E-Malt.com News article: USA, CA: Santa Clarita's Wolf Creek Brewery’s beers distribution expanded in Southern California

Specialized craft beer distributor Craft Beer Guild began distributing Santa Clarita's Wolf Creek Brewery’s beers throughout a six-county region in Southern California, as of March 21, an owner for Wolf Creek said.

Launched in 1997 by Rob and Laina McFerren, Wolf Creek Restaurant and Brewing Company is in Valencia on McBean Parkway Referring to it as a brewpub, the owners had a small, windowed brewery room sitting behind the bar in their restaurant for all diners to see.

In 2012 they secured industrial space in the Mann Biomedical Park for a full-scale brewery and tasting room, which opened in 2013. It still operates there today.

“We’re really excited to partner with Craft Beer Guild,” said co-owner Laina McFerren. “They have a great footprint in Southern California, and we love the fact that they only deal only with craft beer.”

The partnership also takes the McFerren's out of the distribution business, she said, allowing them to focus more on brewing the beer rather than the mechanics of distributing it.

With 150 accounts of their own, working with the craft beer distributor hopefully will help increase sales as their beer is introduced into new regions.

“We were self-distributing throughout Los Angeles,” she said. “Now we won’t have to drive the beer there ourselves.”

Craft Beer Guild will distribute Wolf Creek brews throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and Santa Barbara counties.

Wolf Creek will retain their existing sales force, using them instead to help introduce and brand their beer in new markets as well as support key accounts, McFerren said.

Between the Craft Beer Guild and retaining their own marketing staff, McFerren hopes get their products in new food retailers, including grocers like Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs.

Their brews were sold at the local Haggen store during the grocer’s short tenure in the Santa Clarita market and sales were fantastic, McFerren.

“We sold a lot of beer in as very short time with Haggen,” she said. “And we got paid.”

Asked if increased sales with a professional distributor might result in the need for more space, McFerren said they have the option of expanding in place.

“We’re in a space that allows us to grow in our footprint here; we can add on to our building and add more if necessary,” McFerren said.


23 March, 2016