Speakeasy Ales & Lagers gets new owner after all
After months of uncertainty, San Francisco’s Speakeasy Ales & Lagers has announced a new owner: Hunters Point Brewery, a brand-new entity created for this purchase by Ces Butner, former owner of the Horizon Beverage distributorship and a onetime Oakland mayoral candidate.
The purchase, whose financial terms were not disclosed, appears to ensure that Speakeasy beers will remain on bar taps and grocery shelves as it brings an end to a period of uncertainty for the 20-year-old San Francisco craft brewery.
On March 10, Speakeasy announced it was shutting down indefinitely, firing all its employees, ceasing beer production and closing the taproom. It had failed to repay its primary creditor, Union Bank, and was forced to enter into an assignment for the benefit of creditors, an agreement that some companies pursue as an alternative to bankruptcy.
Three days later, a Los Angeles court appointed a receiver to oversee the sale of the company, forcing out the brewery’s owner and founder, Forest Gray. But a week later, the brewery was up and running again, continuing production in order to remain an attractive asset to interested buyers.
By the end of March, most of Speakeasy’s production had been outsourced to Shmaltz Brewing Co. of Clifton Park, N.Y., to ensure a smooth transition while the new buyer applies for transfer of ownership and transfer of premise permits from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Meanwhile, five wage claims were filed against Speakeasy, all pertaining to final pay, according to the state’s Department of Industrial Relations. Such claims typically come from employees who have not received final paychecks. These remain the responsibility of the previous owner.
Butner is no stranger to selling Speakeasy beer: Horizon was its distributor for more than five years. “We were one the first companies to expand their distribution beyond San Francisco,” Butner said in a statement. “Keeping Speakeasy’s San Francisco born-andbrewed tradition alive is very important to me.”
Buyers who showed interest in Speakeasy ranged from individuals to private equity firms to existing breweries. “In the end, it was pretty straightforward,” said Speakeasy public relations and media director Brian Stechschulte. “Someone came in with the highest bid.”
The eight Speakeasy employees who remained during the transition period will stay, said Stechschulte, adding that “we hope to try to bring back a few of our former employees.” Sam Cappione, a longtime employee of Butner’s at Horizon, joins Speakeasy as vice president and general manager.
There are no changes planned for Speakeasy beers at the moment, and the taproom will reopen “as soon as possible,” according to Stechschulte.
Butner, who could not be reached for comment in time for this article, is taking on one of San Francisco’s most widely known craft beer brands — but he’s also taking on a lot of debt. Speakeasy’s $7.5 million expansion in 2015, which brought its brewing capacity from 15,000 barrels to about 65,000, left prior owner Gray burdened with bank loans that, less than two years later, he was unable to repay. The astronomical sales growth that Speakeasy had seen just before that expansion — 38 percent in 2014 — didn’t keep pace.
Will Butner be able to turn that around? His resume indicates a strong presence in the national beer industry, without particularly strong ties to craft brewing. Under his ownership, Horizon, which he purchased in 1987 at the age of 33, tripled in size. He has served on AnheuserBusch InBev’s Wholesaler Advisory Board and was named as one of its top distributors in the nation multiple times.
He’s also very active in public life in Oakland, where he lives. He has served in leadership positions on the boards of the East Bay YMCA and Oakland’s Chamber of Commerce, and is first vice president on Port of Oakland’s Board of Commissioners. In 1998, he ran for mayor, but lost to current Gov. Jerry Brown.
Despite that East Bay background, however, Butner has named his new venture after the San Francisco neighborhood, Hunters Point, indicating that the company’s focus will likely remain on Speakeasy — which is now merely a brand, not a company in its own right.