Cleveland, Ohio-based Saucy Brew Works has acquired Cartridge Brewing for an undisclosed sum, the company announced Thursday. The deal closed December 1.
Saucy will take over operations of the Maineville, Ohio-based brewery, which operates from a 15-barrel brewhouse, with a taproom and full-service kitchen, in the Peters Cartridge Factory, a historic landmark, according to a press release. Saucy’s C-suite team will run Cartridge, while the Cartridge founders Kyle Hackbarth, Anthony Cook and Lindsey Hackbarth “will no longer be with the company,” a Saucy spokesperson told Brewbound.
Cartridge head brewer Adam Mills and his existing team will “continue to make incredible beer” – including the company’s Up the Hill Munich helles and Escape pina colada wheat ale – “now with access to Saucy’s full QAQC lab and depth of knowledge. Cartridge beers will be available on draft at all five Saucy locations, with “plans to increase Cartridge’s distribution footprint.”
“Customers can expect to see several exciting new beers along with Cartridge classics,” Saucy said in the release.
“The past five years bringing Cartridge Brewing from inception to reality has been a wild ride for myself and co-founders Anthony Cook and Lindsey Hackbarth,” Hackbarth said in the release. “We’re exceptionally proud of the reputation the brand has built and when looking toward the future we knew finding an organization that could take Cartridge to the next level was critical. Saucy Brew Works with their top quality beer, guest experience focused brewpubs, community focused culture, and being right here in Ohio was a natural fit.”
Saucy will “institute a 90 day play to determine staffing needs,” but “the majority of Cartridge employees will remain with the company.”
Cartridge would bring Saucy’s total annual barrelage to an estimated 8,500 barrels. Cartridge produced 1,534 barrels of beer in 2021, while Saucy produced 6,987, according to the Brewers Association (BA). Saucy has recorded double- or triple-digit year-over-year (YoY) growth since 2017, with the exception of a flat 2020, according to the BA.
The growth of Saucy in the past few years has been partially supported by two crowdfunding campaigns. The first, launched in 2020, raised $1.025 million for the brand, with a published company valuation of $82.43 million, according to the campaign’s StartEngine page. The second, launched in July 2021, raised $420,178 with a company valuation of $112.73 million, according to the campaign page.
The most recent crowdfunding campaign was meant to support continued expansion of the company into new markets, as well as the construction of a 26,000 sq. ft. production facility – the company’s “largest production facility to date.” Saucy acquired the land for the facility in Independence, Ohio, in December 2020 for $2.1 million, but backed out of the project earlier this year, choosing instead to focus on expansion in Ohio City, Cleveland.com reported.
Saucy was still able to increase production capacity this year by taking over a lease down the street from its flagship location – a former Title Boxing location – where it added about 20,000 barrels of annual capacity. The move saved the company an estimated $4 million, CEO and co-founder Brent Zimmerman told Cleveland.com. The Independence site was sold to Gray Television in September for $2.8 million, below Saucy’s original asking price of $3.2 million, Cleveland Business Journal reported, citing Cuyahoga County records.