BrewDog has snapped up ‘urban’ cider brand Hawkes for an undisclosed sum, just weeks after buying London bar chain Draft House.
The Scottish brewer has taken full ownership of the London-based Hawkes, whose six-strong portfolio includes Mixed Berry, Apple and Winter cider variants and alcoholic ginger beer. Hawkes founder Simon Wright will remain at the helm.
The move will allow Hawkes to further expand its range, and all existing staff would retain their roles, with BrewDog “offering support from its senior team and resources to help grow the brand and business both in the UK and internationally”.
BrewDog had struggled to create ciders of its own, said co-founder and CEO James Watt. ”When we met with Hawkes, we recognised the parallels our companies have; Our ethos is very similar, and the potential in cider mirrors that of brewing. We’ve got some amazing opportunities to really change the face of cider in the UK and beyond, and that’s an incredibly exciting new frontier for us.”
Late last month, BrewDog snapped up London bar chain Draft House and its 14 sites in a rumoured £15m deal, which the brewer said would “really have an impact on the UK bar landscape”.
However, the two recent acquisitions did not necessarily mean BrewDog had shifted focus away from developing its own brands from the ground up, said Watt. “We’ve still got plenty of focus on all the things we did before and the other plans we had for BrewDog both in the UK and around the world. Draft House and Hawkes aligned perfectly with our belief that craft beer and cider deserve a bigger and more diverse audience in the UK.”
BrewDog’s first range of “more accessible” sour beers from its new brewery Overworks would hit supermarket shelves soon, he added. ”They’ll be in our bars and packaged in keg and bottles for trade very soon.”
It comes as revenues at BrewDog surged by £39m to £111m for the year ending 31 December 2017, its latest financial results reveal, although operating profits fell from £4.3m to £2.7m, which a spokesman attributed to “heavy investment and general expansion”.
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