Over the weekend, multiple sources confirmed that Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewery is in the process of a brand-acquisition of the Green Flash Brewing and Alpine Beer Co. portfolios. On Friday, Green Flash’s ownership addressed employees at its Mira Mesa headquarters to announce the acquisition, which is expected to become final later today. Upon completion, SweetWater, the country’s eleventh-largest craft-brewing company, will begin the process of moving production of Green Flash and Alpine products to its facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. Following the transition, which is expected to take roughly one-to-two months, Green Flash’s current ownership group, WC IPA LLC, will cease operations at the Mira Mesa brewery.
According to individuals with knowledge of the situation, employees who remain with the company through the wind-down of the Mira Mesa facility will be offered severance. After relinquishing the pair of brands, former Green Flash ownership will maintain possession of the company’s brewing and cellar equipment as well as other assets at its headquarters. The 45,000-square-foot facility is expected to be put on the market for entrepreneurs interested in a turnkey brewery opportunity. That scenario is reportedly the only one in which Green Flash staffers will have a chance of remaining employed.
The fate of the Alpine Beer Company Pub in East County’s Alpine community has yet to be determined, though sources say it appears most likely that venue, which will remain property of WC IPA LLC, will be shuttered. That will leave zero physical trace of Green Flash in the county where it was founded and has maintained a large presence for nearly two decades. It’s a significant turn of events for a company that, only a half-decade ago, was among the fastest-growing brewing companies in the country.
In 2016, Green Flash was the 37th-largest craft brewery in the U.S. That year, it produced 91,000 barrels of beer, employed more than 200 San Diegans, distributed beer to well over half the states in the nation, operated the Alpine pub as well as a barrel-aging facility with its own tasting room in Poway, and was erecting a new-construction production brewery in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Times were good and founding owner Mike Hinkley was determined to seize on successes almost a decade-and-a-half in the making.
While Green Flash was founded in Vista in 2002, its rise in popularity followed a brand overhaul that came following the 2004 hiring of then-Brewmaster Chuck Silva (who departed the company in 2015 to start his own business, Silva Brewing, in Paso Robles.) Behind the popularity of beers such as West Coast IPA and Hop Head Red, production rose to the point where growth was necessary. Hinkley acquired the 45,000-square-foot Mira Mesa facility, allowing Green Flash to up its production from 14,000 barrels per-year to a maximum of 100,000 barrels.
The Mira Mesa facility opened in June of 2011 and was an instant success, drawing residents and workers in the mostly underserved area as well as beer enthusiasts from near and far. Meanwhile, production soared. Bullish about the company’s future, Hinkley acquired popular but tiny cult-favorite Alpine Beer, keeping the family behind it, Pat, Valerie and Shawn Mcilhenney, under contract to oversee and assist with production of the beers in the Alpine portfolio. (All three were later released, and have since opened a new operation, Mcilhenney Brewing, at Alpine Beer Co.’s original location.)
In 2016, Green Flash was the 37th-largest craft brewery in the U.S. That year, it produced 91,000 barrels of beer, employed more than 200 San Diegans, distributed beer to well over half the states in the nation, operated the Alpine pub as well as a barrel-aging facility with its own tasting room in Poway, and was erecting a new-construction production brewery in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Times were good and founding owner Mike Hinkley was determined to seize on successes almost a decade-and-a-half in the making.
While Green Flash was founded in Vista in 2002, its rise in popularity followed a brand overhaul that came following the 2004 hiring of then-Brewmaster Chuck Silva (who departed the company in 2015 to start his own business, Silva Brewing, in Paso Robles.) Behind the popularity of beers such as West Coast IPA and Hop Head Red, production rose to the point where growth was necessary. Hinkley acquired the 45,000-square-foot Mira Mesa facility, allowing Green Flash to up its production from 14,000 barrels per-year to a maximum of 100,000 barrels.
The Mira Mesa facility opened in June of 2011 and was an instant success, drawing residents and workers in the mostly underserved area as well as beer enthusiasts from near and far. Meanwhile, production soared. Bullish about the company’s future, Hinkley acquired popular but tiny cult-favorite Alpine Beer, keeping the family behind it, Pat, Valerie and Shawn Mcilhenney, under contract to oversee and assist with production of the beers in the Alpine portfolio. (All three were later released, and have since opened a new operation, Mcilhenney Brewing, at Alpine Beer Co.’s original location.)