Kichesippi Beer Company is set to purchase Heritage Brewing

jpm · Post by **jpm** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:06 pm

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the news regarding Kichesippi Beer Co.

Here is some feedback on why the two separate transactions.

Heritage - this deal closed in December and had us buying out the shares from Donna and Ron. This gave us control of the brewery and the Heritage brands.

Scotch Irish - this deal was a straight asset purchase with us buying the brands, recipes and images. We had started negotiating this deal when the Heritage deal was closed but it was not a done deal at the time and could not be announced.

Lastly, with the purchase of Heritage so close to Christmas, we postponed any further discussions until after the busy holiday season.

Going forward - in regards to the brands that we have now purchased, there will be changes on both the Scotch Irish and Heritage portfolios. Our initial thoughts is that there are too many brands and that some updated branding is necessary.

Please feel free to DM me at anytime with any questions or comments.

Paul
Co-Owner, Kichesippi Beer Co.

notdan · Post by **notdan** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 4:00 pm

Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing how the brewery and its beers evolve over the next few years.

On the note of having 'too many brands'... I really hope you guys keep the Bitter Brown. A hoppy brown ale can be hard to find and I love picking this one up fresh from the brewery.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:47 pm

jpm wrote:Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the news regarding Kichesippi Beer Co.

Going forward - in regards to the brands that we have now purchased, there will be changes on both the Scotch Irish and Heritage portfolios. Our initial thoughts is that there are too many brands and that some updated branding is necessary.

Please feel free to DM me at anytime with any questions or comments.

Paul
Co-Owner, Kichesippi Beer Co.

If you do drop a brand name, I would suggest the Heritage name should go. I have yet to have a positive experience with anything other than the dark lager, and that's hit and miss.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:53 pm

I would be sad to see any of the S/I brands go (except for maybe the seasonals), they were all good beers when they weren't infected. I was happy that S/I recently expanded into regularly shipping to London, I hope you will continue that. But whatever you do, you need to get the infection problem under control. TBH I had stopped buying S/I in recent months because there was such a good chance I'd have to return them.

notdan · Post by **notdan** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:35 am

ErkLR wrote:But whatever you do, you need to get the infection problem under control. TBH I had stopped buying S/I in recent months because there was such a good chance I'd have to return them.

... yeah, this too. I still haven't had a problem buying directly from the brewery, but when purchasing at the LC down in Warterloo, after the beers have been on the shelf for a month, it gets pretty sketchy. Three out of four John By's from this past week's trip were sour and over carbonated.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:22 am

Both the Heritage and S/I websites just forward to the Kichesippi site now. Hrm.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:14 am

ErkLR wrote:Both the Heritage and S/I websites just forward to the Kichesippi site now. Hrm.

One of the things that always annoyed me previous. It's the same brewery, why not put all the info on one site. Even if you split it in two different sides. Link them together.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 1:41 pm

cfrancis wrote:
ErkLR wrote:Both the Heritage and S/I websites just forward to the Kichesippi site now. Hrm.
One of the things that always annoyed me previous. It's the same brewery, why not put all the info on one site. Even if you split it in two different sides. Link them together.

I think ErkLR's point is that the Kichesippi doesn't have any mention at all of Heritage or S-I. So rather than having info about the three brands scattered over three sites, they have all point to a single site that only mentions one of the brands.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:01 pm

GregClow wrote:
cfrancis wrote:
ErkLR wrote:Both the Heritage and S/I websites just forward to the Kichesippi site now. Hrm.
One of the things that always annoyed me previous. It's the same brewery, why not put all the info on one site. Even if you split it in two different sides. Link them together.
I think ErkLR's point is that the Kichesippi doesn't have any mention at all of Heritage or S-I. So rather than having info about the three brands scattered over three sites, they have all point to a single site that only mentions one of the brands.

sounds amazingly informative

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:02 pm

GregClow wrote: I think ErkLR's point is that the Kichesippi doesn't have any mention at all of Heritage or S-I. So rather than having info about the three brands scattered over three sites, they have all point to a single site that only mentions one of the brands.

Greg wins a brick of cheese! * To me, it seems weird to mention your single beer if you have any intent of keeping the SI/Heritage stuff around. Maybe it's on the back-burner? Just seems like it'll end up sinking what's left of the SI/Heritage brands.

*The cheese does not actually exist.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:04 pm

ErkLR wrote:
*The cheese does not actually exist.

The Cheese is a lie

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:33 am

ErkLR wrote:
GregClow wrote: I think ErkLR's point is that the Kichesippi doesn't have any mention at all of Heritage or S-I. So rather than having info about the three brands scattered over three sites, they have all point to a single site that only mentions one of the brands.
Greg wins a brick of cheese! * To me, it seems weird to mention your single beer if you have any intent of keeping the SI/Heritage stuff around. Maybe it's on the back-burner? Just seems like it'll end up sinking what's left of the SI/Heritage brands.

*The cheese does not actually exist.

I imagine it probably has to do with them wanting to promote their flagship brand and getting their name out there before they start marketing their other brands and styles. The same way an all new start-up brewery would push their flagship beer and get it well known before making seasonals and that sort of thing (the way Beau's did with Lugtread). Plus to put it bluntly the general population in Ottawa didn't seem to really know that Heritage/Scotch-Irish even existed. I mean most of the people I work with are pretty casual beer drinkers. They knew about Beau's and knew it was good, but if you asked them about the other brewery that was actually in Ottawa they probably wouldn't know what you were talking about.

jpm · Post by **jpm** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:58 am

Sorry for the confusion in regards to the websites. We are working on transitioning these brands for the long term and will have website updates hopefully by the end of April in regards to the long term plans.

Here is what is confirmed so far:

1) Heritage Lager - we are no longer brewing this beer.

2) Brew Master - Don Harms (formerly of Propeller Brewing) has joined our company and will be in charge of all production, brewing and quality control.

We will be posting more updates soon on further developments in regards to Kichesippi, Scotch Irish and Heritage.

notdan · Post by **notdan** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:37 pm

Awesome to see that you guys picked up an ex-Propeller brewer!

Not sad to see the Heritage Lager go. The Kichesippi blonde ale will be more than a suitable replacement.

Can't wait to see where this is going. I still hope the Bitter Brown sticks around. Very curious to see which beers are discontinued/replaced/created over the coming months. I look forward to stopping by the brewery this summer to pick up some bottles and see what's changed.

carguy · Post by **carguy** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:39 am

I would like to see Corporal Punishment restored to its former glory. That was a really good beer four or five years ago.