Terrapin Beer Company is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

founded in 2002 by Brian "Spike" Buckowski and John Cochran in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, United States. In July 2016,

Molson Coors The Molson Coors Beverage Company is an American-Canadian multinational drink and brewing company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in Golden, Colorado and Montreal, Quebec. Molson Coors was formed in 2005 ...

announced its majority stake in Terrapin, ending its status as a

craft brewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

History

Founder
John Cochran
a 1993

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

graduate, an
Brian "Spike" Buckowski
a 1996

American Brewers Guild American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(California) graduate - met in 1998 while working at Atlanta Brewing Company. Both men had been homebrewing for years, and decided to partner with each other to start a brewing company in

. Buckowski, a

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

fan, named the brewery after his favorite Grateful Dead album ''

Terrapin Station ''Terrapin Station'' is the ninth studio album by the Grateful Dead, released July 27, 1977. It was the first Grateful Dead album on Arista Records and the first studio album after the band returned to live touring, following a nearly two-year ...

''. After creating a business plan, Buckowski and Cochran spent three unsuccessful years pitching investors to fund their startup costs for the Terrapin Brewing Company. In April 2002, they created and introduced Terrapin's Rye Pale Ale at the Classic City Brew Fest in Athens, Georgia - which garnered praise by beer aficionados across the U.S. In October 2002, its Rye Pale Ale was awarded the American Pale Ale Gold Medal at the

Great American Beer Festival The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual beer festival hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's Colorado Convention Center. ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

- which helped garner Terrapin distribution opportunities across Atlanta. Terrapin began contract brewing with several breweries to produce their beer including; Frederick Brewing Company (now

Flying Dog Brewery Flying Dog Brewery is a craft brewery located in Frederick, Maryland. It was founded in 1990 by George Stranahan and is the largest brewery in Maryland. As of 2017, Flying Dog is the 28th largest craft brewery in the United States. History A p ...

) in Frederick, Maryland, and Zuma Brewing Company in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2006, Terrapin obtained an $800,000 investment from a pool of Athens' investors, which allowed them to buy brewing equipment and lease a small facility in Athens, Georgia where they began producing their own beer. In 2008, the brewery moved to a larger 45,000 square-foot facility at 265 Newton Bridge Road, Athens, Georgia, where it could produce up to 18,500 barrels per year. Terrapin Brewing Company offers tastings and tours and averages 30,000 visitors per year.

Beers

Year Round Beers

*Hopsecutioner IPA,

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

: 7.3%, IBU: 71, O.G. 16.3 *Hi-5 IPA,

: 5.9%, IBU: 80, O.G. 13.9 *RecreationAle Session IPA,

: 4.7%, O.G. 11

Seasonal Sessions

*Mosaic Red Rye IPA,

: 6.3%, IBU: 75, O.G. 14.4 *Maggie's Farmhouse Ale,

: 5.3%, IBU: 22, O.G. 11.5 *Pumpkinfest,

: 6.1%, IBU: 14.5, O.G. 14.5 *Moo-Hoo,

: 6.0%, IBU: 30, O.G. 13.7

Monster Beer Tour

*Hop Selection,

: 8.7%, IBU: 80, O.G. 18.5 *Wake 'N' Bake,

: 8.6%, IBU: 50, O.G. 20.8

Ownership

In 2011, Terrapin Beer Co. sold a

minority interest In accounting, minority interest (or non-controlling interest) is the portion of a subsidiary corporation's stock that is not owned by the parent corporation. The magnitude of the minority interest in the subsidiary company is generally less than 5 ...

of less than 25% to MillerCoors's craft and import division

Tenth and Blake Beer Company Tenth may refer to: Numbers * 10th, the ordinal form of the number ten * One tenth, , or 0.1, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts. ** the SI prefix deci- ** tithe, a one-tenth part of something * 1/10 of any unit of me ...

a subsidiary of

The minority ownership was given in exchange for reducing a loan made by Tenth and Blake Beer Company in December 2010 to buy out a group of Terrapin investors. In
2013 interview
co-founder John Cochran claimed that the financing agreement between Tenth and Blake Beer Company and Terrapin Beer Co. did not include equity. He claimed that co-founders Cochran and Buckowski owned more of the company than they had prior to the Tenth and Blake deal. Nevertheless, on July 20, 2016

that it had taken a majority interest in Terrapin Beer Co. through its Tenth and Blake Beer Company division. The transaction was completed in August 2016.

References

External links

*
Athens Banner-Herald Newspaper Article
{{Athens, Georgia Beer brewing companies based in Georgia (U.S. state) Companies based in Athens, Georgia 2002 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Companies established in 2002