ohio moves are the first change in distribution announced since the merger, which has not yet closed. While conventional wisdom would hold that Bell’s would seek to align with New Belgium wholesalers, that has so far not been the case in the Buckeye state.
New Belgium’s Ohio distributors include Choice Brands, Perry Distributors, Matesich Distributing, Muxie Distributing and Classic Brands, according to a spokesperson.
Hilliard, Ohio-headquartered Premium is a craft-centric wholesaler with more than 45 brands in its portfolio. Bell’s appears to have been the largest brand Premium sold. Premium sold about 300,000 cases of Bell’s annually and received 7x gross profit per case in exchange for the rights, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights’ Craft Brew News email newsletter.