Crooked Owl Partners with Stone Distributing to Expand SoCal Presence in Key Accounts

Crooked Owl Hard Tepache is excited to announce its partnership with Stone Distributing as the brand continues to expand its presence in Southern California with key retailers, including Whole Foods Market. This strategic partnership brings together two pioneering teams that are leading the charge to create a new beyond beer category in the California market and beyond. Crooked Owl launched their category creating Hard Tepache direct to consumer in December 2022 and have spent the last two years slowly expanding their reach through traditional distribution partnerships, including their Southern California launch with Stone Distributing in October 2023. 

Unconventionally crafted and steeped in heritage, Crooked Owl’s craft brewed Hard Tepache is inspired by traditional fermentation methods. Through years of R&D, first-time founders Cam and Dave Bailey created an innovative production process that allowed them to classify Crooked Owl’s Hard Tepache as a beer and enabled them to future-proof the brand for national expansion while maximizing potential points of distribution. Crooked Owl’s Hard Tepache is craft brewed with a combination of their proprietary Tepache culture, organic pineapple, cane and piloncillo sugars, and purified water, resulting in a crisp, sessionable 5% ABV Hard Tepache that is naturally gluten free and 100 calories per can with zero residual sugars. 

The Stone Distributing (SDC) team is well known for their brand building abilities and for taking new-to-world products and making them mainstream. SDC was founded over 25 years ago to bring Stone Brewing’s hop-forward beers to market. Since then, the SDC team has built a portfolio of craft-forward and industry leading brands to become the most sought-after distribution partner in the Southern California market. “We are beyond excited to partner with the Stone Distributing team. This partnership will allow us to build the Crooked Owl brand in an intentional and meaningful way in a critical market” says Crooked Owl cofounder Dave Bailey. Anthony Trento, VP of Sales at SDC, states “Crooked Owl and hard tepache check off several boxes that consumers are looking for right now. Tangible connections to real ingredients, a firm understanding of how the beverage is made, and a new offering in a stagnant beyond beer category. SDC sees that as a perfect fit to its portfolio of world class beverage brands.” 

Crooked Owl currently offers three distinct flavors - original Piña, Jalapiña, and Pasión - that are well rounded, balanced, and craveable for every palette preference. According to Crooked Owl cofounder Cam Bailey, “we wanted to offer flavor profiles that truly pay homage to the beverage that we fell in love with. Tepache has deep cultural roots, so it was really important that our flavor expressions felt and tasted true to tradition.” The Crooked Owl team hopes to elevate the consumer’s expectations for the sessionable experience by offering flavors that are familiar to many and discoverable to others.  “SDC has always actively supported innovators in the Southern California market. Crooked Owl delivers fantastic liquid into a new category primed to grow due to its connection to a rich history of Tepache” says Anthony Trento, VP of Sales at SDC.

The Crooked Owl team is committed to supporting and uplifting the culture that inspires their brand. Crooked Owl is a proud partner of 1% for the Planet, giving back 1% of revenue to causes that benefit sustainable agriculture practices and underserved communities in central Mexico. Additionally, as the brand platform scales, the Crooked Owl team will establish partnerships with chefs, artists, and creators of Mexican and Mexican-American heritage to co-create new flavor expressions, LTO artwork and merch, and collaboratively support charitable causes benefitting Mexican and Mexican-American communities. 

Crooked Owl is currently distributed in New York in partnership with Torch Distribution and in Georgia with Savannah Distributing. They have plans to expand their physical footprint in the southeast and western regions over the next 24 months.