Breweries for sale

Huh. Backcountry was one of the locals I liked when I would head home to see my folks. kinda sad to see them go.

 

The amount of great beers that came out of BCB (Fix Your Heel, Breakfast Stout, Weizenbock, and even the flagship amber and pils) does make this a little sad. While not always consistent, I liked the food, too. It's tough to find fish and chips that aren't just Gordon's filets on a plate.

 

Asheville's Thirsty Monk bought the Deep Draft Brewing Brewery and will be moving in to Denver.

https://www.brewbound.com/news/ashevilles-thirsty-monk-heads-west-establish-new-brewing-hubs

 

The Thirsty Monk is good peeps. I think they'll be a great addition to the scene.

 

So what does this mean for the future of Broken Compass and the Backcountry location? Is it going to continue under that name or be rebranded Broken Compass ?

Also, I like Broken Compass and it was/is sorely needed in Breckenridge. However besides the coconut porter I think they need to come up with another flagship that sets them apart. With the proximity to the ski slopes and summertime resorts, it might not even matter what they make, they'll stay busy.

 

I went to bcb last summer and was severely underwhelmed. Beer, service, and food was not good. But know that it hasn't been the same for awhile now.

Looking forward to seeing what broken compass does with it. I agree the porter is awesome but they don't have too much else. Good location if they can fill the place and bring everything up to par.

 

CB & Potts Broomfield closed. Heard Hall is done too.

 

https://www.brewbound.com/news/renegade-brewing-sells-stake-upstart-family-office

 

Looks like we're in the midst of a lot of change at the moment. Not really a bubble or shakeout, but at least quite a bit of transition. Specifically in the last few months. Once you get past the PR language, it can be tough to tell what's really going on with some of these places. Some things that sound really negative are 100% intentional and calculated while some are the exact opposite.

 

Why do you think it's not more than a shake out?

I somewhat agree, but could also see a scenario where this is the beginning of a much larger distress period. Between the significant slow down in growth (still amazing but not the ~15-20% we saw in years past) and overcapacity I can see a scenario where more selling occurs. I think from my consumer perspective bias I get a little fatigue with the craft beer selections (and I'm not the avid consumer some are) and wonder what the typical beer consumer thinks.

Little bit of rambling there but it's an interesting question... we also aren't likely to see the flurry of acquisitions from AB or Molson like we did a few years ago. Ultimately, nobody can be certain it's a bubble until after the fact...

 

Probably makes a lot of sense for the High End/AB/Molson to continue to buy in bulk, and shut down brewery operations in favor of taking all creative/trademark assets and brewing in their own facilities. They don't really care about persona/culture on a local level...only about the bottom line, so why not buy a place like Great Divide (or insert another brewery here that also has a ton of historical/trademark assets), take on all their intellectual property, brew the beers at their facilities in places like Fort Collins, and then sell off all the brick and mortar portions of the business.

Devil's advocate argument here, but they have the money to do whatever they want, and there are breweries with owners keen to cash in/get out.

 

Personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal mainly because new breweries are still opening and the people buying, merging, etc. are still using those spaces for brewing. If this were some sort of dire warning or a bubble, you'd see those places turning into a Family Dollar or at the very least a grow warehouse. There are no longer breweries opening every other week, but newer places are still popping up and the places closing are typically just changing hands. Once we see more places going the way of Mu, Del Norte, and Smugglers then we probably have something bigger on our hands.

 

http://www.westword.com/restaurants...ty-stake-to-spanish-beer-conglomerate-9734559

Signs of a downturn in the beer market...and everyone who invested heavily in new equipment and locations needs to find a way to recoup their investment. Uncertain times.

 

Seems like the real flux in the industry is with the larger "regional" (even if they aren't exclusive to one region) breweries. Hopefully Avery benefits from this and they're able to run the business the way they want to. Larry and Adam have always been super nice to me going way back.

After being really, really happy with their recent offerings I'm keeping an eye on Great Divide.

 

Rumor is they've been trying to sell for awhile, and no takers...