“And now for something completely different.” That was the opening sentence of a social media post from 11 Below Brewing Company in announcing that they were merging with two other Houston breweries, B-52 Brewing and Fortress BeerWorks.
The three breweries will join their operations together with details of the ownership change still unannounced.
There has been a flurry of mergers and acquisitions over the course of the last two years as the industry continues to slow. The merger of three local breweries into one core operation may be a first.
“We’ll spare you the corporate-speak BS that mergers usually come with, but we’re pretty stoked about what we’ll be able to do together in this new normal of the craft beer industry here in Houston,” read the announcement.
The announcement from 11 Below Brewing stated that the three breweries were “merging operations” but offered no other details.
“More details and future plans will be shared with you all in the coming weeks as we get this merger underway, but in the very near term you will start to see our collective brands offered at all three locations,” the statement said.