One month after announcing the sale of its Coney Island brand to craft beer incubator Alchemy & Science (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston Beer Company), Shmaltz Brewing today announced a number of new distribution agreements.
The company has signed with 10 new wholesalers across eight different states including New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, Florida, Vermont, Maine and Kentucky. Shmaltz beers are already available in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, Florida and Vermont. The company will enter Maine next month with Craft Beer Guild and Kentucky in 2014 with Beer House Distributors of Kentucky, both part of the L. Knife & Son collection of beer wholesalers.
More details and a complete list of Shamltz’ new distributors are included in the press release below.
Clifton Park, NY — Shmaltz Brewing Company is thrilled to announce the partnership with new distributors in key territories such as New York City, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Florida. Shmaltz enters the Vermont market for the first time, and plans to expand to Maine in October 2013 and Kentucky in early 2014. The team of distributors enhances the regional retail presence and draft availability of Shmaltz’s award-winning craft beer line: HE’BREW — The Chosen Beer┬«. Shmaltz’s distribution growth comes on the heels of the grand opening of a new 20,000 square feet brewery in Clifton Park, NY. Shmaltz increases its staff to 20 employees.
The following distributors now represent the Shmaltz Tribe of Beers:
*Manhattan Beer Distributors — New York City and surrounding counties.
*Kohler Distributing Company — Northern New Jersey
*Shore Point Distributing Company — Central New Jersey
*Kramer Beverage — Southern New Jersey
*Freedom Beverage — North Carolina
*J.J. Taylor Distributing — Minnesota
*Brown Distributing Company — Florida
*Craft Beer Guild of Vermont — Vermont
Coming soon:
*Craft Beer Guild — Maine (October 2013)
*Beer House Distributing — Kentucky (2014)
See what a handful of new distributors are saying about Shmaltz:
“We were very excited about the opportunity to work with Shmaltz Brewing. Especially with their new brewery in New York and their local connections to New York City, Shmaltz is a perfect fit for our top quality craft portfolio. MBD looks forward to a successful partnership throughout our 14-county territory.” -Simon Bergson, Manhattan Beer
“We are extremely excited to be selling brands with such great local heritage, and, to be honest, some of the best brewed products available today. This is a brewery who figured out how to combine great liquid with great creative marketing, making it a fun brand for passionate beer drinkers.” -Frank Politano (Vice President), Kohler Distributing Co, New Jersey
“Great beers coupled with very passionate people. We are very honored to be representing this brand as they move into their new brewery.” -Jim Wiggins (Craft Brand Manager), Kramer Beverage, New Jersey
“We are very happy about the addition of Shmaltz to our portfolio. Shmaltz makes a great line of core beers along with an innovative and creative line of seasonals that adds a new dimension and new styles of beer to Freedom Beverage. With the new brewery now up and running we now look forward to see what comes next from Shmaltz down the road.” -Greg Leone (Beer Brands Director), Freedom Beverage, North Carolina
“J.J. Taylor Distributing of MN, Inc strives to be the first choice for our employees, customers, and suppliers and we are excited to grow and build our partnership with Shmaltz here in Minnesota.” -Tara Alcure (Brand Manager), J.J. Taylor Distributing, Minnesota
“Brown Distributing Company is sincerely thrilled to be representing Shmaltz’s He’brew Beers throughout the state of Florida. Shmaltz’s full-flavored, unique line-up of craft beers and overall “shtick” is a great addition to our portfolio and organization. We look forward to partnering with their team to continue building the He’brew brand here in the Sunshine State.” -Ian Salzberg, Brown Distributing Company, Florida
“We are proud to bring the He’Brew beers to Vermont and I know our clients and customers are equally enthusiastic to have this beer in their stores and refrigerators.” -Conor Giard, Craft Beer Guild, Vermont
For a full list of distributors, please see the attached Shmaltz Distribution Map and also visit: www.shmaltzbrewing.com/HEBREW/distributors.html
About Shmaltz Brewing Company:
Ranked in 2013 as one of the “Top 100 Brewers in the World” by RateBeer.com, Shmaltz won 9 Gold and 5 Silver Medals in the World Beer Championships in 2012. A recipient of the “Distinguished Business Award” by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Shmaltz was also included in the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Bay Area Companies” by San Francisco Business Times.
Founder and still sole proprietor Jeremy Cowan established the company in San Francisco in 1996 with the first 100 cases of He’brew Beer┬«. He’brew┬« now sells across 35 states, through 40 wholesalers and nearly 4,000 retailers. In 2007, Shmaltz released a new line of craft brewed lagers under the Coney Island┬« banner. The Coney Island brand was recently acquired by Alchemy and Science, a craft beer incubator, owned by Boston Beer (Sam Adams).
After 17 years of being an outspoken cheerleader for contract brewing, Shmaltz recently broke with tradition and opened its own New York State production brewery in Clifton Park, NY, 10 minutes north of Albany’s capital district. Shmaltz’s new home boasts a 50-barrel brewhouse with 20,000 barrels of annual capacity. The new brewery packages 12 and 22 ounce bottles and kegs of their diverse core and seasonal favorites, and hosts fans and beer tourists in their new tasting room for tours, barrel-aged previews, and special releases.
In 2010/11, Cowan published his small business memoir, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success. A free sampling of Chapter One and suggested beer pairings, can be viewed at www.craftbeerbarmitzvah.com. In 2012, Cowan spearheaded the creation of the non-profit New York City Brewers Guild (which manages NYC Beer Week) and serves as its President.
Cowan also has presented at the 2013 Craft Brewers Conference, as well as previous Great American Beer Festivals, the Brewbound Session business conference, Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Festival, the Atlanta and the St. Louis Jewish Book Fairs, and the San Francisco and New York Jewish Museums.
Shmaltz Brewing beers have appeared in such distinguished media outlets as The New York Times, CNN Headline News, Beer Advocate Magazine, NPR’s “Weekend Edition,” Fox Business News, Men’s Health, San Francisco Chronicle, The Jerusalem Report, New York Jewish Week, and Washington Post.