After growing two percent in 2017, Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective – a consortium of beer companies formed by Oskar Blues and Fireman Capital Partners following investments in Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing and Utah Brewers Cooperative – has brought in a pair of C-level executives to “develop necessary and scalable infrastructure” within the organization.
“We’ve built this business by breaking bottlenecks,” Oskar Blues Brewery founder Dale Katechis said via a press release. “Now’s the time to weld on industry expertise and experienced executives to lead this pirate ship to the next level.”
Canarchy has tapped outsider David Pillsbury, who most recently served as the CEO of the Laser Spine Institute, as its new chief executive. Patrick Daugherty, who spent 17 years with ad agency The Integer Group, was also named Canarchy’s CMO last July.
In addition to leading day-to-day operations, Pillsbury, who spent about 11 years as the president of the PGA Tour, will be tasked with helping CANarachy “expand and improve collaboration amongst breweries,” a release noted.
“He was hand-selected by Dale and the breweries and brings the right kind of cross-functional leadership and executive skills to help lead the Canarchy collective to the next stage of growth,” marketing director Chad Melis told Brewbound.
Katechis, meanwhile, will continue to shape the strategy and long-term vision of the group.
“This move will allow Dale to focus on the larger stuff, without having to worry about the day-to-day responsibilities of CEO position,” Melis added.
The new hires come as the Canarchy breweries have grown to a combined 350,000 barrels.
Despite slowing category-wide growth and a myriad of headwinds blowing against mid-sized craft breweries, Canarchy now boasts the top two independent canned craft beers sold in six-packs — Jai Alai IPA and Dale’s Pale Ale – and emerged from challenging 2017 up about two percent.
“It’s tough going out there, particularly for the small and mid-sized companies,” Melis told Brewbound. “But we are in a good spot. We have a group of breweries of different sizes and different maturities. We are competing in so many different geographies and can play the quality and local cards.”
Oskar Blues produced about 180,000 barrels in 2017, according to Melis, and Florida’s Cigar City grew production by 42 percent, to 92,000 barrels. Meanwhile, the Utah Brewers Cooperative – which consists of the Squatters and Wasatch brands — produced about 54,000 barrels of beer while Michigan’s Perrin Brewing made about 23,000 barrels, Melis said.
“There are challenges, but that is what we hope the collective Canarchy platform will help us combat and compete against,” he added.
As it looks ahead to 2018, Melis said the company would continue to consider acquisition as a part of its growth strategy.
“We are absolutely open and looking to do so,” he said. “We have tried to be more strategic, and it has been a dynamic couple of years in the market, but we have learned a lot. We are solidifying as a group and understanding the platform much better. The opportunity for different brands to join, that are a cultural fit and will add to the overall strength of the platform, is something we are actively looking for.”
Additional information, including growth statistics on individual Canarachy brands, is included in the press release below.
LONGMONT, Colo., – Jan. 23, 2018 – CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, a disruptive collective of like-minded craft brewers, kicks 2018 off as the largest supplier of independent craft beer in a can. In 2017, Cigar City Brewing’s Jai Alai IPA and Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale led CANarchy as the #1 and #2 craft can six-packs sold in the nation. The portfolio of craft breweries including Oskar Blues Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing Company, Squatters Craft Beer and Wasatch Brewery collectively brewed nearly 350,000 bbls in 2017. The brewery group changed its name late last year to CANarchy to better reflect the goal behind the collective – to be the number one provider of independent craft beer in a can.
Since joining CANarchy, Cigar City Brewing has experienced significant increases in their distribution and overall production through the collective’s developed and supported national distribution networks. This year, the Tampa-based brewery doubled their out-of-state availability from 6 to 12 states and increased shipments 43% from 65,000 bbls to 92,000 bbls. The trend is supported by the dominant hold on their home state of Florida and the growing demand of Jai Alai IPA as they expand their footprint across the U.S.
Oskar Blues Brewery, home of the Original Craft Beer in a Can, saw a 10% increase in Texas following the opening of their Austin brewery, which hosts the Tasty Weasel Taproom and live music venue. They also increased production at their Brevard N.C. brewery by 20% in the past year. In total, Oskar Blues brewed 180,000 bbls in 2017 led by flagship brew Dale’s Pale Ale, showing solid growth of 9.7% in Total US Multi-Outlet + Convenience. PINNER Throwback IPA experienced 90% growth in large format packages transitioning from 12-packs to 16-packs in 2017. The brewery recently updated the packaging of its full line of 12 and 16-packs with a bold, yet classic new look, and gave Mama’s Little Yella Pils a facelift to focus more specifically on the pilsner style.
Michigan’s Perrin Brewing Company continues to establish itself as a major player in the Midwest. In 2017, they experienced 20% growth (MI Food) in their home state and +22% in IRI’s Great Lakes Region.
Squatters Craft Beer and Wasatch Brewery, both based in Utah, have been quietly defying odds with great beers since the 1980’s. Both experienced rising trends on their flagship brands – nearly +20% on Hop Rising Double IPA and +16% on Apricot Hefeweizen.
With the increased operational growth, CANarchy tapped two industry leaders to further bolster the team with the appointment of David Pillsbury as Chief Executive Officer and Patrick Daugherty as Chief Marketing Officer. Pillsbury brings more than 30 years of domestic and international leadership across multiple operating companies in diverse disciplines. Daugherty brings 25 years of marketing experience in beverage alcohol, most recently holding the title of Executive Vice President at The Integer Group where he led the strategic and creative services team charged with marketing the agency’s largest client, MillerCoors.
“We’ve built this business by breaking bottlenecks. Now’s the time to weld on industry expertise and experienced executives to lead this pirate ship to the next level,” said Dale Katechis, Soul Founder of Oskar Blues Brewery. “I’ll continue to stoke the entrepreneurial spirit, vision, cultural inspiration and storytelling at Oskar Blues and the CANarchy platform. David’s main objective will be working with the founders and leaders of each team to expand and improve collaboration amongst breweries while developing necessary and scalable infrastructure within CANarchy.”
The CANarchy “See E Oh”(CEO) and Chief Marketing Officer are newly created roles intended to support the goal of craft breweries working together to preserve craft beer culture and bring quality, innovative flavors to beer drinkers worldwide. Pillsbury and Daugherty will be based at the CANarchy headquarters in Longmont, Colorado.
To keep up with the CANarchy collective of craft breweries visit https://www.canarchy.beer.
CANarchy achieved the #1 supplier of independent craft beer in a can with verified info using the combined total US multi outlet data and a broad cross section of national liquor data.
About CANarchy
Founded in 2015, CANarchy is a disruptive collective of like-minded brewers dedicated to bringing quality and innovative flavors to beer drinkers in the name of independent craft beer. The portfolio of craft breweries, partially funded by Fireman Capital Partners, including Oskar Blues Brewery, Perrin Brewing Company, Cigar City Brewing, Squatters Craft Beer and Wasatch Brewery, ischallenging corporate convention to preserve independent craft beer culture. CANarchy is the #1 provider of American craft beer in a can by bringing value to distributors, retailers and beer drinkers. Cigar City Brewing’s Jai Alai IPA and Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale are currently the #1 and #2 sold craft can six packs in U.S. Grocery. The CANarchy platform brewed nearly 350,000 bbls in 2017, reaching all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., parts of Canada, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea. https://www.canarchy.beer