Molson Coors Beverage Co. said it will cease production at its Irwindale, Calif., brewery by September 2020 and hopes Pabst Brewing Co. will take the facility off its hards.
But will Pabst? To be sure, Molson Coors gave Pabst an option to purchase the Irwindale facility as part of a settlement of a dispute between Pabst and MillerCoors relating to the closure of MillerCoors’ Eden, N.C., brewery.
But there’s no guarantee that Pabst will, in fact, acquire the Irwindale brewery. Responding to a question from us, a Pabst spokesperson emphasized it will “work with our new long-term supply chain partner City Brewing Co. to evaluate this opportunity.” Pabst, the spokesperson said, is “committed to a path forward that is in the best interests of all our stakeholders.”
Molson Coors ceased to be a Pabst stakeholder the day it decided to close the Eden facility leaving Pabst to scramble to find a way to keep producing beer. Pabst brass suspected the move might have been a bid to eliminate Pabst as a competitor.
Nonetheless, Molson Coors’ Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer Brian Erhardt came forward with the usual talk about efficiency: “This move will allow us to optimize our brewery footprint while streamlining our operations for greater efficiency across the network,” he said. “While it was a very difficult decision, we have extra capacity in our system and Irwindale’s production can be absorbed by other breweries in our network.”
Molson Coors recently announced a plan to “revitalize and restructure the business to get back on track.” Ceasing production at the Irwindale facility is not part of the larger revitalization plan announced in October 2019, and it does not impact previously announced cost savings guidance, Molson Coors said.
The Irwindale brewery, which opened in 1980, employs approximately 470 people and produced 4.8 million barrels, shipped to 261 independently-owned distributors in 2019. Brands produced include but are not limited to: Miller Lite, Coors Light, Miller High Life, MGD, Steel Reserve, Miller 64 and several brands for Pabst.
Over the next nine months, products currently produced in Irwindale will be transitioned to other breweries, primarily Golden, Colo., and Fort Worth, Texas.