(Courtesy Atwater Brewery)

On June 4, Detroit entrepreneur Mark Rieth signed a definitive agreement to buy Atwater Brewery back from Canada-headquartered cannabis and craft beer company, Tilray Brands, a move that officially returns the iconic neighborhood staple to local hands. While the ink is dry on the agreement, the deal is expected to officially close later this summer.

Rieth is reacquiring the Atwater brand name, its intellectual property, the Detroit brewing equipment, and the actual Detroit brewery building in the historic Rivertown district, a property he actually still owned and had been leasing back to corporate operators.

Atwater’s Rivertown taproom and the Grosse Pointe Park location are included in the buyback. However, Tilray Brands will hang onto the Grand Rapids taproom, and continuing to operate that location under its own umbrella. As with most of these kinds of transactions exact financial details of the deal have not been publicly disclosed.

This homecoming marks a  full-circle journey for a brand that has bounced around the corporate world over the last six years.

Founded in 1997, Atwater first caught Rieth’s eye in 2002 when he came on as an investor. By 2005, he took total ownership and spent the next 15 years building the brand into a Michigan powerhouse. In 2020, Rieth sold Atwater to Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the craft arm of Molson Coors. From there, Molson Coors flipped the brewery to Tilray Brands in 2024 as part of a massive multi-brand portfolio deal. Now, just two years later, Rieth is stepping back into the CEO chair to rescue its local identity.

The motivation behind the deal points in opposite directions for both sides.

For Rieth, getting Atwater back has been a personal goal since the day he walked away. He plans to hit the ground running by leaning heavily into the brewery’s Detroit community, supporting the current staff, and refocusing the beer’s footprint tightly on its core Midwestern roots. It also fits perfectly into his growing regional empire, which already includes Lansing Brewing Co., FÜL Beverages, and Velvet Peanut Butter.

At the same time, this divestment allows Tilray Brands to trim its already massive craft lineup which has gotten considerably top-heavy given the sector’s sale decline, and allow them to refocus their energy on better-performing brands.