New Belgium Brewing is planning to take over the former Little Creatures taproom in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood by early 2021, according to Eater San Francisco.
Australia-based Little Creatures opened the taproom, its first in the U.S., in July 2019, about eight months before San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued one of the first stay-at-home orders in the country in an effort to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
In July, Little Creatures’ 6,300 sq. ft taproom seemed poised for success, located within walking distance of the Golden State Warriors’ new home arena, the Chase Center, as well as Oracle Park, where the San Francisco Giants play. The taproom shut down on March 16 “until further notice,” but never reopened, according to Little Creatures’ social media pages.
Both Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered New Belgium and Little Creatures are owned by the Australia-based Lion Little World Beverages, which is owned by Japan-based Kirin. Making the switch in brand for the San Francisco outpost from an Australian beer brand with little name recognition in the U.S. to one of the top-selling craft beer brands on the verge of its thirtieth anniversary makes business sense. It also signals Lion’s further ambitions for growing the New Belgium brand across the nation.
Little Creatures was founded in Australia in 2000 and acquired by Lion in 2012. Lion Little World Beverages struck a deal to acquire New Belgium in November 2019, after seven years under an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
In its acquisition of New Belgium, Lion Little World also acquired New Belgium’s ownership stake in San Francisco-based Magnolia Brewing and the shares of Magnolia owned by Seattle-based Elysian Brewing co-founder Dick Cantwell and Oud Beersell. Kirin, Lion Little World’s parent company, also holds a 24.5% ownership stake of Brooklyn Brewery.
New Belgium operates two production breweries with taprooms — one in Fort Collins, Colorado, and one in Asheville, North Carolina. It also operates tasting rooms at the Source Hotel in Denver and at Denver International Airport.
The new taproom will have a four barrel brewhouse and full kitchen. New Belgium is in the process of interviewing chefs to create the menu and run the kitchen for the new location, according to Eater.
“The menu will reflect global cuisine with an emphasis on local sourcing and purveyors,” a New Belgium spokesperson told Brewbound.
Although the acquisition by Lion Little World Beverages removed New Belgium’s craft status in the eyes of the Brewers Association (BA) New Belgium ranked as the country’s fourth largest craft brewery by volume in 2019, according to the BA. New Belgium’s production volume increased 4%, to 886,500 barrels of beer.
Thus far in 2020, New Belgium’s sales have reached $194.3 million in off-premise multi outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores year-to-date through September 6, according to market research firm IRI.