![]() ![]() There's a world out there to educate on craft. People are looking for complexity and balance rather than just intensity. ![]() There's a national transition (happening). ![]() Szpigel: One is (Devils Backbone's) focus on lagers, and an unbelievable balance between flavor and sessionability. Q: How do they complement AB's craft portfolio as compared with the seven breweries you'd previously bought? The beers are out of this world, and they complement the portfolio we have today. And when you focus on what's in the glass, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what the guys are doing here. Szpigel: Whomever we want to bring on board, the question is, do they believe in what we believe? And do they believe in something bigger than what they have done up to now? And do they want to achieve that as partners? We shared a similar vision of the industry (with Devils Backbone), and we got excited by the things we could do to support them and, even more than that, the things they could do to support us. Q: Felipe, what does AB get out of this deal? There were folks who actually offered a little more money upfront, but they were uncertain about building out what we saw as our dream, and that was very important. So we're building the campground - plus some other things we're not ready to announce yet - and a 50,000-square-foot facility at our packaging facility in Lexington. From the very beginning, we had a great relationship with these guys prior to meeting them, I wasn't sure they put they're pants on one leg at a time, but they do. We're a destination brewery - people drive to get here and want to stay on the property - but we couldn't spend any money on it because everything was going to capacity. We're on 100 acres here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we want to develop a very positive experiential facility, including a campground and RV hookups. We have a vision, and we've had a vision since we started this business. What it says is that there are a lot of people interested in buying craft.Ĭrandall: As the list grew tighter, the one rising to the top was AB. We were very humbled by this process there were some amazing, very recognizable names, and it's pretty gratifying that those guys will fly in and talk to you. We whittled the list to a half dozen international and national breweries. I wanted some assurance that whatever we did, there would be some longevity to it. ![]() They generated a list of 20 potential partners, from private equity to strategic (meaning other breweries), and we very early discounted the private equity piece. We were reaching the terminus of the ability to fund our growth, so we reached out to First Beverage Group (a Los Angeles-based beverage industry advisory firm) and told them what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. The investment in capacity was stretching us pretty darn thin, to the point that we were putting money into capacity versus filling the potholes in our road. Q: Steve, how did this deal come together for Devils Backbone?Ĭrandall: We've been incredibly fast growing, and with growth came expense. ![]()
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