FX Matt brewery buys craft brewer Flying Dog and takes over brewing Guinness’ Baltimore Blonde beer

USA | New York’s heritage brewer, FX Matt, struck a deal to acquire the legacy craft brewer Flying Dog Brewery from Frederick, Maryland. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Flying Dog will shift its production to FX Matt’s brewery in Utica, New York, over the summer. It will maintain a presence in Maryland, as FX Matt is seeking a location for an innovation brewery and taproom in Frederick, the website brewbound.com reported.

FX Matt is a logical fit for Flying Dog. The fourth-generation family brewer, which was founded in 1888, is well known as the go-to contract brewer. It has produced not only Flying Dog’s offerings but also Brooklyn Brewery’s for years.

The deal between FX Matt and Flying Dog will bring together the 14th and 34th largest Brewers Association-defined craft breweries by volume in 2022, respectively.

Per brewbound.com, FX Matt produced 183,200 barrels beer in 2021, while Flying Dog’s output reached 81,231 barrels. Combined, they two would have ranked as a top-10 BA-defined craft brewery that year.

FX Matt sold stake to Brooklyn Brewery

In 2021, FX Matt completed a nearly USD 35 million brewery upgrade, which enabled it to nearly double its total beverage production to 600,000 barrels. The investment was made possible by the sale of a 20 percent stake to the Ottaway family, the owner of the Brooklyn Brewery. Among other things, that allowed the brewery to undertake the expansion without adding debt.

In 2021, Brooklyn Brewery, for its part, sold the rights to its brand in Europe and parts of Asia to Carlsberg for around USD 130 million. In 2016, Japanese brewer Kirin had acquired a 24.5 percent stake in Brooklyn.

From Colorado to Maryland

George Stranahan founded Flying Dog in 1990 as a brewpub in Aspen, Colorado. The brewery added additional capacity in Colorado throughout the 1990s, before acquiring Maryland-based Frederick Brewing Company in 2006. The Frederick facility became its sole headquarters after the company shuttered its Colorado brewery in December 2007, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

FX Matt brewers for Diageo, too

The parent company of Guinness, Diageo, announced on 15 June, that its Baltimore Blonde beer will no longer be brewed in Baltimore, Maryland. Instead, production of the beer will be taken over by FX Matt.

The news comes two months after Diageo said it was closing its production facility in Baltimore after just three years. The closure of the large plant does not affect the Guinness Open Gate Brewery at the same site.