Patchogue’s Blue Point Brewing, which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding this year, is being sold by its owner Anheuser-Busch to Tilray Brands, a leading cannabis company.
Blue Point’s History
Blue Point, which was bought by Anheuser-Busch in 2014, becomes the second Long Island brewery in Tilray’s craft beer stable, joining Montauk Brewing which was purchased by Tilray last November.
Under Tilray’s ownership, Montauk is growing rapidly across the Northeast and recently expanded distribution to Pennsylvania.
Tilray’s CEO, Irwin D. Simon, is no stranger to Long Island, where he founded Hain Celestial Group in 1993 and built it into one of Long Island’s largest public companies.
He became CEO of Tilray in 2021 and is rapidly building a large presence in the U.S. craft beer market to leverage anticipated synergies from the legalization of cannabis in the U.S.
In Tilray’s announcement of the purchase from Anheuser-Busch, which included seven other regional beer and beverage brands, Simon said, “Upon federal cannabis legalization, we expect to leverage our leadership position, wide distribution network and portfolio of beloved beverage and wellness brands to include THC-based products and maximize all commercial opportunities.”
Blue Point Joins Other Long Island Brands
This purchase will raise Tilray’s market position in the U.S. craft beer industry to 5th largest, up from 9th, with Blue Point joining Montauk and other leading beer brands SweetWater Brewing, Alpine Beer and Green Flash Brewing.
The other beer brands being purchased from Anheuser-Busch include well-known regional breweries such as Breckenridge Brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing, Redhook Brewery and Widmer Brothers.
Tilray is acquiring all current employees, brewing facilities and brewpubs of the eight brands in the transaction, which is expected to close later this year.
Blue Point’s Future
Blue Point should be a great fit in Tilray’s stable with its offering of beers made with terpenes, the naturally-occuring compounds that enhance the flavor and aroma of both beer and cannabis.
The terpene beers have been a staple of Blue Point’s annual 4/20 festival held at the brewery, Shakedown on Main Street, which celebrates all things cannabis and can now celebrate a new cannabis company owner.
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com.
