Salt Lake City’s Epic Brewing Co. has purchased Telegraph Brewing Co. in Santa Barbara, California. The acquisition is the first for Epic, which opened in Salt Lake in 2009 and then opened a brewing plant in Denver in 2013, where it brews the beer it distributes to the eastern United States.
“We have actually been looking for great breweries to purchase for the past 18 months and bringing Telegraph Brewing into the Epic family is exciting,” said Dave Cole, Epic co-founder. “It provides us an avenue to combine our teams and build on Telegraph’s portfolio with our innovative vision.”
Epic said that as part of the Telegraph purchase, it will move seven of its foeders — large wooden vats used for aging sour beer — from its Denver brewery to Santa Barbara, so that Telegraph can produce more sour beers.
“This couldn’t be a better fit — including some advantageous distribution overlaps that create opportunities to expand both brands across California and beyond,” said Cole.
Brian Thompson, founder of Telegraph Brewing, said that he needed a way to strengthen his company. The infusion of money from Epic will allow Telegraph to increase production capacity and offer new packaging options, including several new 12-ounce cans, Thompson said.