Sierra Nevada clinches deal with Sufferfest brewery

USA | Gluten-free beers may be still a niche but a rapidly expanding one, it seems. One of the largest US craft brewers, Sierra Nevada, on 4 February 2019, announced on Facebook the acquisition of its first brewery, Sufferfest, from San Francisco. Founded in 2016 by Caitlin Landesberg, a long-distance trail runner, who was looking for a healthier post-run beer, Sufferfest’s beers are meant to appeal to “athletes and adventurers”, but not just them.

It also has a line of gluten-removed beers like its 95-calorie Kolsch, brewed with bee pollen, and its FKT (Fastest Known Time) Pale Ale, brewed with salt and black currant.

Sufferfest’s name seems to strike a chord with sporty people. It is a compound term, which refers to the suffering endurance athletes experience during an event, as well as the camaraderie experienced afterward.

Sierra Nevada’s President and CEO Jeff White was quoted as saying: “Sufferfest represents an authentic and genuine platform for us to connect with more and different people. This isn’t something cooked up by an ad agency. Sufferfest is a group of tireless, deeply committed people, who love to have fun. In other words, they feel like us.”

Conceptually, Sufferfest is following in the footsteps of two San Diego craft brewers: one is Saint Archer, founded in 2013, which has an active lifestyle tilt too. Although MillerCoors acquired a majority stake in 2015, some of its other investors are professional skateboarders and surfers and, for a while, the brewery posted videos of extreme sports. The other one is Duck Foot, founded in 2015, whose beers are all brewed using a special enzyme that removes nearly all traces of gluten from the beer.

Chico-based Sierra Nevada is buying a 100-percent interest. Financial details were not disclosed. Since Sufferfest brewed only 900 hl beer in 2017 according to the New Brewer magazine, the transaction price cannot have been too high.