On Tuesday I heard that the buyer for the Latrobe Brewery was rumored to be D.G. Yuengling & Son of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Recent news reports from local Pittsburgh media discuss that possibility plus address other potential buyers.

Sierra Nevada Brewing:

Steve Harrison, vice president of the Chico, California, brewer, said his company was not interested in the plant.

Ken Grossman, president of Sierra Nevada Brewing, said yesterday his firm was initially contacted by InBev after the sale.

“We had some casual interest when it first came on the market, but the facility is way too large for us to consider,” Grossman said, “and without a brand, well, it just doesn’t fit into our plans.”

Sierra Nevada produces 600,000 barrels a year of its own beer and does not do contract brewing for other beer companies. Latrobe Brewing produces 825,000 barrels annually but has capacity for 1.3 million.

Boston Beer Company:

Boston Beer Co. had conversations with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and because of opposition to its plans to build a brewery in Freetown, Massachusetts were considered a good candidate. “However, voters in Freetown on Monday approved a lucrative tax-increment financing proposal, an agreement that will give Boston Beer tax breaks averaging 33 percent for 20 years, said John S. Ashley, chairman of the Board of Selectmen in Freetown.”

“In addition to building a plant, Boston Beer Co. purchased a brewer in Cincinnati, Ohio, last year and spent $11 million on improvements. The company sold more than 1.3 million barrels of beer last year, according to its annual report.”

Boston Beer Company is “too far down the line” with plans to construct the new brewery in Massachusetts to be a serious contender for Latrobe.

D.G. Yuengling & Son:

The “chief operating officer for D.G. Yuengling & Son of Pottsville, Schuylkill County, said yesterday it already operates three breweries and is not actively seeking to add beer-making capacity.”

“It’s not us who is moving close to a deal. We already have a lot on our plate. But we never say never,” said David A. Casinelli, who pointed out the company operates two breweries in Pottsville and bought a former Stroh’s plant in Tampa, Florida, in 1999.

Further, “the governor said Yuengling did not express interest in the plant, to his knowledge.”

This had been the strongest contender in my mind because I’d heard their name from a friend who’d heard it from an industry insider. So either these news sources are smoke and mirrors or in fact Yuengling is not the potential buyer.

Pittsburgh Brewing Company:

Pittsburgh Brewing was an early name mentioned in reports but being in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy made that possibility more remote. They have not been seriously mentioned as a potential buyer for a couple of weeks now.

Conclusions:

Governor Rendell said there has been interest in purchasing the Latrobe Brewing plant from two brewers and four or five investor groups, but the investors were unable to come up with financing. As to who they are and who ultimately buys the Latrobe Brewery, if anyone, will still have to wait for an official pronouncement. Until then, it’s anybody’s guess.

A colleague of mine today heard from an industry insider that the new buyer of the Latrobe Brewery may be D.G. Yuengling & Son Brewery of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Yuengling is the sixth largest brewer in the United States, having greatly increased their sales over the last several years. They also recently purchased the old Stroh’s Brewery in Tampa, Florida and built an additional facility in their hometown of Pottsville. By all accounts this expansion has been wonderful for their business and would give them both sufficient cash and the motivation to purchase another brewery to service the western part of the state and perhaps even expand into Ohio and West Virginia. So the rumor makes a lot of sense but only time will tell if it’s true or not.