Private Equity group Keystone have acquired the brand names of well known craft beers Fourpure and Magic Rock. Henceforth they will be brewed at Black Sheep in Masham and Purity in Warwickshire.
Fourpure and Magic Rock were first bought by global brewer Lion/Kirin and then when they didn’t fit its business model ditched. They returned to independent brewing existence but the thrill, as it were, had gone.
Fourpure went into administration with brewing moving to Magic Rock in Huddersfield which has now also closed.
Keystone (formerly Breal) entered the beer market by buying Black Sheep. Subsequently they have acquired Brick, Brew By Numbers, Purity and Big Drop.
Craft beer was about provenance and being rooted in local communities. Masham is a great place and still the home of Theakstons but this is now about brands as much as beer. As the old bloke with the beard noted in the 1860s capitalism tends to monopoly
Leave a Reply