Mergers & Acquisitions

The founders of Ninkasi Brewing Company have reacquired the majority stake in the business they sold in April 2019 to Legacy Breweries.

Legacy Breweries, the craft brewery investment rollup led by beer industry veteran Don Bryant, has set its sights on Colorado, where its Aspen Brewing has struck a deal to acquire Capitol Creek Brewery.

The deal, which is expected to close June 1, will link Aspen-based Aspen Brewing, which Legacy acquired in 2019, and Basalt-based Capitol, giving the two craft breweries a combined 10,000 barrels of production capacity to serve both breweries’ on-site pubs.

Sparkling tequila soda brand Onda has closed a $5 million Series A round of funding led by Aria Growth Partners and beverage entrepreneur Clayton Christopher, the company announced last week.

Cannabis firms Tilray, Inc. and Aphria, Inc. announced today the completion of their previously agreed upon merger, creating what they say will be “the world’s largest global cannabis company.”

Firestone Walker has reached a deal to acquire the Cali-Squeeze brand from SLO Brewing Co. Firestone Walker added that it has been “historically reluctant to develop beers outside the traditional footprint.” Nevertheless, the company has toyed with fruited beers but ultimately “recognized that Cali-Squeeze already had everything we were looking for.”

Molson Coors Beverage Company announced today that it will make an equity investment in TRU Colors Brewery, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based craft brewery with a mission to end street violence.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed concerns raised over Craft Brew Alliance’s (CBA) sale of Kona Brewing’s Hawaii operations to private equity firm PV Brewing, according to a March 17 response brief to public comments filed by the state attorney general and Maui Brewing Company founder and CEO Garrett Marrero.

A consortium of investors has reached a deal to acquire 100% ownership of City Brewing, the largest beverage alcohol co-packer in the U.S., and also acquire the former Molson Coors production brewery in Irwindale, California, from Pabst Brewing Company.

Irish cider and beer maker C&C Group has sold Woodchuck Cider maker Vermont Cider Company (VCC) to Northeast Drinks Group, a privately owned holding company.

“We obviously had grown so quickly that I just knew there was going to be an extent at how much we could realistically scale the business on our own, just due to our existing infrastructure, our own resources, and, quite frankly, even our kind of experience,” Far West Spirits founder Katie Beal Brown told Brewbound.

Diageo has acquired fast-growing hard seltzer maker Far West Spirits LLC, which produces the Lone River Ranch Water brand.

Deschutes Brewery has made the first acquisition in the 32-year-old craft brewery’s history. Bend, Oregon-headquartered Deschutes has acquired another Bend craft brewery, Boneyard Beer.

The Reyes Beer Division remains a very active acquirer in the state of California. The largest beer wholesaler in the U.S. continued to add to its business in the state today as its Harbor Distributing subsidiary signed an agreement to acquire Redding Distributing Company in Northern California.

A group led by hard cider entrepreneur Brett Williams acquired a stake in Wachusett Brewing Company last September, Brewbound has learned. “An opportunity presented itself during the pandemic to invest in Wachusett and we decided to do so,” Williams told Brewbound Thursday. “We are the only people that are crazy enough to invest in a brewery in a pandemic.”