Ommegang Parent To Partner

With West Coast Craft Brewer

COOPERSTOWN – Duvel Moortgat, Brewery Ommegang’s parent company, has added another brewer, Firestone Walker Brewing Co. of Paso Robles, Calif., to its expanding affiliation with quality craft brewers in the U.S.

The deal, announced Thursday, was datelined Paso Robles and Kansas City, Mo., where Duvel last year acquired the Boulevard Brewing Co.

At the time, Ommegang then-president Simon Thorpe, now Duvel Moortgat USA president, said the Boulevard acquisition was part of a plan to acquire a half-dozen quality small brewers in the U.S., similar to what the company has done across Europe.

The California brewery will “combine” with Duvel’s operations, the press release said, but will continue to operate independently in Paso Robles under its current leadership, co-founders David Walker and Adam Firestone.

“Long admirers of each other’s beers, culture and breweries, the two teams saw the perfect fit for an alliance,” the co-founders said in a joint statement.

“The relationship I have built with David and Adam made Firestone Walker the perfect fit for future growth,” said Michel Moortgat, CEO of Duvel Moortgat. “…Bringing Firestone Walker together with Boulevard, Ommegang, Duvel and the other craft breweries in our family creates a stronger platform in the USA for us both and allows us to collaborate on brewing in different locations across the USA”

Quoted in the press release, Thorpe said Duvel can help Firestone Waler manage “exponential growth … “We are not integrating our organizations. Both Boulevard and Ommegang are also enjoying tremendous success and we still have much to do in realizing our dream for both these breweries.”

The transaction between Duvel Moortgat and Firestone Walker is expected to close later this year. It is an agreement between two private, family-owned companies, so no financial or contractual details will be disclosed.