Avery Brewing Sells 30% Stake To Leading Spanish Brewer

We should have known that an announcement like this might be forthcoming.

 It’s been relatively quiet since going into the Thanksgiving holidays, and sometimes ’too quiet’ is telling.

So in retrospect maybe the Tuesday night announcement that Spanish brewing conglomerate Mahou San Miguel had purchased a 30 percent stake in Boulder, Colorado’s family-owned Avery Brewing shouldn’t have caught us off-guard.

Also interesting is how closely this announcement mirrors Mahou San Miguel’s 30 percent acquisition of Michigan-based Founders Brewing which took place at nearly the same time of year almost three years ago.

Both Founders and Avery are heritage-aged and both companies had incurred significant expansion costs prior to them selling a portion of their brewing operations to the Spanish conglomerate.

The deal, as Westword reported, shouldn’t have been all that surprising…

“Avery spent $30 million on a state-of-the-art brewing campus and restaurant, which it opened in 2015, just as sales for many medium-sized and large breweries began to slip in the face of increasing competition.

Avery has also streamlined its portfolio over the past two years, jettisoning many of the unusual seasonal releases it had used to build its reputation in favor of more marketable year-round offerings.”

And this from Adam Avery, co-Founder of Avery Brewing…

“Dad and I decided 2 years ago that in order to fulfill our vision of the new brewery and all of Avery Brewing’s potential, it made a lot of sense to seek a partner.

At that time, we established our criteria for our perfect partner: Minority Investor, Privately Held and Family-Owned Entity, Long-Term Investment, Strategic Advantages, and Good People with Shared Values.

 Mahou San Miguel emphatically checked all of those boxes for us and is our ideal partner for continued growth, remaining faithful to our beers and our culture. It is with great satisfaction that we stand side by side such a respected family company with a dedicated focus on brewing and the future.”

 

As usual financial terms weren’t disclosed…and as usual Avery insists that any changes to the company once the deal closes, will be for the better.

And given Founders current health and prosperity, and the continuing acceptance by its fans…there’s probably some truth to that.