Base Camp Owner Arrested
The owner of Portland, Oregon’s Base Camp Brewing was arrested this week after drunk dialing 911 seven times in 10 minutes to rant about the city’s mayor and its struggle with a large homeless population.
When police arrived at the home of Justin Fay, the 33-year-old brewery owner answered the door holding a large semi-automatic weapon and smelling of alcohol, according to an official report obtained by The Oregonian. The firearm was reportedly loaded with the safety turned off.
Authorities confiscated the weapon and arrested the hostile entrepreneur after he threatened to kill one of the officers with second firearm firearm, according to KOIN. On the ride to jail, Fay also reportedly attempted to kick his way out of the patrol car, breaking the left rear window.
Fay now faces several criminal charges including unlawful possession of an illegal firearm, second-degree criminal mischief and seven counts of improperly calling an emergency reporting service.
Arrogant Bastard Gets Canned
Stone Brewing this week announced plans to can its infamous Arrogant Bastard American strong ale in 16 oz. six-packs.
In a branded press statement from the “Arrogant Bastard Brewing,” the San Diego-based craft brewery said the canned versions of Arrogant Bastard would soon be available nationwide. A pair of videos showing the canning process and brewery co-founder Greg Koch’s first taste are below.
Hillary Clinton Visits Pearl Street
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton visited Wisconsin’s Pearl Street Brewery on Tuesday during a round of local stump-speeches prior to the state’s primary elections. Pearl Street owners Joe Katchever and Tami Plourde gave the former Secretary of State Clinton a tour of the the facility and spoke with her about the nation’s growing craft beer industry.
During her hour-long visit to the Lacrosse-based brewery, Clinton noted the state’s long brewing heritage and poured herself a pint of Pearl Street’s D.T.B. Brown Ale at the brewery’s taproom.
BrewDog Begins Distilling
BrewDog is getting into spirits. The Scotland-based craft brewing company last week announced it was in the process of installing equipment for its forthcoming foray into the hard liquor segment.
The company’s new Lone Wolf Distillery, funded by its popular crowdfunding platform Equity for Punks, will distill whiskey, gin and vodka. A selection of rare and exclusive offerings will be reserved for the Lone Wolf Founders Club – a subset of Equity Punks who chose to receive “spirits benefits” as their regular return for investing in the company.
Lone Wolf is expected to produced its first barrels of “BrewDog vodka” this month.
Craft’s Private Equity Deals Profiled by Forbes
Forbes’ Tara Nurin took a stab this week at analyzing some of the recent private equity investments in craft beer and the likely “second-wave sell offs” that could be coming next.
“Of the more than half-dozen high-profile equity deals that have taken place recently, most of the PE firms will look to exit three to five years afterward, launching a rash of the resales and public offerings that the craft community so derides,” Nurin wrote.
Traditional private equity funds are usually expected to return profits to investors within a seven year period. As a result, craft breweries that sold majority stakes to these firms could find themselves under the ownership of the very companies they hoped to avoid, like A-B InBev, MillerCoors or Heineken.
“For those who sold to PE funds, there will be a second wave of exits or liquidity events,” First Beverage Group’s Townsend Ziebold told the outlet.