Montucky Cold Snacks closed a Series A investment round totaling $5.7 million, the Bozeman, Montana-headquartered light lager brewer announced Thursday.
“Since 2012, Montucky Cold Snacks has attracted a large and growing customer base of people who want a great tasting lager that supports causes they believe in,” CEO and co-founder Chad Zeitner said in a press release. “Completing our Series A raise is a major milestone in our plans to grow Montucky into a national beer with a local heart.”
Wave 27 Ventures, LLC — a Houston, Texas-based private equity firm — led the round, which Montucky will use to push into new markets. The brand is available in 21 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, and Wisconsin.
New York, New Jersey and New Mexico are Montucky’s newest markets, which the company entered early last month with the following wholesaler partners:
- New York — Gasko-Meyer and Union Beer;
- New Jersey — Kohler, Shore Point and Peerless;
- New Mexico — Favorite Brands and L&F.
“Chad Zeitner, Jeremy Gregory and the talented Montucky team have built an engaging brand with considerable grass-roots popularity and a serious commitment to the communities and customers they serve,” Wave 27 managing partner Allison Piper Kimball said in the release. “Wave 27 Ventures is proud and excited to be part of this fast-growing company with impressive talent, distribution and reach.”
Kimball will join Montucky’s board of directors.
Year-to-date, Montucky dollar sales have increased 61% in multi-outlet food, convenience and liquor stores tracked by NielsenIQ, vice president of sales Jeff Courteau shared with Brewbound.
With an ACV of just 4%, Montucky has plenty of runway for growth. The company’s volume increased 50%, to 45,000 barrels in 2020, according to the Brewers Association’s May/June issue of the New Brewer.
Montucky’s portfolio includes the company’s flagship 4.1% ABV light lager, “a truly drool-worthy nectar that’s light in bitterness, but full tilt in festivity,” co-founder Jeremy Gregory said in the release. The company has also entered the hard seltzer segment with a grapefruit-flavored, 100-calorie, 5% ABV offering.
The name Montucky is a playful portmanteau of Montana and Kentucky, used by locals to describe more remote areas of the Big Sky state.
“Simply put, it refers to the backwoods and rural areas of the state,” the brand’s frequently asked questions page reads. “Cold Snacks is a tongue-in-cheek way of referring to beer; i.e. ‘Let’s go crack into some Cold Snacks.’”
Since its 2012 founding, Montucky has donated 8% of profits to philanthropic organizations in each state in which its beer is sold. This year, Montucky’s featured non-profit is SheJumps, a Utah-based organization that trains women and girls in outdoor activities and wilderness skills.
Montucky isn’t alone in securing private equity investment in the beer and RTD category in recent weeks. Last week, Finnish-owned, spirits-based RTD canned cocktail brand The Long Drink secured $25 million in a round led by investment firm Neuberger Berman. The Long Drink boasts several celebrities among its investor base, including co-owners actor Miles Teller, DJ Kygo and pro golfer Ricky Fowler.
Hard kombucha maker Jiant closed a $2.3 million seed funding round earlier this week. Last month, XED Beverages, maker of RTD offering SESH, closed a second seed funding round, bringing its total raised to $4.5 million.