Mergers & Acquisitions

Hold on to your coffee cups. Keurig Dr Pepper is solidifying its position as one of the world’s largest coffee companies on Monday in announcing an $18 billion deal to acquire JDE Peet’s, expected to close early next year.

In a tectonic shift in the distribution landscape, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced plans to sell its wholly owned distributor (WOD) in New York City to Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits.

Arizona’s Huss Brewing (Tempe) and PHX Beer Co. (Scottsdale) have merged to create Zonafide Beverages, the companies announced Wednesday.

San Diego-based Ballast Point has new, local investors in its ownership group, San Diego Beer News reported. Hospitality force RMD Group and boutique investment firm Cypress Ascendant have taken shares in the brewery, and the investors who facilitated the bombshell acquisition of Ballast Point from Constellation Brands in 2019 have exited.

The Idaho joint venture between Scout Distribution and Columbia Distributing is being sold to Hayden Beverage Company, the companies shared today.

Several brewery owners have publicly courted buyers by announcing their intentions to sell their businesses. Others have found buyers and have announced sales. Read updates from three breweries – all of which opened during the last decade’s craft beer boom – in transition.

Another piece of Scout Distribution has been sold off. Hensley Beverage Company has agreed to acquire the remaining 75% stake in Scout’s Arizona business that it did not already own, after purchasing a minority stake earlier this year.

After years working at various breweries and hosting their own craft beer podcast, Chelsea Rhoads and Liz Hess finally decided to take the plunge and buy a brewery. The pair, who co-host the Body By Beer podcast, acquired Denver’s Berkeley Alley Beer Company earlier this summer and have put their own spin on the beloved local spot.

After years of rapid growth, warnings that the U.S. craft beer industry was approaching oversaturation have become a reality for brewers. Combined with a new generation of young adults less thirsty for alcohol than their forebears and the impacts of new and increased tariffs, craft brewers are seeing a growing wave of mergers, acquisitions and divestments shake out and transform the industry landscape.

Lakeland, Florida-based Brew Hub’s next era has been solidified, several months after news broke that contract brewing company’s facility had been foreclosed by its bank. Great Southern Copackers has acquired the company and building, and will rebrand it as Great Southern Beverages.

Rémy Cointreau has acquired a minority stake in French non-alc spirits company JNPR, joining other major spirit groups with bids on the growing category.

Fans of New England Brewing Co. (NEBCO) will soon be able to enjoy the brewery’s offerings in its new waterfront taproom, it announced last week. The Woodbridge, Connecticut-based brewery has acquired Stony Creek Brewing’s facility, which sits 13 miles away on the banks of the Branford River in the Connecticut town of the same name.

Here’s a collection of news items initially reported in the Insider version of the Brewbound Newsletter between July 9-July 11. Become an Insider today to get earlier access to what’s going on in the industry.

All 178 Ohio Eagle Distributing employees are expected to be laid off once the company’s sale to Redwood Holdings closes on September 8, Ohio Eagle president Devyn Dugger wrote in a July 7 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice to the state.