Pyramid Brew Tour

Kelly and I got a behind the scenes tour of the Pyramid brewery last week. Jeff, a friend of ours, has been a brewer there for about 6 years and took us around on a quiet Sunday. It was pretty interesting to hear him talk about the brew process and get to go examine the ingredients and process and flow of beer and soda from place to place. I've attached a picture of what it looks like. We got to pour a beer sample of Pyramid "Curveball" straight from the bright tank (the tank where the filtered beer goes to be stored before it is bottled or kegged.

As we learned on the tour. Pyramid, a company with four or five brewing locations on the west coast, was just purchased by Magic Hat, a slightly larger but similar company on the East Coast. I say similar in that they a mid sized players who's beer is not ubiquitous in stores, restaurants, and bars. My guess is that the idea will be to cross utilize the distribution channels of each thereby growing both brands. As I've learned in school, setting up distribution channels is not an easy process. In many cases it actually is easier to buy someone else's. I wonder how it work out for Magic Hat/Pyramid. Neither of the two beers is well known on the opposite coast. My guess is this will be a good deal for both brands, which is why Magic Hat paid over a 50% premium on Pyramid's stock.