Something significant has been brewing over the last six months, as the craft beer biz disrupter Craft Collective Beerworks has acquired Vancouver's Postmark Brewing.
As announced October 15, Craft Collective has officially acquired the brand, and revealed their plans for the next steps in their growing beer empire.
Postmark Brewing
The acquisition, says Postmark, will allow the brewer to "increase production, sales and distribution ultimately creating a new nationally focused trajectory for the established West Coast brand."
If you're worried this means Postmark will be packing up their Railtown facility and moving out of the Dunlevy Building, fear not: Postmark is staying put where they are, with their founding partners, Steve Thorp, Nate Rayment, and Reuben Major, in place as owner/operators and brand managers of the brewery site, tasting room, and retail store.
The acquisition by Craft Collective will, however, "free up production space at the Railtown brewery, allowing the building to pivot into the 'Postmark Innovation Facility.' This new focus will highlight experimental beers, small batch collaborations, a barrel aging program and increased Postmark cider production all to be enjoyed on site and sold out of the cellar door," notes Postmark in a media release.
We can expect to see the end results of the new arrangement as soon as Spring 2019.
Craft Collective is considered a disrupter in the craft brew business because they contract brew beers for everyone from existing breweries like Doan’s Craft Brewing and Faculty Brewing. to contract brands like Slow Hand Beer Company. That means they get more beer to market from breweries that may or may not even currently have commercial space.
In fact, contract brewing has led to a battle over beer pricing in British Columbia, with some pushing to mark-up the contract more so than their traditionally-brewed counterparts.
To get more into it, Stephen Smysnuik, the Marketing Director, of Craft Collective, and Evan Doan, of Doan’s Craft Brewing sat down with V.I.A. for an interview on the podcast in late August, and break down a bit more about what is happening with them and the craft beer biz in Vancouver.
Related:
- What’s on tap at Canada’s first and only craft brewing collective
- Battle brewing over craft beer pricing in B.C.
In the meantime, Postmark is pretty thrilled about this next chapter in their business, which means expansion as a brand across Canada, and more capacity.
"I’m really excited that through this acquisition, the handcuffs will come off and Postmark will now have the opportunity to grow to the potential we have always aimed for, " adds Postmark co-founder Nate Rayment.
