Oskar Blues Takes Craft Collaboration to the Next Level and Acquires Perrin Brewing
Longmont, CO, Brevard, NC, & Comstock Park, MI – Colorado and North Carolina-based Oskar Blues Brewery and Perrin Brewing Company have taken craft beer collaboration to the next level and announced the acquisition of the Comstock Park, Michigan native brewery.
The two breweries kicked off their relationship in 2014 with a collaboration lager that brought brewers together in both Colorado and Michigan. That brew has developed into a partnership aligning the years of large scale growth, expansion experience and resources of Oskar Blues with the opportunities of Perrin’s strong local brand to help both breweries strengthen their position in an era of increasing competition.
Oskar Blues teamed up with former West Side Beer Distributing owner and Michigan native Keith Klopcic in orchestrating the partnership. Keith will act as president of Perrin Brewing.
“West Side Distributing has a great working relationship with Oskar Blues. Dale is the first person I want to have stoking the fire,” said Klopcic.
Oskar Blues Brewery, a funky brew pub that started brewing beer in 1999 in the small town of Lyons, CO, expanded down the street to Longmont in 2008. The recent addition of a brewery in Brevard, NC, has allowed the brewery to brew nearly 150,000 barrels in 2014 while reaching 42 states in early 2015.
“Challenging the craft collaboration concept and taking it to the next level with Keith and the Perrin crew is exciting. Growing Oskar Blues and engaging new communities across the country has been a ton of fun and has given us the experience we can bring to a partner like Perrin to hit the next gear,” said Oskar Blues Soul-Founder Dale Katechis.
Located just off the beaten path in Comstock, MI, Perrin Brewing has achieved an impressive near-ubiquitous status on draft menus around West Michigan in just two years. In addition to the strength of their brewpub experience, Perrin taps are found at more than 700 locations in Michigan, helping the brewery reach nearly 14,000 barrels in 2014.
Jarred Sper, a Lowell, MI native, and a driving force behind Perrin said: “It’s been staggering to see the state of Michigan get behind Perrin Brewing over the past few years. We’re stoked to join forces with Oskar Blues amongst increased competition, capacity and growing industry challenges.”
“The state of Michigan has embraced Perrin and created something special. We’re taking the tradition we started with head brewer John Stewart and Jarred Sper to the next level by adding Keith and Oskar Blues to our team,” said Perrin operations manager Dan Perrin.
Terms of the acquisition are not disclosed.
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded as a funky little brewpub by Dale Katechis in 1997, Oskar Blues Brewery launched the craft beer-in-a-can apocalypse in 2002, using a tabletop machine that sealed one can at a time. In 2008, the makers of the top-selling pale ale in ColoRADo, Dale’s Pale Ale, added a brewery in Longmont, ColoRADo. The brewery has since experienced explosive growth–from packaging 59,000 barrels of beer in 2011 to more than 149,000 barrels in 2014. In December 2012, Oskar Blues opened the doors to an expansion brewery in Brevard, North Carolina. Oskar Blues has continued craft can innovation by releasing OLD CHUB NITRO as the first American NITRO craft beer-in-a-can and introducing the CROWLER as a canned off-premise growler alternative. The innovative, original canned craft brewery now distributes trail-blazing craft brews to 42 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Canada, Sweden, and the U.K.
www.oskarblues.com – @oskarblues – @oskarblueswnc – facebook – facebook SE – youtube
About Perrin Brewing Company
Founded in 2011 in Comstock Park, MI, Perrin Brewing Company has been propelled by the Michigan craft beer scene, kick starting their motto of “being an inch wide, and a mile deep”. In addition to the strength of their brewpub experience, Perrin taps are found at more than 700 locations in Michigan, helping the brewery reach nearly 14,000 barrels with draft-only offerings in 2014.
www.perrinbrewing.com – facebook
