[12/1 Update: Long Trail has signed a letter of intent to purchase Otter Creek according to reports from the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald. The articles cite updated estimates of barrel-production from what I cited (from the New Brewer): 76,000 barrels for Long Trail and 25,000 for Otter Creek. In addition, Long Trail is distributed in nine states and Otter Creek in fifteen according to the article. The numbers I cited were from an apparently outdated Wikipedia profile.]

(Middlebury, VT) – Two writers very well established in the craft beer space are reporting that Long Trail Brewing, #23 craft brewery in the country, is planning to purchase Otter Creek Brewing, #42 craft brewery in the country. Andy Crouch of BeerScribe.com first broke it late last night and Jay Brooks independently confirmed the report today. Update: Select Wines, Inc. Sales Representative and blogger, Thomas Cizauskas, (his employer distributes Otter Creek) says that the deal is expected to be completed by the end of December. Update #2: More local commentary from The Hopback and Blog About Beer.

While neither of these Vermont-based breweries may be household names nationwide today, if this purchase goes through, Long Trail is about to join an exclusive club of craft beer-makers. Particularly surprising about this is that Otter Creek is in the midst of a widespread branding reconstruction, one that includes a new logo, beer labels, and a brand-new beer slated for release at the end of the year.

In his report, Crouch waxes poetic about the impending rash of craft brewery ownership changes that we will likely see over the course of the next decade. He cites two mega-deals that have already happened in this decade: Magic Hat‘s purchase of Pyramid Breweries and the Widmer-Redhook-Goose Island partnership. This deal may not be as big as those but could be felt by many in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. As Crouch reports:

“The parties are in the process of perusing all the relevant financials and a deal would give Long Trail access to necessary additional capacity, while leaving Otter Creek and its brands in an unknown position.”

That is a scary thought for some fans on the upper East Coast. Otter Creek appears to be hitting its creative stride earning critical acclaim for its new Imperial Series. The brewery is also experimenting more with sour beers. Meanwhile, Long Trail is experiencing its own creative success with its Brewmaster Series that began earlier this year. The three beers from that series are Long Trail’s highest-rated to date on both Beer Advocate and RateBeer. Should Long Trail use Otter Creek’s capacity for its own brands, that will leave more resources for Long Trail to work with . . . and perhaps more of those high-end releases in the future. The brewery will likely use most of that excess to push its core brands past its current distribution markets which include New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (Wikipedia). Vermont makes up 40% of sales.

Oh, and about that capacity- what would Long Trail gain from this purchase? There aren’t any figures published recently online except for a mention from an article seven years ago that pegs Otter Creek’s capacity at 40,000 barrels a year. Last summer’s annual brewing sales figures published in this summer’s edition of The New Brewer indicates that Otter Creek produced 27-30,000 barrels. That puts it at #11 in the Northeast region, one that includes 14 states up and down the Atlantic coastline. Long Trail ranks #8 in the same group with 73,000 barrels sold last year, just behind Dogfish Head and Brooklyn Brewery. In 2006, Crouch reported that Long Trail’s capacity would increase to 90,000 barrels annually.

Between the two facilities, that could give Long Trail enough equipment to make a run at Harpoon Brewery for #2 in New England behind fellow Vermont brewery, Magic Hat. That is, if Boston Beer Co. gets bounced from the craft brewery ranks as its production is expected to exceed what is allowed by craft breweries under Brewers Association definitions.

Otter Creek will introduce new labels this winter

Citing Wikipedia is always a dangerous proposition, but Otter Creek’s sales were reported as 30,000 back in 2005. Despite craft beer’s general success over the past few years, those figures indicate that Otter Creek has made little, if any, progress in meeting excess capacity. That may be part of the reason that the brewery shared news with distributors earlier this month that it would be completely re-imaging itself. When asked about the label changes a while back, Otter Creek Director of Sales and Marketing, Max Oswald had this to say about the sweeping changes at the brewery:

“[…] We have undergone dramatic changes at the brewery in the past 10 months, really reinvented the company with the help of our new Brewmaster, Mike Gerhart, and his brew team and some key new management people. We really looked at everything we were doing and kept what was good, changed what we could and dumped what got in the way. We updated some worn out parts of our physical plant and generally changed how we do business . . . all for the better.”

“Ownership saw that we had become a bit stagnant and brought in some additional personnel on the management side. This infusion of energy allowed for use to re-think small and large things, and resulted in a bunch of new and exciting changes all that centered on our main focus, great beer.”

Otter Creek staffers were unavailable for comment this afternoon with the big holiday tomorrow.

For now, it remains to be seen what will come of the brewery’s hard work. Stay tuned.