Pioneer craft brewery Anderson Valley Brewing Company has been purchased by Kevin McGee, a wine industry veteran and owner of award-winning nanobrewer.  McGee had previously served as the attorney for Jackson Family Wines (of Kendall Jackson fame), as well as CEO of wine industry investment group Terroir Capital.  

“We believe we’ve found the perfect steward to lead the company forward,” said Anderson’s current owner Trey White, who bought the brewery from founder Ken Allen in 2010. “Kevin’s combination of business acumen and passion for quality beer make him ideally suited for the role.”

“We didn’t buy Anderson Valley to change it,” said McGee, stating that his goal is to “help it do more of what it does best…  It’s got a lot of history…  We are really focusing on preserving the spirit and culture of the brewery.”  He emphasized that this purchase is a private sale, without outside investors or shareholders to mollify. 

While much of this feel-good rhetoric sounds like it’s taken from the Crafty Brewer Sellout Handbook, this is a (relatively) rare public sale of a craft brewery to another craft brewer, so I am inclined to give all parties concerned the benefit of the doubt.  Indeed, in an era Corporate Crafty brewery buyouts, let’s raise a pint of Boont Amber to celebrate AVBC twice finding a way to keep Craft Craft.  Cheers!

Research sources for this article include Brewbound, SF Eater, and Forbes.