Through an acquisition by Oskar Blues, the popular Florida brewery Cigar City Brewing is now part of Colorado's beer family. A press release described the union as "driven by mutual irreverence, respect and desire to stay true to craft beer roots."
The six year old Tampa-born brewery will continue to expand and grow with expertise and resources from Oskar Blues. "Cigar City is facing next-level challenges and we needed to develop next-level skills and resources to meet them," Joey Redner, founder of Cigar City Brewing said. "We got into beer out of passion and an unwavering desire to travel our own path. [...]Florida craft beer drinkers want something they can proudly stand behind. These guys get that."
Redner will remain as CEO of Cigar City following the transaction.
Oskar Blues, which was founded in Lyons in 1997 by Dale Katechis, has grown significantly in the last few years. In addition to expanding in Longmont, the brewery opened a large brewery in Brevard, North Carolina and announced another brewery in Austin, Texas scheduled to open in May of 2016. Last year, Oskar Blues brewed 192,000 barrels in 2015.