New Orleans-based Urban South Brewery will acquire Pensacola, Florida-based hospitality brand Perfect Plain Brewing Co. for an undisclosed amount.
Through the agreement, expected to close October 1, Urban South will take ownership of the Perfect Plain brewery and taproom, as well as Garden & Grain cocktail garden; Perennial patio bar; and The Well cocktail lounge, according to a press release. Each entity will retain its existing brands, operations and staff.
Perfect Plain founder and Pensacola Mayor-elect Darcy “D.C.” Reeves will exit the company to “focus fully on his new role as mayor,” according to the release.
“Our relationship with the Perfect Plain team started just as you would imagine – over a Perfect Plain beer and a day on the Pensacola Bay,” Urban South founder Jacob Landry said in the release. “Through years of beer collaborations and brewery visits, we’ve developed a strong mutual respect. We quickly realized that we could build on an already solid foundation by combining Perfect Plain’s dedication to hospitality with the manufacturing and distribution expertise of Urban South. Our goal is to work as two halves of a greater whole, getting great local beer out to more people.”
Urban South plans to coordinate distribution of Perfect Plain’s craft beer offerings, both on- and off-premise, beginning with three Perfect Plain beers — Citra Spin IPA, Yachtside light lager and Pensacola POG — that will populate tap handles in bars and restaurants in the greater Pensacola area before the end of the year, with cans hitting shelves in spring 2023. Lewis Bear Company, a Pensacola-based independent Anhesuer-Busch InBev (A-B) distributor, will handle distribution of Perfect Plain throughout the Florida Gulf Coast.
Urban South, which also operates a taproom in Houston, Texas, distributes its offerings in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Perfect Plain acquisition will add Florida to the company’s distribution footprint, as Urban South continues to expand its brand to be a representation of “the modern South,” according to the release.
“The relationship between our two breweries grew naturally alongside Urban South’s desire to invest in the Pensacola community,” Reeves said in the release. “When you build a business from the ground up, you don’t let just anyone in – I’m confident that Urban South can continue to grow the Perfect Plain brand and will work to put our region on the craft beer map. Their team has a long-term vision for not only this company, but our community, and we are grateful for their support during this next phase of growth.”
Urban South produced 20,638 barrels of beer in 2021, a +12% increase year-over-year, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) May/June issue of The New Brewer. The brewery has recorded at least double-digit growth every year since its founding in 2016, with the exception of 2020, when it increased production +8%, to 18,368 barrels, according to the BA.
Perfect Plain produced 540 barrels of beer in 2021, up from 509 barrels in 2020, according to the BA.
The impending acquisition is the second recent instance of southeastern breweries joining forces. It comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that New Orleans-based Faubourg Brewing and Made By The Water – parent company of Florida’s Oyster City Brewing, South Carolina’s Palmetto Brewing and North Carolina’s Catawba Brewing – will merge. The combined entity has its sights on 100,000 barrels of annual output.