Molson Coors has acquired London’s Hop Stuff Brewery in what the latter describes as an asset sale. That means Hop Stuff’s brewery, brand, taprooms, and staff will transfer to the Canadian conglomerate, but Hop Stuff investors will not receive any returns, Beverage Daily reports.
Hop Stuff announced the deal to the public via Twitter and in a blog post on July 12, 2019. Founder James Yeomans cites financial difficulties as the reason for the sale.
“In Molson Coors we’ve found a partner who believes wholeheartedly that craft beer should be accessible, inclusive and of exceptionally high and consistent quality,” Yeomans writes in the blog post. “With their support and guidance, we are going to be able to start brewing again and be able to supply our customers in London. Hop Stuff beers won’t disappear.”
The beer won’t disappear, but unfortunately for Hop Stuff investors, their money is gone. Hop Stuff had 1,300 investors, including 72 original investors when the brewery was founded in 2013, and many others who invested during three crowdfunding rounds, according to Brewbound.
Clearly, these and other former supporters are not happy. Some are taking to Twitter to air out their grievances, calling Yeomans a “crook” who has “screwed” his staff and fans.
Terrible mis management and sell out to one of the worst. Never received the investors beers promised when I invested. Embarrassing!
— Greg Franklin (@gregf_vancouver) July 12, 2019
This is obviously unfortunate for Hop Stuff’s backers, but, then again, risk is the name of the game when it comes to investment. A silver lining for some is that Hop Stuff’s beers — sessionable, hop-forward ales and lagers — will be available in perpetuity. If that’s little consolation to those who have denounced the brand, then it’s time to move on to your next favorite brewery.
Karbach Brewing Fails Health Inspection
AB InBev’s Karbach Brewing, based in Houston, recently failed a health inspection due to “pink slime and black biofilm in the ice machine,” an investigative report reveals.
A Food Establishment Inspection Report from the Houston Department of Health and Human Services Environmental Health Division/Consumer Health Services, dated July 5, 2019, cites violations including improper temperature control of food storage areas and insufficient cleaning of equipment of non-food-storage areas.
This is gross and unacceptable, of course. It’s also probably not unique to Karbach. With more than 7,000 breweries in the U.S., I doubt each and every one is spick and span.
It’s not O.K., but it could be worse. The report covers five restaurants in total, with violations spanning live cockroaches to dead rats. At the very least, the report makes no mention of the brewery’s draft system, so at least we can assume the beer is clean.
