Oskar Blues buys Perrin Brewing

COMSTOCK PARK, MI -- Big changes are afoot at Perrin Brewing Co.

On Friday, March 27, the 3-year-old Alpine Township microbrewery announced its acquisition by Oskar Blues Brewing Co. of Longmont, Colo.

Pending approval by the state regulators, Oskar Blues is buying 100 percent of the Michigan brewery in a deal orchestrated by a former co-owner of the state's largest beer wholesaler, who is taking over management at Perrin.

Keith Klopcic, who left West Side Beer Distributing in January, will become the new president at Perrin Brewing Co. under a deal that's been fermenting since the Michigan and Colorado breweries teamed up for a collaboration beer in December.

Klopcic replaces former brewery head Randy Perrin, a clothing manufacturer who is leaving the company after bankrolling the multi-million dollar operation that opened in fall 2012. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Other than that, it's the same company," said Klopcic. "Nothing changes."

Perrin's acquisition by Oskar Blues, known for pioneering the increasingly popular practice of canning craft beer, is a relative rarity in the American craft beer industry.

Independent breweries are being snatched-up at a quickening pace by large, multinational brewers such as MillerCoors and Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch InBev, but craft breweries buying-out fellow craft beer makers is less common, although it has happened before.

In a statement, Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis called the deal "a radical thing."

"We at Oskar Blues love the Michigan craft beer scene and what the guys at Perrin are doing," Katechis said. "We feel that Perrin and Oskar Blues have the same mindset toward the craft industry and this partnership will allow us to share information and innovative ideas with one another."

In December, the breweries teamed up on a lager called "Cornlaboration" that was sold only in Michigan, a state in which Oskar Blues began distributing in 2013.

Cans of Oskar Blues' signature Dale's Pale Ale.OscarBlues.com
Klopcic said Katechis began expressing interest in purchasing the West Michigan company after getting a personal look-see last year at the Perrin operation, which is sizable compared to most startup breweries.

Oskar Blues, founded in Lyons, Colo., in 1997, has been on a growth spurt in recent years. The brewery, which is distributed in 42 states, parts of Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom, reached the 150,000 barrel production mark in 2014 after building a second production facility and restaurant in Brevard, N.C.

By comparison, Perrin brewed about 14,000 barrels in 2014, distributed mostly on draft throughout Michigan. The 23,000-square-foot brewery only began bottling its first specialty products in late November after experiencing several years of false starts and growing pains associated with launching package distribution.

Perrin already has more than 700 taps throughout Michigan, with 250 in the Grand Rapids area. Now, with Oskar Blues on board, brewery representatives say cans of Perrin's popular Grapefruit IPA are a definite possibility for distribution this summer.

"It's a huge opportunity," said Klopcic. "Grapefruit is a hot flavor right now, and in all honesty, it's because of Perrin."

Klopcic, who sold his interest in West Side Beer to his brother, Don, said taking over at Perrin was a plan that congealed only after he left the wholesale business.

Dan Perrin and Jarred Sper will continue running the brewery alongside production manager and head brewer John Stewart and his team. Sper, who will be vice president of sales and marketing at Oskar Blues-owned Perrin, said the brewery is very excited by the acquisition deal.

At Oskar Blues, "they practice what they preach," Sper said. "They are true artists who don't pull any punches."

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2015/03/oskar_blues_perrin_brew.html