Drake’s Brewing to form West Coast Craft joint venture

Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro has announced it will partner with a Central Coast California brewery, Figueroa Mountain Brewing, to form a joint venture called West Coast Craft.

The new entity is intended to provide the breweries with a strategic partnership and promote new beer and beverage collaborations, according to Drake’s Brewing CEO John Martin and Figueroa Mountain Brewing CEO Jaime Dietenhofer. The “joint venture is designed to support long-term brand sustainability, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen independent craft beer across the state,” according to a press release.

According to the Brewers Association definition and Circana data (which collects data on beer sales), the combined brands will establish West Coast Craft as one of the top three independent craft beer producers in California.

I spoke to Drake’s co-owner John Martin last night, and he emphasized that the move is intended to help both breweries do better in an increasingly difficult market. The two companies will remain independent but will share resources, brewing facilities and their expertise and experience. People can expect to see more Figueroa Mountain beer in the Bay Area and more Drake’s and Bear Republic beer in Central and Southern California.

“Combining Drake’s strong distribution partners in Northern California with Figueroa Mountain’s reach in Southern California and the Central Coast made sense, with the added opportunity to grow each other’s brands outside of their original strongholds,” Martin said in a press release.

“This partnership positions both companies for long-term success while staying true to what made us successful in the first place,” Dietenhofer added.

The partnership stipulates that the brands will remain independent when it comes to marketing, branding and innovation, and there will be no change in ownership of either brewery. All beers will continue to be brewed to the same recipes and quality standards.

However, production will be shifted between breweries to leverage efficiency and capacity, according to the press release. Figueroa Mountain’s Buellton facility will handle most of the core brand production, while Drake’s San Leandro brewery will focus on innovation, including crafting limited releases and alternative beverages, and will continue its Northern California draft production and some contract brewing. Retail locations and community-focused activities at the two breweries will remain unchanged.

“This is an operational shift, not a brand shift. The beer in your glass remains the beer you love,” Roy Kirkorian, co-owner of Drake’s Brewing Company, said in a press release.

The lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the trend of many people drinking less overall, have pushed a number of craft breweries to close recently. New data recently released indicates that for the second straight year, more breweries closed than opened across the U.S.

It’s great to see breweries getting creative and finding ways to keep making great beer.

Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.