Cannabis company Tilray Brands buys New York craft brewer

Founded in 2012, Montauk Brewing is ‘well-known for its beloved product portfolio, premium price point, and distribution across over 6,400 points of distribution’, including top national retailers such as Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop, King Kullen, Walmart, 7-Eleven, Costco, BJ’s, and Speedway.

Montauk Brewing joins Tilray’s growing U.S. beverage-alcohol portfolio, which already includes SweetWater Brewing Company, the 10th largest craft brewer in the nation with distribution across more than 40 states, the Alpine and Green Flash iconic Southern California brands, and its leading lifestyle bourbon and spirits brand, Breckenridge Distillery.

'Coast to coast' craft beer portfolio

Tilray Brands is a cannabis lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company with operations in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia and Latin America. Its production platform supports more than 20 brands in 20 countries, including comprehensive cannabis offerings, hemp-based foods and craft beverages.

Montauk Brewing joins SweetWater, Green Flash, and Alpine brands as the ‘cornerstones’ of Tilray’s coast to coast craft beer segment.

As well as acquiring the brand, the acquisition is expected to give Tilray additional scale in the craft beer segment and positions the company with a stronger footprint in the northeast, rounding out its footprint across the US market.

Tilray also wants to be ready to make the most of commercial opportunities it believes are to come in the future. 

“Upon federal legalization in the US, Tilray plans to take full advantage of its strategic infrastructure, operations and consumer loyal brands across beer, spirits, and snack-food categories to parlay into THC-based products and further expand its commercial opportunities,” ​notes the company.

Building on existing infrastructure

Irwin D. Simon, Chairman and CEO, said, "Tilray Brands continues to strengthen our US footprint and operations through investments in and growing our portfolio of leading lifestyle CPG brands that resonate powerfully with consumers. ​

"Montauk Brewing is an iconic brand with leading market share and distribution in the northeast. Tilray Brands intends to leverage SweetWater’s existing nationwide infrastructure and Montauk Brewing’s northeast influence to significantly expand our distribution network and drive profitable growth in our beverage-alcohol segment. ​

"This distribution network is part of Tilray’s strategy to leverage our growing portfolio of US CPG brands and ultimately to launch THC-based product adjacencies upon federal legalization in the U.S.”​

Montauk Brewing, meanwhile, will be able to leverage SweetWater’s existing nationwide infrastructure to accelerate its distribution. “Montauk Brewing has enormous potential to expand its customer base and grow throughout the U.S. as a true national brand.”

New President of US Beer Business

With the acquisition of Montauk, Tilray has also created a new position of President of US Beer Business, appointing Ty H. Gilmore to the role.

Gilmore joins Tilray from Glazer’s Beer and Beverage, where he had served since 2020 as executive vice president, overseeing sales, marketing and operations across 11 distributors in the south. Prior to that, he spent the majority of his nearly three-decade career at Diageo, in positions of increasing seniority including seven years leading national accounts.