USA, NC: Former owner of Terrapin Beer Company purchases a new brewery in Asheville

John Cochran, who last month sold Terrapin Beer Company to MillerCoors, is diving headfirst back into the beer business with a new craft brewery venture in Asheville, North Carolina, Brewbound.com reported on August 16.

Using proceeds from the sale of Terrapin, Cochran said he has purchased the assets of Altamont Brewing and will rebrand the company as UpCountry Brewing.

Recall that at the time of Terrapin’s sale to Tenth and Blake, MillerCoors’ craft and import division, it was announced that Cochran — who co-founded the Athens, Georgia-based brewery with Brian “Spike” Buckowski in 2002 – would leave the company to pursue a new opportunity.

Specific financial terms of the most recent transaction were not disclosed, but Cochran’s purchase includes Altamont Brewing’s 7-barrel brewhouse and an adjacent restaurant formerly known as Nona Mia, he told Brewbound.

“I am passionate about craft beer and it is very important to me to keep my hands dirty and stay involved,” he said. “There is something about a smaller venture that is really exciting.”

Cochran will retain Altamont Brewing’s staff — including brewer Jordan Veale and general manager James Mayfield — and plans for the new brand include producing “beers that are sessionable, thirst-quenching and easy drinking,” according to a press release.

Cochran said he plans to keep distribution mostly limited to the Asheville area and he’s already informed employees that the beer will never be sold outside of the Carolinas.

“The brewing industry is becoming more and more localized and this brewery is going to reflect that,” he told Brewbound.

Cochran, now the sole proprietor of the UpCountry business, said his first experience with the former Altamont brewery was during a vacation last December.

“I fell in love with the place,” he said.

He later learned that Gordon Kear, who founded Altamont five years ago, was looking for an exit and began exploring a purchase.

Ordinarily an entrepreneur in Cochran’s position wouldn’t be allowed to immediately get involved with a new venture following the sale of a business in the same industry. But MillerCoors reportedly included a “carve out” that granted Cochran permission to purchase the Altamont brewery without violating any other non-compete stipulations, he said.

“I am really grateful to them for letting me do this,” he said. “It is great to be hands on and down and dirty again with something that is really small. It is a lot of fun.”

Cochran said he plans to open the brewery and taproom this month and, pending TTB approval of brewing permits, begin producing beer under the new label shortly thereafter.

15 August, 2016