From craft to crafty to Big BeerWild Beer in Somerset went into administration towards the end of 2022. An earlier crowd funding scheme had raised £1.8m towards building a new brewery. It was not built and investors lost their money as well the brewery workers losing their jobs. If they had two years-service they will be able to get statutory redundancy money- a few thousand pounds.
In January 2023 it was announced that the Administrators of Wild Beer had sold the brand, existing stock and internet business to Curious Brewing. They are based in Ashford Kent and grew out of Chapel Hill Winery. Curious will brew core Wild Beer brands in Kent and the two owners of Wild Beer are on board in the new set up.
Curious is owned by Risk Capital Partners headed up by well-known businessman Luke Johnson. Like all private equity outfits their track record is to buy a business and then after a period sell it on, ideally at a profit.
This does rather suggest that Wild Beer is now part of the ranks of Big Beer in the sense that it is not in any way independent.
I thought Wild beers were often excellent btw but I doubt if I will be imbibing them again. It is not an episode that paints craft beer in a good light.
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