Morganton, North Carolina-based Catawba Brewing Company acquired Skytown Beer Company, a brewpub in Wilmington, North Carolina, in a deal that closed February 10.
The new location marks Catawba’s fourth in the state and its first on the coast. The company operates a production brewery and tasting room in Morganton, and taprooms in Asheville and Charlotte, which are in the western half of North Carolina.
“We’ve been actively evaluating locations for some time and have come to love the beer scene and lifestyle in Wilmington,” CEO and co-owner Billy Pyatt said in a press release. “We felt we could really integrate and contribute there.”
Skytown Beer Company, a barbecue-centric brewpub, opened in 2018, founded by family restaurateurs Hayley Jensen, Stephen Durley and Carol and Michael Jensen. The group also owns Beer Barrio, which focuses on pairing craft beer with Mexican cuisine. Beer Barrio was not included in the deal.
Skytown Beer will be rebranded as Catawba by late February. The building’s five-barrel brewhouse will produce small batches, and offerings from Catawba and sister brands Palmetto Brewing and Twisp Southern Hard Seltzer will be sold at the pub.
Catawba distributes to North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. The company produced 36,500 barrels in 2019, according to data from national not-for-profit trade group the Brewers Association.
“Catawba’s core and seasonal lineups are generally well represented at retail statewide,” retail marketing director Brian Ivey told Brewbound. “However, we expect the local Wilmington brewhouse will allow us to introduce some of our specialty small batch beers that haven’t previously been available in the area — both in the tasting room and at local retail accounts.”
Boulder Beer Returning to Distribution Through Partnership with Stem Ciders
Fifteen months after retrenching to focus on its brewpub, Boulder Beer’s portfolio will return to distribution in 28 states through a partnership with Stem Ciders and contract brewer Sleeping Giant in Denver.
“It feels a bit surreal to carry on the Boulder Beer brand because it was such an iconic concept that loomed so large for so long,” Sleeping Giant founder and president Matthew Osterman said in a press release. “We’re now able to be the stewards of the brand not just for the city of Boulder, but also for craft beer as a whole.”
Sleeping Giant has been producing Boulder’s offerings at its Denver brewery for the Colorado market since December 2019, when the companies struck an agreement for Sleeping Giant to brew, ship and sell Boulder products following Boulder owner and CEO Gina Day’s decision to retrench from distribution to focus on Boulder’s brewpub business in October 2019.
Boulder was founded in 1979, making it one of the nation’s oldest craft breweries. Day retains ownership of its trademarks and licenses it to Osterman, who retains operational and creative control.
“I’m very happy to see Sleeping Giant putting in the energy to keep it thriving and current
because it’s such an iconic brand,” Day said in the release. “Matt and his team have the flexibility to create and build new recipes and build new brands, so as far as I see it, this is his brand, he’s the one creating, doing, and orchestrating.”
Sales and marketing of Boulder now falls to Stem Ciders, which gave the brand a total makeover. Stem chief commercial officer Dave Duffy and co-founder Eric Foster tapped Greg Owsley, founder of boutique agency the Storied Brand and former New Belgium chief marketing officer, to consult on the rebrand.
Boulder’s new packaging features black and white photographs taken by locals of the city’s vistas.
“Each design and color choice is hand-picked from the colors and textures that make up
Boulder,” Owsley said. “Each beer, whether it’s an old favorite or a new concept, has been finessed to represent the hazed and infused memories that only the intertwined cultures of Boulder and Boulder Beer can bring.”
Offerings being reintroduced to 24 states and five countries this week include Hazed & Infused IPA, Mojo IPA, Shake dark chocolate porter, SKO Buff Gold lager, a version of Shake aged in Laws Whiskey barrels and the Boulder Than Ever mix pack. Boulder will also introduce Bubbly By Nature Bubbly IPA, “a new idea to capture the white space between easy-drinking lagers, tropical IPAs and the bubble mouthfeel of seltzers.”
Boulder products are currently available in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa and Pennsylvania. By the end of March, distribution will expand to Oklahoma, Idaho, Washington, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Missouri.
Paulaner USA to Import Tsingtao
Paulaner USA will take over import brand Tsingtao’s import rights from Pabst Brewing Company, starting April 2.
Paulaner USA will be the exclusive importer of the 118-year-old Chinese brewery’s offerings.
“We are excited by the opportunity to add the premium brands of Tsingtao to the Paulaner USA team,” Paulaner USA president and CEO Steve Hauser said in a press release. “We believe that we can offer the brands the support and strategies necessary to expand their business beyond its traditional Asian restaurant base.”
Tsingtao’s offerings include Classic Lager, Pure Draft and 0.0 non-alcoholic lager. The brand is the best selling Chinese beer in the U.S., and the sixth largest brewery in the world, according to its website.
White Plains, New York-based Paulaner USA’s portfolio includes European imports Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Früli, Füstenberg and Fuller’s. Tsingtao will be the company’s first Asian import.
“We respect the Paulaner brands for the quality of their beers and their business performance which gives us confidence in their representation of our brands in the U.S.,” Tsingtao chairman Franklin Ma said in the release. “In many ways this is a logical place for us to be, given that among the founding members of our Tsingtao brewery in 1903 were German masters.”
In 2020, dollar sales of imports increased 12.7%, to $8.7 billion, at off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm IRI.
Virtue Cider to Launch Nordic-Style Lager to Celebrate 10 Years
Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Virtue Cider will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in an unexpected way for a cidermaker: by brewing a beer.
Cidermaker Greg Hall — who founded Fennville, Michigan-based Virtue in 2011 after a 20-year stint as brewmaster at fellow A-B Brewers Collective outpost Goose Island — has developed Vestland, a Nordic style lager. The beer will be available in Michigan and Illinois in late Spring 2021.
A-B acquired a 51% stake in Virtue in 2015 and completed the acquisition with a second deal in 2017.