Mecca Grade Estate Malt and Brewery for Sale
Perhaps Oregon’s best known craft maltster, Mecca Grade Estate Malt, is up for sale. The listing went live earlier this week, with an asking price of $5,500,000.00. Until now, founder Seth Klann has been silent on what was happening, but has addressed the company and his own family’s future in a statement to the New School. Mecca Grade has become one of the preferred premium craft maltsters for specialty brands, specifically farmhouse breweries like The Ale Apothecary and Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery locally, but their products are used around the country in beer and whiskey production.
Mecca Grade was featured in our Most Anticipated New Oregon Breweries of 2020, as we first reported they would become one of the only craft maltsters to open it’s own small craft brewery and tasting room on-site. The nano operation has become a big hit despite COVID, but that’s brought on new challenges of it’s own as Seth addresses in his statement posted in it’s entirety below.
“In 2019, Mecca Grade Estate Malt was at full capacity and production, and we were looking at adding a second 12-ton machine to keep up with demand. We employed 1.5 full-time maltsters and sales were solid. I was doing the books, designing and guiding the brand, running our social media, on the road making collaboration beers, and presenting our malting research at conferences. Then Covid happened and rocked everyone’s world.
I took over full-time malting in May of 2020 and have been running the entire facility by myself since. It consumes most of my time and is the main reason many of you haven’t seen or heard from me much in the past 3 years. My sister Katie was able to take over many of my previous job duties and we pushed forward.
It’d be easy for me to blame all our woes on Covid and the ongoing drought, but in reality, without someone establishing and maintaining new relationships outside of the virtual world, our malt sales dropped off and never really recovered. You can have the best product and branding on the planet, but it can’t sell itself.
In 2021 we licensed our small brewery, partnering with my friend Sean Osborne to create some fantastic estate beers. The beer and our tasting room became a big hit within a short amount of time, so much so that we couldn’t keep up with production and needed to look into scaling up to at least a 5 barrel brewhouse.
Unfortunately, Sean and his family had to move across country for work last Fall. It took me a couple months after adding “full-time brewer” to my job description to realize this was all unsustainable and that I was beyond burnt out.
My Dad and I are the only investors in the malthouse, and seeing him continue to put money into this place has always made me feel guilty and often hopeless. We’ve needed to bring in outside investors for awhile. More than that, I’ve needed to create an opening for that to happen.
Our family has worked hard to lay the foundations for an awesome product, business, and space, but now it’s ready and waiting to be taken to the next level. I hope the original vision for the project will continue. Beer is a tangible and enjoyable product of agriculture, and it’s been a joy sharing it with others and growing their appreciation of farming, malting, brewing, and all the hard work that goes into it.
To clarify: the section being sold with the malthouse is the original homestead ground, NOT the whole family farm, which is closer to 1000 acres. Dad loves farming too much and doesn’t want to quit, just scale back.
I have recently closed the tasting room and brewing operations but will continue running the malting facility and fulfilling orders as normal until the business sells. I will also be available to help train the next crew on our malting process and assist wherever else is needed. My wife Sally and our three boys will be moving to Arizona in late July. She is an extremely talented massage therapist and healer, and Sedona is the perfect location for the next stage of her career.
As for me: I will be moving down there to join them and finally start my design studio. I am beyond excited but honestly a little terrified. I’m a craftsman and a storyteller, not a salesperson - I need to focus on my own art for awhile.
I don’t know how to best express my gratitude for the support we’ve received over the years. Maybe I’ll throw one last big party? For now, all I can say is thank you for taking a chance on us and being a part of our family.
And please, if you have any questions, contact me personally. Thank you!”
Mecca Grade has not been without controversy. In August of 2021 with COVID-19 vaccinations rolling out and mask requirements still a reality, Seth posted publicly his stance to not enforce either requirement. He told the New School at the time his post was inspired by an email with the Oregon Brewers Guild wherein he said a Portland bar had asked the OBG to re-share their post to connect with Portland breweries, bars, and other establishments with the intent of establishing a "Portland VAXX Coaltion.”
Seth told the New School that email triggered his now deleted social media post from the company account that ended up spurrying a boycott.
“I told myself that if the day ever came when I had to enforce a vaccination passport, I would not comply. I believe this sets a dangerous precedent of legitimizing the creation of two classes of people. Unfortunately, segregation codifies and legalizes the division that’s already happened within our minds. Just from me looking at the States previous actions, it seems inevitable that Governor Brown will institute a vaccine passport system. This will force Oregon breweries to make some tough decisions.
We’ve all been funneled into separate camps and pitted against one another, which really, really sucks. I’ve had many brewers reach out to me in private support, but who won’t publicly speak their minds and share their similar fears on the direction our state is heading. They are afraid of being #cancelled or having their businesses ruined. And it’s way, way more people than what you’d think.
We’ve had a tremendous amount of support over the past year, which makes taking a stand difficult. People have the freedom to choose to be masked or not or vaccinated or not. Mecca Grade and our farm has always been a special place that is open and accepting to everyone. We will continue to operate this way, treat everyone fairly, and to never support segregation.”
Mecca Grade Estate Malt is selling 240 acres of the family farm, which includes a 2,724 sq. ft. single resident home of 4 beds, 3 and 3 baths. The modern malt processing plant inside a historic barn built in 1907 is featured as part of a 23,000 sq. ft. insulated production building with the 10 ton malter and 92,000 bushels of grain storage, and 145.5 acres of water rights. Full listing here.
