Brewing, Cideries & Spirits  July 22, 2016

Brew ha-ha: Colorado’s titans of craft brewing get ready for a brawl

Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, one of the largest craft brewers in the state, has helped launch Craft Beer Colorado. Chad Collins / BizWest
Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont is another charter member of Craft Beer Colorado. Courtesy Oskar Blues
New Belgium Brewing Co., based in Fort Collins, is a charter member of Craft Beer Colorado, a rival organization to the Colorado Brewers Guild. Chad Collins / BizWest

Four of the largest craft brewers in the state — New Belgium Brewing Co. and Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, and Left Hand Brewing Co. and Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont — are among 14 breweries that have signed on to be members of Craft Beer Colorado, a new nonprofit industry trade association, saying the 20-year-old Colorado Brewers Guild is “broken beyond fixing.”

In a letter to the Colorado Brewers Guild, organizers of the upstart association — some of whom helped found the guild — are seeking a fresh start because, they say, the guild has provided poor legislative leadership, maintained a culture of secrecy among board members and allowed multinational breweries to gain a seat on the board through acquisitions.

In a letter to the guild last month, CBC organizers said the guild, whose membership includes more than 200 craft breweries, has not been providing legislative and regulatory leadership and vision. “Historically, the CBG has reacted to changes; we need a proactive agenda.”

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The new group also said that for many years, the guild has had a culture of information control and director behavior that is not transparent. “This is not healthy for our trade association, and we are no longer willing to condone this management style.”

Finally, the group said multinational brewers are buying craft brewers, such as AB-InBev’s acquisition of Breckenridge Brewery, and blurring the lines when they inherit board seats. “Our by-laws and articles of incorporation don’t reflect what the membership wants.”

Neither group was willing to publicly talk about details of the allegations.

Last month, Emily Armstrong, media and communications manager for Left Hand Brewing, told Westword, “We collectively had reached an impasse in productive conversation and effective advocacy. Our efforts for reform were unsuccessful.”

The organizers of Craft Beer Colorado want to provide transparency to members, address legislative and regulatory issues facing the industry proactively rather than be reactive, and protect small craft brewers.

Kim Jordan, founder of New Belgium Brewing, filed articles of incorporation for Craft Beer Colorado Inc. with the secretary of state last month. Directors of the nonprofit trade association are listed as Jordan; Eric Wallace, co-founder of Left Hand Brewing in Longmont; Wynne Odell co-founder of Odell Brewing in Fort Collins; Brad Lincoln, co-founder of Funkwerks Brewing in Fort Collins; and Brian O’Connell, founder of Renegade Brewing in Denver. Odell and Lincoln recently resigned from the Colorado Brewers Guild’s board of directors to pursue the formation of the new organization.

The directors of Craft Beer Colorado who responded to a request for an interview deferred all questions to Laura Long at Denver-based Weist Capitol Group. Long is a lobbyist, whose firm chose to stop representing the guild in late May and almost immediately hooked up with the group forming Craft Beer Colorado.

Long said she wasn’t comfortable discussing specifics of the new group’s assertions about the guild.

“That’s internal politics for the guilds,” she said. “I don’t feel it’s my place to generate a dirty-laundry list.”

She said Craft Beer Colorado will “have a positive and proactive approach in the changing landscape. It will run the gamut in size of brewery members, from big to nano breweries. … We want policies that will work for all breweries.”

John Carlson, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Brewers Guild, chose not to discuss the new group’s accusations nor reveal how many members the guild has, saying only by email, “The Colorado Brewers Guild is moving forward to meet with Craft Beer Colorado and would like to concentrate on that important work. We want to focus on finding common ground and resolving any potential differences. We feel working together in a positive manner is what is best for the industry.”

Long said she was unaware of a meeting between the two organizations but didn’t rule out a meeting in the future.

Whether Colorado needs two trade associations backing brewers is unclear.

Odell said right now she doesn’t know if two can coexist. “No other state has done it,” she said.

Craft Beer Colorado held its first organizational meeting June 14 and hopes in a couple of weeks to have a set of bylaws and a dues structure in place, elect officers and create subgroups for outreach to potential members.

“There has been initial excitement and good engagement at the outset,” Long said.

About five of the brewers who are forming Craft Beer Colorado are past board members and/or founders of the Colorado Brewers Guild.

“These are savvy, good men and women who have taken the time out from running their breweries to deal with issues for the betterment of the industry,” Long said. “That’s saying something.”

Craft Beer Colorado was announced shortly after Gov. John Hickenlooper, a former craft brewer, signed a law in May that allows grocers and major retailers to sell full strength beer to compete directly with liquor stores and lets them expand sales to 20 locations in phases over 20 years. Current law limits each chain to sales at one location in the state. Some see the new law as a blow to small craft brewers who might have a hard time competing for shelf space against multinational brewers in these more-convenient locations.

“The timing of the new law and the formation of Craft Beer Colorado formation was coincidental,” Long said.

Doug Storum can be reached at 303-630-1959, 720-838-7829 or dstorum@bizwestmedia.com.

Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, one of the largest craft brewers in the state, has helped launch Craft Beer Colorado. Chad Collins / BizWest
Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont is another charter member of Craft Beer Colorado. Courtesy Oskar Blues
New Belgium Brewing Co., based in Fort Collins, is a charter member of Craft Beer Colorado, a rival organization to the Colorado Brewers Guild. Chad…

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