Clown Shoes acquired by Harpoon?

My first thought is that that's not the greatest of ideas but we'll see what happens.

 

Interesting. I guess this means Harpoon will be brewing CS beers now?

 

It sounds to me like clown shoes will now be brewing their beers at Harpoon, instead of at Ipswich, but not 100% sure.

 

It would be weird if they were owned by Harpoon but brewed at Ipswich. I would guess either Harpoon takes over the brewing or they build a dedicated CS taproom/brewery... I have a hunch that it will be the latter.

 

Request to BA moderators/editors to merge with the other news article concerning this exact same topic.

Thank you.

 

I'm not a moderator/admin. Wrong person to ask, man. Just figured it would make Beer Advocate look cleaner, that is all.

 

"We root for the same sports teams, shovel snow from the same storms, walk the same beaches during the few decent days of summer"

Man, i'm so tired of acquisition press releases. it's always "Hey guys we assure you nothing is going to change, and we love X company, and here's why we're so similar and make a good subsidiary." Like being acquired by another brewery is no big deal. It always makes me feel like they're trying to hide something.

 

To me, this makes a lot of sense. Clown Shoes is a contract brewer with somewhat of a following. Harpoon is acquiring a brand without having to acquire any assets (another physical brewery). I'm sure that the trend towards smaller breweries has hurt Harpoon's production. They either make the same amount of Harpoon IPA and see it not sell or they make less and put that excess capacity on a "sexier" brand. I'm sure a Clown Shoes taproom could pop up, but without doing any physical investment (in a new brewery/taproom), I'd say that the deal still makes a lot of sense for Harpoon.

 

I'm a fan of the bigger, boozier Clown Shoes beers, but rarely have them as I simply don't buy bombers much these days. According to the story in the Globe Clown Shoes beers will now be on tap at the Harpoon beer hall (and their Vermont location), which makes that a more likely visit for me. If this helps both breweries continue to succeed I'm all for it.

 

Totally agree. Seems like a win win for both the breweries and for consumers (theoretically Clown Shoes beer should be cheaper to produce now and that could potentially result in cheaper beer in more places and formats). I don't drink much Harpoon beer today but it was certainly something I drank a lot of 20 years ago. Clown Shoes I'd like to drink more of if it wasn't in bombers and maybe a bit cheaper.

 

Man, if Harpoon's money could help build Clown Shoes a dedicated brewery and tap room, I would be sooo happy. I just have a vision in my mind of six taps, each with a different Exorcism, and six more with different Unidragons, and six more with a variety of increasingly Angry Beasts, and one dedicated Crasher tap at all times...

...oh, I've gone and made a mess in my pants.

 

I have not bought clown shoes in probably 4 years or so, not sure there is a single reason why. Branding to me is a bit gimmicky and was never wowed by the beers, but boy, do they seem to have a following.

 

One word: Catamount. Good luck Clown Shoes!


(OK, I know, two completely different deals, one to get a brand spanking new brewery for 1/3 the cost from a bankrupt brewery, and one to buy a brand with no tangible assets. I just still harbor some resentment over the dismantling of Catamount, and the rhetoric at the time of the sale was the same... We will continue to support the Catamount brand, blah, blah, blah...)

 

I love their BA stouts. Love 'em. And you really can't beat them on a dollar-for-dollar basis - who makes better BA stouts/barleywines at a similar price point to Clown Shoes?

 

FWIW I'll still be making silly labels for Clown Shoes. Cheers.

 

Not much a Harpoon fan? Been to the beer hall? The weizenbock on tap last week was awesome. The interrobang last year was in my top 5, including Alchemist and Hill Farmstead stuff. It was an 18% cold brew espresso stout. Fabo.

 

Yeah.....that was 17 years ago man. Let it go.

 

I haven't been to the beer hall but I may have to now. They are easily overlooked brewery, I'd love to buy more of their beer simply because they were a big part of my early craft beer days.