Daniel Bradford, owner of All About Beer Magazine for 22 years, has sold Chautauqua, Inc. to a North Carolina company led by Christopher Rice.
“I’m excited about the energy and resources Chris and the All About Beer team will bring to both magazine and festivals,” Bradford said for a press release. He purchased the company in 1992 and transformed the magazine from a sloppy, gimmick-filled publication into the classic that it is today. Bradford also created the first World Beer Festival in Durham in 1996.
The newly formed company, All About Beer, LLC, will retain its headquarters in Durham, N.C., and maintain editorial offices in New York and San Francisco. Rice previously was vice president of Chautauqua, Inc., helping forge the direction of both the magazine and World Beer Festivals. He was co-founder of Carolina Brewing, serving as president for eight years beginning in 1994.
“I have been delighted to participate in Chris’ vision,” Bradford said. “With his creativity and business acumen, he is poised to increase the presence of these products in this new imaginative beer world.”
“I have been a loyal follower of All About Beer Magazine’s work during my 20 years connected to the beer industry,” Rice said. “It has a substantial position not only as the best-selling beer publication in the U.S. and Canada, but also telling great beer and brewing stories since 1979. Like so many of the brewers we have promoted and supported for the past 35 years, All About Beer Magazine has a strong history and standing in the beer industry. Daniel built great strength in these brands in his time as publisher, and I am very excited about the opportunities we have in front of us.”
Bradford — former director of the Great American Beer Festival, former president of the Brewers Association of America and former marketing director of the Association of Brewers — will continue in an advisory role.
“We have seen such a tremendous period of growth in beer appreciation, quality and awareness,” said Rice. “All About Beer Magazine has helped to greatly generate this awareness over the years. We are very excited to evolve our support for the industry’s beers and the brewers that make them, evolving uniquely just as the industry has done for the past 35 years.”