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Birrificio del Ducato founders Giovanni Campari and Manuel Piccoli
Duvel Moortgat, a family-owned Belgian company that controls an international family of breweries, has increased its stake in Italy’s Birrificio del Ducato to 70% after acquiring an initial 35% share in 2016.
In an open letter to their fans Birrificio del Ducato’ founders Giovanni Campari and Manuel Piccoli shared their thoughts on this progression…
“Birrificio del Ducato is like a child to us, born from a vision, a passion, a dream. After a long period of being active in Birrificio del Ducato, in the course of essentially 10 years of sacrifice, struggle and financial investment… we received a number of proposals from various large beer companies.
Each time, we rejected the proposals because we knew that they would never be able to support our philosophy. Beer never turned out to be their priority – they could only talk about the profits. They never mentioned the importance of partnership in projects based on concern for quality, innovation and improvement of brewing methods and techniques.
We therefore made a very conscious choice for Duvel Moortgat because they are different. Duvel Moortgat is guided by its family values and for that reason, they never asked us to take a different course with regard to our beer production, brand positioning or commercial attitude.”
The mutual lovefest continued with this from Duvel CEO Michel Moortgat…
“We share the same values and we are convinced that quality, professionalism and innovation are the best basis for lasting success over time. From our generational experience we will support Birrificio del Ducato and together ensure that these specialty beers can also be tasted in the rest of the world.”
An Italian craft brewery which launched in a country with a negligible beer heritage, Birrificio del Ducato’s beers garnered a rabid following almost immediately. They’ve won almost 100 beer awards in their relatively short history including being named ‘Italian Brewery of the Year’ in 2010 and 2011.
Giovanni Campari and Manuel Piccoli will remain in place and run the brewery that they founded in 2007…
Duvel Moortgat now has ten breweries in its portfolio including Brasserie d’Achouffe in Houffalize, Brouwerij De Koninck in Antwerp, Brouwerij Liefmans in Oudenaarde, Brouwerij Bernard in the Czech Republic, Brewery Ommegang in New York , Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Firestone Walker in California, Brouwerij ’t IJ in Amsterdam, and now Birrificio del Ducato in Italy.
And as is usual with these kinds of deal, financial terms were not disclosed.
