Cannabis Pharmaceutical Company Tilray Brands Branches Into Craft Beer Market
Pharmaceutical and cannabis-lifestyle company Tilray Brands has recently acquired four breweries from Chicago-based Molson Coors Beverage Company.
With the acquisition of Hop Valley Brewing Company, Terrapin Beer Co., Revolver Brewing, and Atwater Brewery , Tilray Brands plans to build a strong presence in the craft beer market. This would add to the company’s impressive portfolio of beverage products, which include distilled liquor, sparkling cocktail, energy drinks and fourteen other beer brands.
Revolver and Atwater are based in Texas and Michigan while Hop Valley and Terrapin are based in the Pacific Northwest and Georgia. These four brands will strategically anchor Tilray’s position as their existing brands are mainly positioned in the east and west coast.
All you need to know about Tilray Brands
Tilray was established in 2014 and was originally incorporated under the umbrella of Seattle-based Privateer Holdings. It was one of Canada’s first licensed producers and in 2016, became the first company to conduct a clinical trial approved by Health Canada. A year later, the company was certified for good manufacturing practices by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In July 2018, Tilray became the first cannabis company to trade publicly on NASDAQ. By September of that same year, it became the first Canadian company to legally export medical cannabis to the U.S. for clinical trials.
During the same time the company also started to build a portfolio of cannabis-infused beverages beginning with a $100-million joint venture with Anheuser-Busch InBev in December 2018.
In 2019, they followed through with a $250-million revenue-sharing deal with Authentic Brands Group, adding existing ABG brands such as Juicy Couture, Greg Norman and Nine West to their repertoire.
In addition to beverages, Tilray also has a hand in hemp foods. They entered the market by acquiring Manitoba Harvest for $317 million from Compass Diversified Holdings. This in effect, gives them access to 13,000 stores in the U.S. and 3,600 in Canada.
About Irwin Simon, the man behind Tilray Brands
“I’m either real smart, or real dumb,” is what Tilray Brands CEO Irwin Simon described his company’s aggressive strategy to enter the U.S. market.
Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Simon acknowledged the skepticism and financial criticism over the last 18 months since acquiring craft breweries from Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors.
“You know, I saw the beer category declining and I saw an opportunity within craft beer to make beer wine unique again. And I saw there was not a lot of innovation that came out with beer,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Simon is no stranger to the organic and natural products industry. He was a founder of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. and served as Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman for 30 years. Under his guidance, the company is worth $3.5 billion today with market shares in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
He is also a Lead Director at Stagwell Inc., a digital-first global marketing network. He came onboard as Chairman and CEO of Tilray Brands in 2018 and has been Chairman of the Board and CEO since May of 2021.
