After Black Sheep, Brew By Numbers & Brick comes Curious & Wild. Brewery consolidations continue
St Peters Brewery in Suffolk has brought Curious who earlier in the year bought Wild Beer which had been in administration. Details seems sparse but St Peters Brewery was sold to private equity investors in 2021 and a new CEO Derek Jones, formerly with extensive experience with SAB Miller (ABInBev).
Clearly they have enough capital to expand their holdings.
It comes just months after Breal, another private equity group completed their acquisition of Sarf London’s Brew by Numbers brewery.
It was good news that the brewery and tap will keep going. I had a (rare) glass of Brew by Numbers pale at the Peterborough Beerfest in August and it was highly quaffable. More commonly the beer can be found in keg and can.
Breal now own three breweries and taps- Black Sheep, Brick and now Brew By Numbers.
They are a venture capital group, and appear to have related operations elsewhere in the world. They have no obvious experience in brewing and bars. Previous deals have included steel and textiles.
A reading of Marx’s Capital can explain this. Capitalism renews itself by a cycle of boom and bust. The bust phase allows the recomposition of capital to allows for future growth.
Breal and St Peters then are getting in at the bottom of the market, (in craft beer in this case) but see growth and return on their capital to come.
Will things stay the same at the breweries concerned? No. Workers are protected at day one by a transfer of undertakings (TUPE) but after this ETO (economic, technical, organisational)applies to allow changes.
In short good news that the breweries remain and will likely flourish. Those impacted would do well to a join a union if they haven’t already.
Thanks to Tania Nexus for noting on social media that Breal have also brought Vinoteca, a London based wine bar chain, out of administration saving 150 jobs.
Aside from Pilsener Engels was a wine drinker, maintaining a stock at a Dublin wine merchant and advising Marx on the best wines to drink
As beer writer James Beeson has noted on social media Neil Gostelow has advised Breal on the brewery acquisitions (Times 26th August). Gostelow previously worked for KPMG and in that period dealt with the administration of several beer and pub groups including, as Beeson notes, Hopstuff. He joined Breal as an investment advisor in 2022. He does not have a beard.
His view as reported by the Times is that strong craft beer brands have a good future. No doubt he has noted that the economy in respect of brewing and beer is probably at or near the bottom of the market. Getting in now promises later profit. Breal as a private equity group have the capital to think beyond the short term whether or not they have read Capital Volume One as do St Peters.
Expect further consolidations and closures unfortunately, with the proviso that in the process the landscape of craft beer is being shaped by small groups of wealthy individuals whose main interest is profit not beer.
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