Breweries for sale

I'm honestly not all that surprised. I imagine it's very challenging for a start-up brewery to be profitable, unless your reputation precedes you (i.e. Comrade) or you come out of the gates swinging (i.e. Odd13). Once the 'romance' of owning your own brewery wears off and you need to pay the bills I'm sure a lot of owners just want out.

Also, any guesses on any of the breweries included in the 'classified listings' in the article?

 

I'm not all that surprised either, especially where the brewpubs are concerned (most brewpubs, by and large, make crappy beer anyway).

But putting that fact aside, why do you find it "not particularly comforting"???
Just curious...

 

I know several of them, but can't comment. But I have neither an NDA nor a relationship that prevents me from talking about one of them, which is the $1.2M one. A more complete listing is located HERE.

Because I'm just guessing and have no relationships that make it inappropriate for me to comment, I'll just say that my GUESS is that the brewpub (not brewery) with the barrel aging room and location near government offices on the doorstep of a popular tourist destination has a name that rhymes with Infinity.

 

Pretty sure I know at least 3 of them. A couple are pretty vague, though. I suppose you could probably do some math on capacity vs. real estate to figure them all out.
I don't really think this is a bad thing. Several are places that are/were successful, but the ownership is moving on after many years. A couple are probably victims of sudden increases to the competitive landscape. A change in philosophy (or someone with more industry insight) might be able to turn some of these around. There are at least a couple places floundering downtown'ish with locations and facilities that are to die for.

 

I know a few of the higher-end/pricey ones personally, and know desire to sell. Now is a good time to sell a brewery (at what I think is the most you're going to make). If you don't have kids/family who are interested in taking the reins, then why not sell?

 

I am pretty sure I know the ski-country brewery. Not gonna call them out, I do like the place. Their website is recently updated and very slick.

 

The central Denver one for $225k is probably Deep Draft Brewing on 17th street. It was started by a homebrewer who retired and probably bit off more than he can chew. The line "The brewery is only producing a fraction of the beer that it could make" is probably due to the fact that no one is ever there. I drive by it everyday and have never seen more than a dozen people, even on peak Saturday evening hours. I have several things to say about Deep Draft but like mom said, if you can't say something nice....

 

looks like 3 of these have found new owners...

 

Along with this, Wit's End and Strange are kinda/sorta merging. It's hard to read between the lines, but it sounds like Strange is essentially taking on the Wit's End line-up and the brewer from WE will be the brewer for both. It also sounds like Scott is at least partially stepping away from things. Probably long deserved considering how hands-on he has been.
WE is one of the few places I'll drive across town for, so I suppose I'll probably end up visiting Strange more now.

 

Apparently Backcountry was sold to Broken Compass. BCB was one of the easier ones to identify on the "for sale" list.
http://www.summitdaily.com/news/bus...compass-to-buy-backcountry-brewery-in-frisco/

 

They need to give me credit for that photo.

 

That's the pils, yeah?

 

Wheat or Berliner Weisse I think. Pils was crystal clear.

 

I figured that was just a weird shot. That pils was as bright as they come!
Not like you don't currently make an award winning one or anything...

 

Is that packaged?

 

Not at the moment, at least as far as I know. @biking4beer - any plans to ever package or distro the DD award-slaying pils?

 

Maybe. The idea has been tossed around. If we did, it would probably just be a seasonal.

 

i think it's the Berliner fwiw.

there's some stuff I'm gonna miss about that place. Oh well.

"for all sad words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are 'It might've been.'"

 

Yeah maybe. I just remember posting a pic similar on the Facebook page when we first stopped filtering the wheat. "file photo."

Yep. I've missed it too. Such a shame to see it end up this way.