The Saga Continues, Building a Smaller Abbey, and Other Beer News

Just Tapped This Week

This week's top stories offer teaching moments, I suppose. What will you learn from each? That's up to you. Read on.

The Modern Times Saga Continues

The story began last winter when the company closed four of its West Coast taprooms--Portland, Oakland, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. Last spring, Modern Times, the California-based beer and coffee company, headed into a court-ordered receivership sale. In May, Maui Brewing put in a bid that eventually led to the acquisition of Modern Times in August, though the process was rather clunky. The deal is done, and the ink dried at the end of October, but the story doesn’t end there.

This week Brewbound confirmed a couple of things about the still-fresh deal. First, Modern Times recently closed another taproom. This one, known as Leisuretown, was in Anaheim. The 33,000-square-foot brewery and restaurant included a swimming pool. Very SoCal. Rent at the Anaheim location was costing the company over $44,000 per month.

Brewbound also confirmed exactly how much Maui Brewing paid to acquire Modern Times. Before you read these numbers, know that for a 2019 crowdfunding campaign, the company valued itself at $264 million. The deal was reportedly set at $15.3 million, but Maui ended up paying just $10 million for Modern Times. If the company really was worth $264 million in 2019, Maui got a pretty good deal.

Apparently, as Brewbound noted, the Leisuretown location was not included in the deal, so its closing was probably imminent. Also, covering the Leisuretown part of the Modern Times debt load wasn’t part of the deal. As of this moment, Modern Times operates three locations around the San Diego area. You can read the entire story here if you’re a Brewbound subscriber.

The Lost Abbey is Downsizing

Based in San Marcos, California, The Lost Abbey is widely considered one of the USA's very best producers of Belgian-style barrel-aged beers. This week the company announced it is shifting gears and downsizing dramatically. And they're doing it quickly.

"My partners and I understand that our future is great, but we’ve got to get smaller in many areas of our operation," Tomme Arthur (pictured above), Co-Founder and creative genius at The Lost Abbey, told San Diego Beer News. "We still believe in the craft-beer industry and in what we do and produce. This is about making the right amount of beer so our artistry stays true, not pursuing things we’ve never done before or deviating from what we’re known for."

The shift will include a smaller brewhouse and a smaller cellar program. The Lost Abbey currently brews with a 30-barrel brewhouse and 30-barrel fermenters. Those are now for sale. The downsizing will cut the facility's footprint in half. The goal is to better compete in the modern-day beer market while remaining faithful to the artistry for which The Lost Abbey is known. Read the complete story on the San Diego Beer News website.

Around the Web

• 🤘 The Rush beer is now available in the USA, and not just in Canada. Yep, the legendary Canadian rock band has a beer. More than one, actually. 🤘

• The Feds are suing Rockwell Beer Company over alleged labor violations.

• IRS and TTB agents recently descended on the offices of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits in Union, CA. Southern Glazer’s is the country’s largest liquor wholesaler.

Beer Bric-a-Brac

The other night at a World Series game in Philadelphia, Jayme Hoskins, the wife of Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, bought a round for the fans at the ballpark. She bought 50 cans of beer. What kind of beer? Yuengling, of course. It is Philadelphia, after all. Although only 50 lucky fans got the free beer, it earned Jayme Hoskins a place in the hearts of all Phillies fans everywhere.

Firkin Finance

Here's the BPI for October.

The NBWA Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) is an informal monthly statistical release giving distributors a timely and reliable indicator of industry beer purchasing activity. A reading greater than 50 indicates the segment is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates the segment is contracting. It doesn't address how one segment is growing in comparison to another, just how each segment performed compared to the same month last year. Provided by the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Geek Speak

Beached Whale - It's beer geek slang. A beached whale is that exceptional, rare, likely expensive beer that you probably shouldn't have opened last night when you were too drunk to appreciate it or finish it. When you wake up in the morning with a wicked hangover, and you find a half-empty bottle of imperial stout on the kitchen counter, that's a beached whale.

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This week's Taster Tray was poured by Kendall Jones.