Monster-owned Cigar City will shift the Tampa, Florida-based craft brewery’s production hub to a cross-category innovation center; as a result of the change, 12 positions have been terminated, Brewbound has confirmed.
The company also eliminated the position of long-time and original brewmaster Wayne Wambles on February 9. Wambles’ 16th anniversary with the company would have been in early March. He is actively seeking employment, according to his LinkedIn profile. Details about other eliminated roles were not available.
Employees at other Monster-owned craft breweries were unaffected.
As the Tampa facility transitions to an R&D hub for beer, flavored malt beverages (FMB) and spirits, Cigar City beers will be produced at the Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, North Carolina, Brewbound confirmed.
Cigar City’s Spruce Street brewery and taproom, downtown taproom near the Amalie Arena and Tampa International Airport will remain open. All Cigar City own-premise locations will serve Tampa-brewed, small-batch beer.
Cigar City produced 110,000 barrels of beer in 2022, the most recent year for which production data is available from the Brewers Association (BA), according to the May/June 2023 edition of the New Brewer.
The brewery’s flagship Jai Alai IPA increased dollar sales +1.1%, to $39.55 million at off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm Circana in the 52-week period ending February 25. The brand’s volume declined -1.3% in the same period.
However, Jai Alai’s scan data tides have shifted in the new year and it recorded declines in both dollars (-2.9%) and volume (-3.5%) year-to-date through (YTD) February 25, according to Circana. Jai Alai is the 16th largest craft beer brand at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores tracked by Circana YTD.
The shakeup at Cigar City follows last November’s closure of the 50,000 sq. ft. Oskar Blues brewery and taproom in Austin, Texas. The facility shuttered after seven years, with production shifted to other Monster-owned brewing facilities, including Oskar Blues’ breweries in Longmont, Colorado, and Brevard.
Earlier this year, Monster Beverage Company CEOs Hilton Schlosberg and Rodney Sacks signaled issues with the company’s craft beer and hard seltzer business, formerly known as the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective and since rechristened Monster Brewing Company.
In Monster’s late February earnings, the company reported a $39.9 million impairment charge on its alcohol business, which it attributed the writedown “to the continuing challenges in the craft beer and seltzer categories.”
Monster’s alcohol business, including FMB brand The Beast Unleashed and craft beer brands, increased net sales +30.6%, to $35.2 million, in Q4, up from $26.9 million in Q4 2022.
In the first two months of 2024, dollar sales of the former CANarchy portfolio declined -10.3%, to $12.5 million, at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores, according to market research firm Circana. Compare that to Monster Brewing – which Circana reports separately – which recorded dollar sales growth of +475.6% in the same period as it lapped the launch of The Beast Unleashed. Monster’s non-CANarchy brands sold $16.23 million year-to-date through February 25, according to Circana.
Monster acquired the CANarchy craft beer platform in January 2022 in a $330 million cash deal, marking the company’s first foray into the alcoholic beverage market. Monster Brewing’s brands include Cigar City, Oskar Blues, Deep Ellum, Perrin Brewing, Wasatch Brewing, Squatters, and Wild Basin Hard Seltzer.