PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon's fifth-largest brewer, in terms of 31-gallon barrels produced in 2017, has a new majority owner.
As New School Beer and other sites reported, the majority shares of Ninkasi Brewing changed hands, to Legacy Breweries Inc., a greater Denver company. The arrangement is billed as a "strategic partnership."
The Brewbound site that broke the news revealed that Legacy's capital sources include EPR Properties, a REIT with $6.8 billion worth of real estate investments. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Ninkasi has long offered some of the state's most colorful beer forays. It's best known for its Total Domination IPA, which commanded many Oregon taps in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It also won accolades for its Sleigher holiday ale.
In 2015, Ninkasi made an ale using yeast that left the Earth's atmosphere. the Ground Control ale earned notice for its "space yeast" branding.
That same year, it eschewed using a distributor owned by Anheuser-Busch. The move came shortly after the beer giant bought Bend's 10 Barrel Brewing, a deal decried by many Oregon craft beer purists (although the Budweiser team has not, as feared, meddled in the local beermaking process undertaken by 10 Barrel's Portland team).
Nikos Ridge, a Ninkasi co-founder, further earned a reputation as an environmental advocate. Ridge will, according to New School, remain as the company's CEO.
The Portland Business Journal is a KGW News partner.
