• 📱 Prospective Sellers Calling Tilray Pres. Daily
• 🤝 Aeronaut and Dorchester Brewing to Merge
• 💰 Campari Buys Courvoisier for $1.2 Billion
• 🗽 Interboro Shuts Brooklyn Taproom
• 🪿 Goose Island’s Clybourn Taproom Closes
• ☕️ Night Shift Spills the Tea, Colonially
• 🚎 Karl Strauss Non-Alc Red Trolley
• 🧀 Vacuum Distilled Doritos Nacho Cheese

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Ty Gilmore, president of Tilray Brands’ U.S. beer division, estimated that he receives around two to three calls a day from potential sellers looking to join the Canadian cannabis firm’s craft brewery platform. 

During a fireside chat at the 2023 Brewbound Live business conference earlier this month, Gilmore said: “There’s just a lot of interest in what we’re doing. For us, we want to be very active in this space, and we’ll continue to think through this. 

“For us, it’s all about chemistry, fit, and do brands have a strategic plan that kinda works with us.”

Tilray Brands made a splash in August with an $85 million, eight-brand acquisition with Anheuser-Busch InBev that saw Tilray add Blue Point, Breckenridge Brewery, 10 Barrel, Redhook, Widmer Brothers, Shock Top, Square Mile Cider and HiBall to a portfolio that already included craft breweries SweetWater, Montauk, Green Flash and Alpine, as well as Breckenridge Distillery.

Looking ahead, the biggest areas of geographic whitespace for Tilray are Texas and the Great Lakes region, Gilmore said. 

He added: “We’re working on some investments out in the Southwest that are going to make some more sense for us in the near future. And that might be another opportunity as we look at whitespace on things that we may want to do.”

Following the acquisitions of the eight brands from A-B, Tilray worked with Boston Consulting Group to build “a demand-centric growth model,” Gilmore said. Tilray will deploy a three-pronged approach moving forward that includes:

• A regional approach centered around “regional jewels” such as the Pacific Northwest with 10 Barrel, Widmer Brothers, Redhook and Square Mile Cider; the Northeast with Montauk and Blue Point; and the Southeast with SweetWater;
• National plays, including Shock Top, the SweetWater Gummies line of higher ABV IPAs and new innovations;
• And new-to-world innovations, both in and out of the beer category. 

Brewbound Insiders can watch the full conversation, including Tilray’s plans for Shock Top, innovation of 10 Barrel’s Pub Beer brand outside the beer space, recruiting new consumers with new package formats and future plans for THC beverages.

Two Massachusetts breweries – Dorchester Brewing Company and Aeronaut Brewing Company – will merge next year under a new parent company, Tasty Liquid Alliance, the two companies announced yesterday. 

Somerville-based Aeronaut and Boston-based Dorchester Brewing will continue as two separate brands, while Tasty Liquid Alliance will pool “resources and expertise with the mission of elevating and growing the craft beer experiences for the two founding businesses, along with regional emerging brands looking to unify,” according to a press release. 

The merger is expected to close in Q3 of 2024. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

With the merger, Aeronaut's production will move from its facility in Everett, Massachusetts, to Dorchester’s Boston facility. Production of more than 20 regional and national brands that are contract produced through Dorchester and/or Aeronaut will also transition to Dorchester. 

Aeronaut’s Everett facility will shut down on January 1, with production moved so there is “no stop in service and continuous beer production,” Dorchester CEO Matt Malloy told Brewbound via email. The companies plan to “transition as many Aeronaut production employees as possible to the Dorchester facility,” per the release.

Aeronaut’s adjacent Everett Cannery taproom will remain open into 2024, but will shut down at some point in the year, according to Malloy. Aeronaut’s Somerville taproom will remain open and will continue to do small-batch production of Aeronaut beers. 

Malloy will become CEO of Tasty Liquid Alliance, with discussions still happening on the future roles of other leadership from the companies, according to Malloy. While the new titles for Aeronaut co-CEOs Dan Rassi and Ronn Friedlander are unknown, the duo will “likely be focused on new business and new technology,” Malloy told Brewbound. 

Insiders can read more, including comments from Malloy and Friedlander.

Campari has struck a deal to acquire cognac brand Courvoisier from Beam Suntory for $1.2 billion, amounting to the biggest deal in the Italian spirit group’s history.

The deal is expected to close next year, and anticipates an additional earn-out of up to $0.12 billion payable in 2029.

The cognac will be positioned as the fourth major leg of the Campari Group along with aperitifs, bourbon and tequila, and grant the spirits group a boost in the U.S. and Asia, according to a statement.

Campari Group CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz said in the announcement: “The addition of Courvoisier cognac to our portfolio of global priorities is a rare and unique opportunity to expand our premium spirits portfolio and cognac offering.”

In addition to accelerating the company’s “premiumization journey,” the acquisition will provide the group the opportunity to expand its bottling and distilling capacity in France, and support the group’s other local operations. Those include several super premium French brands: cognac brands and distilleries Grand Marnier and Bisquit Dubouché, Trois Rivières rhums and distillery (in Martinique), and Champagne Lallier and bitter aperitif Picon.

Courvoisier was founded in 1828, and has been under the Beam Suntory umbrella for nearly 20 years. The historic brand, which received a boost from early 2000s rap anthems, makes up one of the four players that dominate nearly 100% of the cognac market in the U.S. 

Courvoisier’s business, which includes the Salignac brand, reached net sales of $249 million in its fiscal year ending December 31, 2022, according to the statement. But, like other major cognac brands, Courvoisier was not immune to the declines facing the category after a pandemic peak: net sales hit $148 million for the 10 months prior to October 31, a decline of 33% compared to the corresponding period in 2022.

Brewbound Insiders can go deeper into the deal.

Brooklyn’s Interboro will close its 7-year-old taproom on December 31, according to Brooklyn Magazine. 

Interboro announced the closure on its Instagram profile: “Life is just a party and parties aren't meant to last... we're gonna have to move our operations. We'll be continuing to make beer and spirits upstate but will close our taproom on Sunday, December 31st. Come celebrate 7+ years of our 942 Grand Street location and party like it's 1999! Stay tuned for updates on a new tasting room in 2024!”

Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Goose Island shuttered its historic Clybourn brewpub after 35 years on December 10, per Chicago Eater. The closure was first announced a year earlier. 

The brewpub will move to the Salt Shed, an indoor-outdoor music venue in Chicago. An opening date has yet-to-be announced.

Read about the history of the space here.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Night Shift Brewing has released a limited batch of Tea Party, a sweet tea vodka.

The new vodka is available in 375 mL bottles exclusively at its taproom in Everett, Massachusetts, which will also serve cocktails featuring the new spirit.

The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, when, in response to British Parliament passing the Tea Act to tax colonists’ tea, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded a ship in Boston Harbor and dumped the tea among its cargo overboard.

San Diego’s Karl Strauss Brewing will release a non-alcoholic version of its iconic Red Trolley Ale on January 1. 

The beer will be available in 12 oz. can 6-packs for a limited time at all Karl Strauss brewpubs and The Outpost beer garden in San Marcos.

Doritos are a time-honored drinking snack, but why settle for simply eating them alongside the alcohol? 

Frito-Lay North America has collaborated with flavored spirits innovator Empirical to launch Empirical x Doritos Nacho Cheese Spirits (42% ABV). Starting next month, the spirit will be available online or in stores in California and New York in 750 mL bottles, with a suggested price of $65.

The limited time release claims to retain the “essence” of real Doritos chips through the use of vacuum distillation, “preserving the full spectrum of flavors derived from Doritos,” according to the press release. Recommended for use in Margaritas, Bloody Marys, Old Fashioneds or served neat or over ice.

Business Insider contributor John Kell got his hands on the spirit early, and described drinking the beverages as: “It almost tasted like flavored vodka, but as the liquid flowed down my mouth, I did get the sensation of nacho chip powder floating around my mouth.”

Over the past year, food brands have increasingly turned to the craft alcohol space. Recall this summer’s spiced rum collaboration between Dead Man’s Fingers and Kentucky Fried Chicken, or the Eggo Brunch in a Jar Sippin’ Cream. 

No word yet on if a Cool Ranch variety is to come. Perhaps a barrel-aged Spicy Sweet Chili?