(Press Release)
ST. LOUIS and SEATTLE–Anheuser-Busch today announced it has agreed to purchase Elysian Brewing Company, based in Seattle, Washington. For nearly 20 years, Elysian has brewed an award-winning portfolio of beers, including Immortal IPA and some of the industry’s most innovative and sophisticated brands.
“For two decades, we’ve welcomed guests into our brewpubs and served them creative and impeccably crafted beers,” said Joe Bisacca, Elysian CEO and co-founder, who will continue with Elysian along with his partners, Dick Cantwell and David Buhler. “After a lot of hard work, we’ve grown from one Seattle brewpub to four pub locations and a production brewery. With the support of Anheuser-Busch, we will build on past successes and share our beers with more beer lovers moving forward.”
RELATED: Read a conversation with the founders of Elysian Brewing Co.
Dick Cantwell, Elysian co-founder and Head Brewer added, “Throughout our journey we’ve been focused on brewing a portfolio of both classic and groundbreaking beers and supporting innovation and camaraderie in the beer industry through collaboration and experimentation. By joining with Anheuser-Busch we’ll be able to take the next steps to bring that energy and commitment to a larger audience.”
Elysian sold more than 50,000 barrels of beer in 2014, with Immortal IPA accounting for more than a quarter of the company’s total volume.
“Elysian’s story includes everything we look for in a partner,” said Andy Goeler, CEO, Craft, Anheuser-Busch. “The team has spent their careers brewing distinctive beers in the thriving West Coast beer community and building unique venues that celebrate beer. As the fastest growing brewer in Washington, their recipe is working. Elysian’s brands are an important addition to our high-end beer portfolio, and we look forward to working together.”
In addition to the Seattle Airport Way brewery, the acquisition includes the company’s four Seattle brewpubs, Elysian Capitol Hill, Elysian Tangletown, Elysian Fields and Elysian BAR.
Anheuser-Busch’s purchase of Elysian is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2015. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Elysian Brewing Co.
Elysian Brewing is a Seattle, Wash., based brewery founded in 1995 by principals Dick Cantwell, Joe Bisacca and David Buhler. Elysian’s first Seattle location, a 220-seat beer hall and main brewery, opened in 1996 on Capitol Hill, Seattle’s most populous neighborhood. Known for variety, Elysian has brewed more than 350 beers since it opened. The brewer currently distributes its brands in 11 states: Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and New York, as well as internationally in Vancouver BC and Alberta, Canada; Taiwan; Australia and Japan. For more information, check out www.elysianbrewing.com or be social at fb.com/ElysianBrewingCompany and @ElysianBrewing on Instagram and Twitter.
About Anheuser-Busch
For more than 160 years, Anheuser-Busch and its world-class brewmasters have carried on a legacy of brewing America’s most-popular beers. Starting with the finest ingredients sourced from Anheuser-Busch’s family of growers, every batch is hand-crafted using the same exacting standards and time-honored traditions passed down through generations of proud Anheuser-Busch brewmasters and employees. Best known for its fine American-style lagers, Budweiser and Bud Light, the company’s beers lead numerous beer segments and combined hold 47.2 percent share of the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch is the U.S. arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev and operates 15 breweries, 17 distributorships and 23 agricultural and packaging facilities across the United States, representing a capital investment of more than $15.5 billion. Its flagship brewery remains in St. Louis, Mo., and is among the global company’s largest and most technologically capable breweries. Visitor and special beermaster tours are available at its St. Louis and four other Anheuser-Busch breweries. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.
Another good, American craft brewery selling out to the obviously ever intimidated by the movement makers of swill. Shame.
This is the definition of achieving the American dream. Stop being naive
I am pretty sure jordan works for Anheuser-Busch….
gross I’ll never drink Elysian beer again. Does corporate beer still suck you sellouts?
Oh grow up
RIP ELYSIAN
I’m pretty sure they’re still in business
Pacific Northwesterners are stunned right now.
Well, that sucks.
I guess this means Elysian no longer needs support now that they’ve been purchased by one of the big beers. Good luck in your ventures – I’ll cross you off my list of beers to purchase now.
“Corporate beer still sucks” -Elysian
[email protected]#$%^&*! I am stunned and disgusted. I share the sentiment of many and will never purchase Elysian ever again. Never! I’ve now lost one of my favorite restaurants. Why!?
because you are a lame hipster parrot.
Why not? Please elaborate!
Because he is a dumb ass who only follows what others say. See the big picture ding dong.
when is everyone going to realize that the craft brewers are out to make money and to see their beers everywhere. They don’t care about who they sell to. It’s only the people who drink craft beer that think they are part of a movement.
That’s just not true, there are many brewers out there that dedicated their lives to the craft. They bust their butts for hardly a penny because their hearts are in it. These business deals are being made by business folks, not brewers.
The reason they don’t make a penny may have something to do with them not brewing good beers that consumers want and are willing to pay money for or they lack sales/marketing skills and do not have the ability to get their beers to market. Either way if someone showed them how brew consistent quality product and get it to market they would make money. Anything to the contrary is bogus and flat out anti macro-corporation.
So AB now pays the grain bill and collects the profits… So what? Do you like the beer they make or do you like the idea behind a small craft brewery? I get so tired of those who like products just because it is cool or popular thing to do (Welcome to Portland.)
Drink what you like.
Amen, Brother Steve. I may not like AB and their products but their purchase of smaller brewers just means that that brewer will have more options. The key here is that the head brewers are staying. You Elysian fans may actually see the best and most innovative brews from Elysian in the days to come.
‘welcome to portland’ lol. so true. it’s what’s in the glass that matters, kiddos!
snobby beer elitists circle jerk hijacks yet another comment thread. how original. AB will give this awesome brewery the opportunity for distribution in all 50 states and gain market share from coast to coast. too bad it’s not your personal’secret’ brewery anymore. you are all the same type of fairweather fans that dump awesome bands when they acheive success outside whatever small time circles you deem acceptable. who needs you or your negative close-minded opinions? no one. cheers to another great brewery making the bigs! I’ll be hoisting a glass to their success as soon as i can get my hands one one!
So none of you ripping the sale have had any Goose Island beers including Matilda, Pepe Nero, Pepe Jacques, Bourbon County Stout etc. etc. etc. in the last few years? It’s fine if you’re not…obviously there are lots of choices – but if someone were to hand me ANY of these beers…I wouldn’t have a problem enjoying them. Breweries are in business to make money. Running a brewery is NOT an inexpensive proposition – especially with things like Obama Care. The brewery owes their customers nothing more than a quality product for the money you pay …JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSINESS you patronize.
THANK YOU
Yes, what you are saying about a business is correct, they are in it to make money. Although, when a company makes a product which attempts show its customers how they feel about the climate of the beer industry with a beer’s tagline as “Corporate Beer Still Sucks”, and then in turn later decide to align with a company who couldn’t be more of the epitome of “Corporate Beer”, that’s when people will, rightfully, voice their issues with the brewery. This just illustrates that Elysian is more concerned with the bottom line than their product or philosophy, talking out of both sides of their mouth; one side to the customers who try to promote sustainable business; and the other to a corporation that is more concerned with profit margins than product quality.
this is the exact place to also dump on Obamacare. Only a l shitty republican would plug that into a conversation about beer. I bet you take every chance you can to plug that into every conversation. Global warming must be Obamacare.
Good for the brand, but bad for employees and owners or shall I say old owners.
Best comment I’ve read
Here comes the cheaper ingredients. Watch – in two years that line of beer will not taste the same. And I don’t mean in a good way.
The bottom line is that AB has a history of buying breweries and changing the recipes to make the beers cheaper to produce. Quality in not their main focus, profitability is. It has been documented. I understand that “that’s business”, but to people who love Elysian, they will likely not be getting the same beer after a while.
If you don’t like corporate beer, great, don’t buy the beer. If you don’t care about what corporation the beer you are drinking is owned by, while I personally don’t understand that thinking, I’m not going to attack you for it. We as consumers have a right to make decisions about our spending just as much as these businesses have a right to choose to or not to be purchased by larger corporations. There’s no need to complain, just vote with your dollar. And there’s no need to attack one another. At the very least, as craft beer lovers, let’s find something to unify around, like a good craft beer not owned by a giant corporate conglomerate?
The bigger picture here is shelf space. That’s why Elysian “sold out”. As more and more craft breweries open, retailers shelf space is going to be at a premium. Those who can pay get to play. If AB Inbev buys up enough craft breweries they can dictate who’s beer goes on the shelf. Then we are left buying beer that AB Inbev wants us to. Will consumer choice play a part in dictating this? Of coarse, but how much. As more and more small breweries are squeezed out of the grocery stores the end result will be less competition, less consumer choice, and more money for AB Inbev. The three tier system does not allow for a truly open market, big corporations can (and do) manipulate the distribution tier to their advantage (see Beer Wars). I am not a big corporation hater, I have been able to enjoy quality beer from Goose Island because they were bought out by AB Inbev. I do think that if we are not careful in making sure that the playing field is level we could end up stifling innovation and limiting the industry we all love. Elysian built its brand partially on anti corporation marketing. I believe that justifies the consumer sending a message to not only AB Inbev but to other craft breweries on the verge of going big. That message… Don’t push it! we may be comfortable with a few good breweries expanding their business by joining AB Inbev; but we will not put up with hypocrisy and handing over control of the market to any one entity. In order to send this message I will no longer purchase Beer made by Elysian.
Craft beer – death by a thousand cuts…
Can I quote your post every time a brewery is bought out by AB? You perfectly articulated the issues at stake. This recent trend reminds me of the saying “Death by a thousand cuts” and your talk of shelf space is exactly why. And the scary thing is as more of these craft breweries sell out there’ll be less space on the shelves for the little guys. I’m sure some of these guys that are selling out are thinking exactly this – it’s me or them and if we don’t sell to get that shelf space others will and we’ll be squeezed out. And I’ve also watched Beer Wars though it’s been a while and I’ll watch it again soon.
Lastly, I home brew so this doesn’t affect me quite as much but I don’t think for a second that these massive corporations can’t make that illegal if/when they choose to.
Of course these guys have every right to grow their brand and make money. But when one lays claim to the “Craft” label, they are telling the marketplace that they place artistry above profitability. “Craft” doesn’t mean ‘small’ or even ‘good’ – it means it’s the product of artistic expression. When a “craft” brewer exposes their profit motive to this extent, of course there will be those who feel betrayed.