Cigar City Brewing, a linchpin among the Bay area craft-beer community, has been sold to Colorado's Oskar Blues Brewery, according to the Tampa brewery's official statement.
According to multiple sources, Boston-based private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners owns a controlling interest in the extremely hip Oskar Blues brand.
The acquisition, whose terms haven't been disclosed, puts rumors of Cigar City's purchase to rest and also comes during a time of growing competition within the craft beer industry.
Founder Joey Redner will continue as Cigar City's CEO.
"Cigar City is facing next-level challenges and we needed to develop next-level skills and resources to meet them," Redner said in the statement. "But, we got into beer out of passion and an unwavering desire to travel our own path. We didn't want to just shove our round peg into some f*cking square hole and hope for the best."
The partnership with Oskar Blues, a brewery with years of large-scale growth, expansion expertise and resources, will strengthen the future position of both operations. It will also "provide additional investment for Cigar City's infrastructure growth within Florida."
"What Cigar City has done for the community of Florida craft beer is impressive. It's important for our culture to do business with people we want to hang out with and Joey and the gang fit," said Dale Katechis, founder of Oskar Blues.
