Dragoon Brewing Co. recently marked its third anniversary.
Its first year it produced 500 barrels of beer. Last year: 2,600 barrels. Quite an increase! And, they seriously enlarged the tasting room earlier this year (1859 W. Grant Road, in the back).
The big news at Dragoon is that it will begin to can beer by year-end, perhaps as early as summer. Even better news is that the first beer it will can is the IPA … the best in town. The canning machine is in place and all the brewers need now is the cans. Due to the customized printing on the cans, the can manufacturers minimum order is 300,000. Operations manger Tristan White said that is more than a year’s supply.
White said Dragoon has signed a local distribution deal with Finley Distributing Co., which will increase Dragoon’s presence in Tucson. (Finley is a longtime distributor in Tucson and carries an extensive line of craft beers such as Ballast Point Brewing Co. and Port Brewing). Dragoon is also looking at going into Phoenix “a little bit.”
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Grapefruit sculpin
on tap
One of my favorite San Diego breweries is Ballast Point. Its beers have been available in Tucson for several years (the labels feature great fish art). Its signature IPA is Sculpin. They also make a Sculpin with grapefruit and a Sculpin with habanero chili. Both are superb and provide a nice addition to the already excellent IPA. Grapefruit Sculpin will be on tap at Commoner & Co. when it opens at the southeast corner of Kolb Road and Sunrise Drive in mid-June.
Beer Wars
A San Diego man has filed suit in San Diego County Superior Court against MillerCoors alleging its use of the phrase “handcrafted beer” on Blue Moon beer is “false and deceptive marketing.” The plaintiff contends that “MillerCoors does not constitute a craft brewer” and the claim allows MillerCoors “to charge up to 50 percent more for Blue Moon beer than it charges for other MillerCoors products.” MillerCoors denies the charge. This will be fun to watch.
I wrote earlier this year about Anheuser-Busch buying Seattle craft brewer Elysian. A-B is now suing Elysian’s New Jersey distributor to force it to accept A-B’s $500,000 offer so A-B can move Elysian to A-B’s local distributor. The current distributor says it’s not enough.
The CEO of investment group First Beverage, Bill Anderson, told brewbound.com he expects up to 25 craft brewers will be purchased by investors over the next 12 months. Anderson said, “Big checks have a way of opening doors.”
Speaking of which, a consortium formed to purchase craft brewers is busy. Enjoy Beer LLC (what a great name!) bought Louisiana’s 28-year-old Abita Beer (one of Finley Distributing’s beers). Abita makes a nice range of beers (Turbo Dog, Purple Haze) that have been available in Tucson for many years.
Paul Pedersen writes a monthly column on Tucson’s beer scene. Contact Paul Pedersen at tucsontapped@gmail.com
