Cigar City Brewing parent selling to Monster Beverage for $330 million

The parent company of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing, a foundational part of Tampa Bay’s craft beer landscape, has reached a deal to sell to Monster Beverage Corp. for $330 million in cash.

The deal covers all brewery and seltzer companies operating as CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective — Cigar City, Colorado’s Oskar Blues Brewery, Texas’ Deep Ellum Brewing Co., Michigan’s Perrin Brewing Co. and Utah’s Squatters Brewery and Wasatch Brewery. It does not include CANarchy’s stand-alone restaurants.

The deal gives Monster, whose beverage portfolio includes an array of energy drinks led by Monster Energy, a significant stake in the North American craft beer market.

“This transaction provides us with a springboard from which to enter the alcoholic beverage sector,” Monster vice chairman and co-CEO Hilton Schlosberg said in a statement. “The acquisition will provide us with a fully in-place infrastructure, including people, distribution and licenses, along with alcoholic beverage development expertise and manufacturing capabilities in this industry.”

CANarchy is expected to retain its existing institutional structure and operate as an independent arm.

“The team at CANarchy is thrilled to be joining Monster,” CANarchy CEO Tony Short said in a statement. “We look forward to capitalizing on the combined expertise of Monster and CANarchy to further strengthen our current alcoholic product offerings, expand our product portfolio to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers, and to grow our business.”

Founded in 2009, Cigar City quickly became one of Tampa’s most prominent breweries, with brands like Jai Alai IPA and Maduro Brown Ale staples not just across Tampa Bay but around the country. The company had negotiated a potential sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev before selling in 2016 to the owners of Oskar Blues for an estimated $60 million. That group is what later became CANarchy.

The Monster-CANarchy deal is expected to close by this spring.