Last week it was announced that Ninkasi Brewing had formally cut ties with their partner company Legacy Breweries in a surprise move that left even industry insiders scratching their heads. When Legacy Breweries was formed in early 2019 they acquired a majority steak in Ninkasi Brewing, their first partner in a new family of brands. It wasn’t long before Legacy added Laurelwood Brewing out of Portland and Aspen Brewing out of Colorado to their portfolio with Ninkasi handling packaged production (cans, bottles, distribution) for the latter. So what happens with Laurelwood, Aspen and the Legacy venture concept as a whole when Ninkasi leaves the partnership?

Legacy Breweries was formed by former Yakima Chief CEO Don Bryant to merge together a family of breweries into a strategic partnership similar to CANarchy (Oskar Blues, Cigar City, Deep Ellum) to create a synergistic organization to strengthen the individual brands and put them in a better place to compete with the big macro players. Ninkasi was the first brewery to join Legacy with the latter acquiring a majority stake in the business. The acquisition of all assets of Aspen Brewing out of Colorado and Laurelwood Brewing in Portland quickly followed. Since then, things have been oddly quiet perhaps because of the pandemic and now things may be shifting into a new direction for Legacy.

“Given that not much materialized deal wise from the Legacy side we are moving forward independently so back to our original cap table (Jamie and I as majority shareholders) and excited for the future,” says Ninkasi co-founder Nikos Ridge when reached for comment.

Laurelwood Brewing is apparently completely unaffected by this surprise move. Confusingly, the way the original partnerships were announced in 2019 by their own press release was inaccurate according to both Ridge and Laurelwood Brewing owner Mike DeKalb who says “the only relationship we had with Legacy was through Ninkasi, and our Ninkasi relationship has not changed,” adding “I didn’t get to approve the press release in 2019.”

“A lot of the original info as reported wasn’t quite correct,” says Nikos Ridge. “Legacy invested into Ninkasi as a shareholder (since we were the founding “partner” that was the simplest structure) which then at the corporate level we collectively referred to as “Legacy”. So when “Legacy” bought LW it was actually Ninkasi while Legacy was a shareholder, but now all those shares have been returned.”

And despite all the significant bumps along the road for Laurelwood Brewing, their relationship with Ninkasi Brewing appears to be on strong footing and it’s strengthened their brand overall.

“We’re excited about the recently released Megafauna IIPA and Sunshine Daze to add to our Portfolio that also includes Workhorse IPA and Free Range Red. We’re expanding into Idaho and Nevada along with Ninkasi,” says Laurelwood founder Mike DeKalb.

According to Ridge, Ninkasi Brewing production/sales were up 2.2% in 2020 in addition to a robust contract brewing business for other brands. By leaving the Legacy Breweries group, Ninkasi will retain Laurelwood Brewing’s assets and continue to distribute Alesong Brewing & Blending. In the end, it seems like the Oregon breweries come out with a win/win and their independence relatively intact.

Legacy Breweries project continues down an unusual path, but one outside of Oregon in the Rocky Mountain state. “Our time with Ninkasi was very helpful for both companies,” says Legacy Breweries owner/CEO Don Bryant. “Legacy and Ninkasi are now in a better position and are moving forward with our own initiatives.”

Those initiatives are Colorado based. Since their acquisition of Aspen Brewing in Colorado, Bryant moved to town and has deepened his investment of the state in the purchase of Capitol Creek Brewing. Both breweries are small and even combined production doesn’t approach Ninkasi Brewing numbers. Aspen Brewing production is about 6,000 barrels a year and Castle Creek in the 500-600 barrel range. The move seems a strategic brewpub based model to build small players into larger ones.

The more visible contract production side of Legacy Breweries lives on in a partnership with actor/celebrity Scott Eastwood and his recently announced Made Here Beer launch. The Made Here Beer brand is all about the down-home blue collar made-in-america patriotic spirit in their marketing and bragging the use of all American ingredients. Made Here Beer is partnering with Legacy Breweries to brew their product and that may provide the growth needed to Aspen and Capitol Creek with contract brewing business.

The future is hazy for Ninkasi Brewing and Laurelwood Brewing, but atleast they remain independent Oregon breweries with a chance to chart a new future.