Monster Beverage to acquire Canarchy for $330M

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from the Brewers Association.

LONGMONT — Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective LLC, a nationwide collective of independent craft beer companies including Oskar Blues Brewery, is being sold to Monster Beverage Corp. (Nasdaq: MNST) for $330 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Monster’s organizational structure for its existing energy beverage business will remain unchanged. Canarchy will function independently, retaining its own organizational structure and team led by CEO Tony Short.

The Canarchy portfolio includes Oskar Blues and its hard seltzer brand Wild Basin, Florida-based Cigar City Brewing, Utah’s Wasatch Brewery, Michigan-based Perrin Brewing Co., Texas-based Deep Ellum Brewing Co. and Utah-based Squatters Craft Beer.

“The team at Canarchy is thrilled to be joining Monster,” Short said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to capitalizing on the combined expertise of Monster and CANarchy to further strengthen our current alcoholic product offerings, expand our product portfolio to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers and to grow our business.”

Acquisition of Canarchy provides Monster with “a springboard from which to enter the alcoholic beverage sector,” said Monster’s vice chairman and co-CEO, Hilton Schlosberg. “The acquisition will provide us with a fully in-place infrastructure, including people, distribution and licenses, along with alcoholic beverage development expertise and manufacturing capabilities in this industry.”

The Boulder-based Brewers Association said in a statement released Thursday that it is “aware” of the sale and that, “Based on our current information, CANarchy meets the Brewers Association’s craft brewer definition under the ownership of Monster Energy as presently constituted. In this instance, Monster is not a beverage alcohol industry member, so this new ownership structure does not affect CANarchy’s independence in regard to the beverage alcohol industry.”

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