Artisanal Brewing Ventures has announced the acquisition of Bold Rock Hard Cider, the second largest cider producer in the US next to Boston Beer’s Angry Orchard.
The deal comes one day after New Belgium announced a sale to sale to Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages and a week after ABInBev picked up the remaining shares in Craft Brew Alliance.
ABV was formed in 2016 with the merger of Southern Tier and Victory Brewing. One year ago, ABV added Sixpoint Brewing to the portfolio. The Bold Rock acquisition is the first outside of the beer space. Bold Rock also produces hard seltzers and canned cocktails.
“Bold Rock’s portfolio is a perfect complement to ABV’s other partner breweries by bringing consumers a leading hard cider, a new hard seltzer and a line of canned cocktails,” John Coleman, CEO of ABV, said in a press release.
ABV is backed by private equity firm Ulysses Management and the deal demonstrates the aggressive approach that PE firms take to gain efficiencies of scale. All four product brands in the ABV portfolio will likely share to some degree sales and marketing teams, distribution partners and production facilities.