34 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

https://newschoolbee...usch-inbev.html

 

 

The headline says it all folks, another Pacific Northwest milestone brewery has sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev with Seattle, Washington’s Elysian Brewing. Word has come to us that the majority partner in Elysian Brewing has sold the company, possibly without the full blessing of partner Dick Cantwell. I have been hearing rumors for months that a Washington brewery was soon to sell but did not guess it would be the from the fiercely independent Dick Cantwell of Elysian, it makes sense that his majority partner may have been the one to pull the trigger.

 

My buddy went to high school with Dick and gets together with him from time to time. This sucks, but he's a very wealthy man now.

[positiveContact]

is this happening a lot?  (the buy outs)

[HVB]

is this happening a lot?  (the buy outs)

This was from November, https://money.cnn.co...beer-10-barrel/ . I am not going to say they are buying them all up but it seems they are buying some.

Edited by drez77, 23 January 2015 - 12:28 PM.

[SchwanzBrewer]

is this happening a lot?  (the buy outs)

 

They bought out one in California a couple months ago (10 barrel). Goose Island. One in St Louis I think?

[HVB]

They bought out one in California a couple months ago (10 barrel). Goose Island. One in St Louis I think?

 

10 bbl is in Bend

https://newschoolbee...n-industry.html

 They had some high profile brewers there!

[BlKtRe]

Take some of the money and reinvest in another craft brewery.

[Howie]

Aren't Kona, RedHook, and Widmer all InBev as well?

[positiveContact]

Aren't Kona, RedHook, and Widmer all InBev as well?

 

redhook used to just use their distribution system and inbev was a shareholder.

[neddles]

Aren't Kona, RedHook, and Widmer all InBev as well?

Craft Brew Alliance https://en.wikipedia...t_Brew_Alliance

 

 

[color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;]As of January, 2013, [/color]Anheuser-Busch InBev[color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;] owned 32.2%[/color]^[3][4][color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;] of the business and is also the company's distribution partner,[/color]^[3][color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;] has two seats on its board of directors, and special status in the company's board committees.[/color]^[4][color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;] As of August, 2010, Brothers Kurt and Rob Widmer, founders of Widmer Brothers beer, owned a combined 18%.[/color]

[denny]

Take some of the money and reinvest in another craft brewery.

 

 

There's almost always a non compete cause so you can't do that.

[SchwanzBrewer]

There's almost always a non compete cause so you can't do that.

 

I think part of the deal was that they have to stay on and still run things for a little while. They can't keep Dick from opening a brewery forever though.

[BlKtRe]

There's almost always a non compete cause so you can't do that.

 

Whatever. As long as recipes don't get replicated. 

[positiveContact]

Whatever. As long as recipes don't get replicated. 

 

typically a non-compete would go beyond that in other industries. 

[denny]

typically a non-compete would go beyond that in other industries. 

 

And does in all the brewery deals I'm familiar with.

[3rd party JKor]

Probably the best way to make money in craft beer...get bought out by InBev.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Probably the best way to make money in craft beer...get bought out by InBev.

 

Not really, you won't get ridiculously rich. Grossman and Koch have become billionaires.

[positiveContact]

Probably the best way to make money in craft beer...get bought out by InBev.

 

for sure.

Not really, you won't get ridiculously rich. Grossman and Koch have become billionaires.

 

they are the exception - not the rule.

[SchwanzBrewer]

for sure.

 

they are the exception - not the rule.

 

The Yuenling family has a ton of money, I'm sure theres others that have been going for 20-25+ years that are in the realm of $10M+. Stone will be worth $1+B some day.The guys that haven't been around long enough to brew 100K BBL/yr are just going to be single digit millionaires if they are lucky enough to be bought out by ABInBev or some other big boy.

[positiveContact]

The Yuenling family has a ton of money, I'm sure theres others that have been going for 20-25+ years that are in the realm of $10M+. Stone will be worth $1+B some day.The guys that haven't been around long enough to brew 100K BBL/yr are just going to be single digit millionaires if they are lucky enough to be bought out by ABInBev or some other big boy.

 

you need to look at the bajillion small breweries out there.  most of them never make it big and a lot of them never make it period.

 

has there been any reporting of what the business sold for?

[SchwanzBrewer]

you need to look at the bajillion small breweries out there.  most of them never make it big and a lot of them never make it period.

 

has there been any reporting of what the business sold for?

 

Well if you try and scale it to BBL's produced and compare it to their other acquisitions you can come up with a number. GI was $38.8M/127KBBL, adjust a bit for inflation and you get $331/BBL. Elysian has a 130K BBL capacity. Add to that the value of their land (4 brew pubs) and I'd estimate it sold for about $48M.

 

If you go into the business thinking your going to be wildly wealthy then you're an idiot. It's a lot of work and for the successful breweries you can make a decent life out of it, but it's certainly not a get rich quick scheme. The one thing about it is that it does have potential to be a wind fall if you do things right. There will be a 30%+ failure rate in the next 5 years, I'd bet. Maybe higher.

 

If I were brewing 100K+ BBL per year, I'd have a hard time selling the business, because the jump from there to $1M BBL isn't that much of a stretch. Breweries that are on that cusp are the ones that are going to be bought out. Not the little guys.That being said, I'd have a hard time saying no to $12M dangling in front of my nose. It's almost #### you money.