Two years ago, Wynwood Brewing entered a partnership with CBA in an expansion bid. In December 2016, Wynwood's Luis Brignoni Jr. announced CBA would take a minority, 24.5 percent share of the brewery, allowing the Miami beermakers to expand their local production brewery and taproom.
Today the relationship deepened, and Wynwood took to Facebook to announce the news:
Awesome folks, we’ve got some exciting news today. We’re officially fully integrating our brewery to the CBA family. What this means is more access to resources to take your beers of choice, Wynwood, and its unique culture to more places. Pops and I look forward seeing you in the taproom to share a pint, as we always have and always will. Now, let's have a beer and toast to the future!
Wynwood Brewing's marketing manager, Enrique Vittorino, tells New Times the management structure is not expected to change. "Luis and Pops are still at the helm," he says of the father-and-son team of Brignoni Jr. and Sr.
Vittorino says the purchase came about after the minority shareholders saw how popular Wynwood Brewing had become: "They saw value in the brewery."
CBA's purchase of a stake in Wynwood Brewing is part of a three-property, $45 million buy that also includes Massachusetts’ Cisco Brewers and North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountain Brewery, according to the website Brewbound. At the end of 2016, CBA invested $2.1 million to acquire a 24.5 percent stake in Wynwood, which means the South Florida operation was valued around $8 million then. That number has likely increased.
CBA is the seventh-largest craft brewing company in the United States. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it operates breweries and brewpubs across the nation and sells products in all 50 states and 30 countries. Its portfolio includes Kona Brewing Co., Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Cisco Brewers, Omission Brewing Co., Redhook Ale Brewery, Square Mile Cider Co., and Widmer Brothers.
The beer scene in Miami's Wynwood Arts District is quickly turning into big business. Veza Sur, founded by partners from Bogota Beer Company and Oregon's 10 Barrel Brewing, is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev; Concrete Beach is owned by a division of the Boston Beer Company; and the Heineken-owned Lagunitas is planning a brewery in the area. Now that CBA's purchase of Wynwood Brewing is complete, J. Wakefield is the only independently owned brewery in the neighborhood.
Wynwood Brewing. 565 NW 24th St., Miami; 305-982-8732; wynwoodbrewing.com.
