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A few years ago, Drake's acquired Bear Republic and shifted its production to Drake's facility. Now they join forces with another CA brewery that's gone thru its own set of challenges, Figueroa Mountain, to form new joint venture entity dubbed "West Coast Craft," cos announced and The Press Democrat reported, among others. "Combining Drake's strong distribution partners in Northern California with Figueroa Mountain's reach in Southern California and Central Coast made sense, with the added opportunity to grow each other's brands outside of their original strongholds," Drake's CEO John Martin stated in press release. Yet there's reportedly no change in ownership of the two cos and brands will remain independently developed and marketed. Key synergistic tie-up is thru production, which will primarily shift to Figueroa Mtn's sizable facility in Buellton, while Drake's brewery in San Leandro "will focus on innovation," including more limited releases and "alternative beverages," as well as its NorCal draft production and some contract brewing. "This is an operational shift, not a brand shift," added Drake's co-owner Roy Kirkorian. "This partnership positions both companies for long-term success while staying true to what made us successful in the first place," said Figueroa Mtn CEO Jamie Dietenhofer.In 2024, Drake's/Bear Republic produced 45K bbls while Figueroa Mtn reached 28K bbls, as own-brand declines were partially mitigated by contract brewing. Each brand is well off their former peak and declined further in 2025 tracked off-prem channels including Figueroa volume -7%, Drake's -12% and Bear Republic -16% in NIQ. But even in their reduced state, this trio of brands is sizable in CA craftland, and clearly lookin' to position itself as a platform for other brewers and bev cos to join. "The partners are already entertaining interest from other west coast beverage brands aligned with the WCC values and vision," announcement noted. They're now competing with Fort Point & HenHouse, which merged last yr, and Wings & Arrow/Modern Times, among other portfolio plays in CA, along with slew of other west coast entities that formed in recent yrs.Almost 5 Yrs Later&hellip;Figueroa Mountain Bankruptcy Process Officially Ended in Aug 2025 Figueroa has had an interesting stretch on its own these last 5+ yrs. After voluntarily filing for bankruptcy in Oct 2020, Figueroa Mountain Brewing bankruptcy case officially closed on Aug 1, 2025 following dismissal filed end of May 2025, court documents show. Assets were acquired by Creekstone Mountain, LLC in 2023, but there were ongoing legal disputes between Figueroa and the new ownership group regarding payments for nearly 2 yrs, ending in Jul 2025. In the last monthly operating report filed in May 2025, Figueroa Mountain had cash balance of $510K at the beginning of the mo, tho the company lost $2.55 mil in operations since it filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Perhaps not totally outta choppy waters. Yet after yrs of slippage, hovering around 15K-bbls/yr, Figueroa Mountain production rose double digits to 28K bbls by 2024, according to BA stats. Now that it's seemingly a little more settled with its funding, that appears to have opened up oppy for new partnership with Drake's. One source referred to co-founder Jamie as "a Phoenix" when it comes to raising money for his co. "Just when it looks like all's lost, he rises from the ashes." Tho there's still debt from investing in its outsized facility that can produce over 100K bbls/yr.

Drake's & Figueroa Mountain Merge to Form New Entity, West Coast Craft; No Change in Ownership

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