Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) and Pabst Brewing Company (PBC) have signed a brewing agreement whereby the two companies aim to achieve growth objectives jointly.
The agreement entails that PBC subsidiary Rainier Brewing Company will brew Rainier Pale Mountain Ale, as well as other Rainier brands, at CBA's brewery in Woodinville, Washington in the spring of 2016.
PBC also has the rights to purchase the Woodinville facility at any point of time in the next three years.
The agreement intends to benefit both companies' growth strategies. The CBA's strategy includes expanding its national presence and driving financial profitability. The company is investing significantly to enhance production capacity and efficiency to foster growth in its key markets.
The investments include capacity expansion at its largest brewery in Portland to 75,000 barrels per year and in construction of a new 100,000-barrel brewery in Hawaii. The Rainier agreement is intended to help CBA to optimize its capacity in Woodinville brewery, while simultaneously undertaking the expansion projects.
Rainier's agreement with CBA ushers its plans for revival at home front in Washington.
CBA COO Scott Mennen said: "This partnership with Rainier represents an important next step in our overall brewery optimization strategy, which is focused on leveraging the unique strengths and capabilities of each of our breweries to better balance production across our footprint and support our long-term growth.
"Our partnership with Blues City in Memphis has enabled us to meet consumer demand for core brands such as Kona Big Wave Golden Ale and Redhook Long Hammer IPA, freeing capacity in our Portsmouth brewery to support exciting new strategic partnerships with Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Cisco Brewers.
"As we complete our Portland expansion and continue transitioning more volume to that brewery, we have been looking for an opportunity to best utilize our production team and capacity in Woodinville. With this brewing arrangement, we not only deliver positive impact to our bottom line, we support another beloved Northwest heritage brand, which benefits the industry and beer consumers overall."
CBA's Woodinville brewery, which is also known as Redhook Brewery, was constructed in 1994 and includes a 200,000-barrel per year brewing and bottling facilities. A variety of Redhook and Widmer Brothers beers have been brewed in the facility for 20 odd years.
The terms of the agreement also include that CBA would continue operating the Woodinville brewery and the adjacently located Redhook Forecaster's Pub.
