Small Town Brewery owned by Pabst?

It is technical a malt beverage rather than a beer. The issue regarding it being a spirit probably comes from the fact that they got in trouble with the IRS because they had been adding alcohol to get it to the 19.5% level which is a no-no.

 

I found this thread and figured I would give it a bump. I have seen stuff going back and forth about this, and did some research last night on it.

As far as I can tell, Small Town Brewery is not owned by PBR - but owned by Phusion Projects - AKA 4 Loko.

Basically, if you go to Small Town Brewery's website, and go to Privacy Policy, it shows up with his address:

SMALL TOWN BREWERY
ATTN: CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER
640 N. LASALLE DRIVE, SUITE 265
CHICAGO, IL 60654

http://smalltownbrewery.com/privacy/

If you then take that address and google it, the first website that also uses that address comes up with this:

http://moskatolife.com/contact/

Moskato Life is a Phuisons Project brand as well. You can see them all listed here:

http://www.phusionprojects.com/our-products/

Digging a little deeper, I find the trademark for Small Town Brewery was started by Innovative Brewing LLC:

http://www.trademarkia.com/small-town-brewery-86176779.html

And then there is this article in the Chicago Business website:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130713/ISSUE01/307139977/four-loko-maker-is-doubling-down

It states:

"The vehicle for accomplishing those goals is a new wholly owned subsidiary called Innovative Brewing. It is being set up to acquire fledgling companies that could use a distribution boost or benefit from the experience Phusion's executives gained in previous jobs at MillerCoors LLC, Diageo PLC and Heineken USA."

To me, there is no way that Small Town is owned by anyone but Phusion Projects.

 

And on a side note, if you do a little linked in searches, it appears that there are some directors who work for both Phusion and Small Town on their linked in profile concurrently. That would seem really weird if they were not owned by them.

 

They're not owned by Pabst, plain and simple.

 

Not owned by Pabst...but 4 Loko.

Which is better?

 

They aren't owned by Pabst... but they are definitely represented by them... the New England regional Pabst rep also represents NYFRB... I think Pabst may have control or helped them broaden their distribution.

 

Saw a funny ad yesterday for Table and Vine in Springfield, Massachusetts advertising the Not your Father's Root Beer saying only available in two states. They are very wrong.

 

it kinda sucks that distro is now all over the USA. used to be a chicago (Binnys) only hidden gem. having said that i still have a 10% abv bomber.

 

Why would expanded distro suck?

 

People like feeling as if they are part of something exclusive.

 

Because it killed it's trade value for traders

 

BMC distribution doesn't indicate ownership. We get our Captain's Daughter and other Grey Sail products from our Bud distributor and NYFRB from our Miller/Coors distributor (though it is also available through our Pabst dude as well).

It's a great way for a company to gain traction through consistent distribution. Those guys tend to be the more aggressive salesmen and are very capable of building brands.

 

Makes it harder to win trades, bro.

 

It's probably not even worth it as an extra anymore!

 

No its owned by Phusion Products the creators of 4loko!

 

Oh the horror.

 

In their defense, they never claimed that this was your father's rootbeer.

 

Suddenly being owned by Pabst doesn't look so bad.

 

If it was known that it was owned by 4Loko in the beginning, I am guessing that it never would be this popular.

 

It's a frickin' FMB, not a craft beer, who cares who owns it.