Dodge City Owners to Retire, List Brewery for Sale as Turnkey Operation
Dodge City Brewing, including its Dodge City, Kansas-based taproom, five-barrel brewhouse, and intellectual property, has been listed for sale, following the intended retirement of co-founder and brewmaster Larry Cook.
“My wife and I are 65 years old and want to retire while we are still able to travel and enjoy retirement,” Cook told Brewbound. “Our hope is that DCB continues on for many years to come. It is a real asset to the community.”
Cook said they had been considering selling the company “for a while,” and that now “just seems right.” He intends for it to be a turnkey sale, which will include “all intellectual property, brands, logos, etc.”
The 4,000 sq. ft. facility, opened in 2017, includes a 84-seat brewpub featuring 11 tap handles, with an additional 40-seat patio space, according to the listing. The brewhouse includes four five-barrel fermenters, two 10-barrel fermenters, two brite tanks (five-barrel and 10-barrel) and six serving tanks.
Cook said they intend to sell “as soon as practical,” and would ideally want to sell to someone “with brewing experience,” and for the Dodge City staff to “continue being employed.”
“We survived the pandemic in good financial condition and had a profitable year in 2020, but we are worn out,” Cook continued. “It is time for someone younger with more energy and new ideas to take over.”
Auction for Former Crazy Mountain Brewing Facility Set for May
A 42,000 sq. ft. production brewery, which previously housed operations for Crazy Mountain Brewing, will be placed for auction next month, according to a listing by Tauber-Arons, Inc., an industrial auctioneers and liquidators company.
Crazy Mountain moved from the facility at 471 Kalamath Street to a 4,200 sq. ft. taproom (the former location of Alpine Dog Brewery), in August, Westword reported. With the move, Crazy Mountain began contract brewing its core beers with Denver-based Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, as the owner of the Kalamath facility also owns the brewing equipment in the building, according to Westword.
Included in the upcoming auction, which will begin May 18, is a 50-barrel brewhouse, fermentation and aging cellar equipment, several brite tanks, a bottle line and a canning line, according to the listing.
The location has a long history of housing brewery operations. Breckenridge Brewery operated at the facility from 1996 to 2015 before moving to Littleton, Colorado (shortly before being acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev). The building and brewery equipment were sold to the entity 471 Kalamath, LLC for $3.35 million, BusinessDen reported.
In July 2021, the city granted a certificate of demolition eligibility for the location, as requested by 471 Kalamath, LLC, the Denver Post reported.
When Crazy Mountain first began leasing the location, it was producing an estimated 25,000 barrels of beer annually, according to the Brewers Association (BA). The brewery significantly decreased production over the next few years, producing an estimated 10,500 barrels in 2020 (the last published year by the BA), a -5% decrease compared to 2019.
4204 Main St. Brewing Intends to Sell by End of 2022 as Turnkey Operation
Belleville, Illinois-based 4204 Main St. Brewing hopes to sell its production brewery, taproom and its intellectual property by the end of this year, Linda Miller, the broker handling the sale for Real Estate Maximums (RE/MAX), told Brewbound.
The 36,000 sq. ft. facility at 6435 West Main St. includes a 30-barrel brewhouse, 600-patron banquet center, 100-seat taproom and a commercial kitchen. The company is asking for $3.95 million in a turnkey sale.
4204 Main St. first listed the facility in July 2021, when the brewery shut down its distribution operations to focus on its restaurant and brewpub, citing financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic, Drink314 reported. In September, the brewery changed gears and shut down its restaurant due to staffing shortages, and reopened its distribution operations.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve been trying to keep our head above water,” 4204 Main St. wrote in a Facebook post. “But unfortunately, we can’t continue any longer. The choice to close was extremely difficult to make. We put everything we had into keeping the restaurant afloat. We struggled with the decision, but we believe it’s the correct choice to make.”
The restaurant is being sold separately for an asking price of $1.45 million. Miller said they will consider selling both at a discounted price if purchased together.
4204 Main St. first opened as a brewpub in 2014, renovating the restaurant building into a “modern brewery and steakhouse,” and adding a canning line in 2015, according to the brewery website. In 2017, the company invested $3 million into a second building (the distribution facility) for increased production and event hosting.
4204 Main St. will continue to operate until the sale of the facility, “and hopefully after,” Miller said. She added that the company has recently hired a new head brewer, sales manager and banquet coordinator. Events are still being scheduled through 2023, which Miller said could be protected under a future leasing agreement with the buyer.
The brewery produced 3,825 barrels of beer in 2020, the last recorded year available from the BA.
Auction for Five Threads Brewing’s California Brewhouse Set for April 26
A seven-barrel brewery and tasting room in Westlake Village, California, which formerly housed Five Threads Brewing Company, is scheduled for auction April 26, hosted by GA Global Partners, an auction and liquidations company.
Five Threads closed its doors January 30, citing financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is with heavy heart that I announce that after six hard fought years, Five Threads Brewery is closing permanently,” Five Threads founder Tim Kazules announced on the brewery’s social channels. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to scale up our sales fast enough to cover rising expenses and we find ourselves at the end of our funds.”
Five Threads produced 570 barrels of beer in 2020, according to the BA.
The facility includes seven 20-barrel fermenters, seven 15-barrel brite tanks, a bottle filler, can seamer, barrel-aged “beer and barrels” and a “large inventory of kegs and cans,” as well as a supply of raw materials and “ingredients,” according to the auction site.
The online-only auction will begin at 10 a.m. PDT.