USA, WA: Mac & Jack’s Brewing Company changes ownership

After 30 years as an independent brewery, Redmond’s Mac & Jack’s Brewing Company has been sold, The Seattle Times reported on October 4.

The buyer is Seattle-based Ackley Brands, a family business that owns and operates four wine brands in Oregon and Washington. The companies said they finalized the transaction on Friday, September 29 but declined to disclose the transaction price.

In March, Mac Rankin and Jack Schropp, the brewery owners, approached Ackley Brands about a possible purchase. Rankin said he and Schropp wanted a new owner who could carry the brand, known for its flagship African Amber, for another 30 years.

“We’re looking to retire at some point,” Rankin said in an interview. “We also really wanted to have a little bit more structure from the management side of our business.”

Rankin added the brewing company also foresaw the need for financial backing to move to a new location, as its current Redmond site near Marymoor Park could be impacted by a zoning change.

Moving to a new location will allow Ackley to double Mac & Jack’s production facility from 20,000 square feet to 40,000, according to Ackley.

Ackley Brands has only been in the wine industry since 2016, with the acquisition of Oregon-based Montinore Estate. Brandon Ackley, the group’s president, said the interest in Mac & Jack’s was because of the brewing company’s brand and culture. There are also some business overlaps among wine and beer, including distribution.

Ackley said he wants to keep Mac & Jack’s business running as usual, and its beer will be available at an Ackley Brands wine bar called The Cove that will open at Lake Union Piers in South Lake Union next year. The Cove will be Ackley Brands’ second tasting room in Washington after its Woodinville location featuring Ackley Brands’ Montinore Estate and Landlines Estates.

The expansion into beer might be the first of more if the right opportunities arise, Ackley said.

“We’ve been looking at a lot of drink opportunities in the adult beverage space,” Ackley said. “It just has to be the right partnership and the right brand and the right team to make it interesting to us. We’re opportunists.”

Rankin and Schropp will remain involved in the company for the next year to help with the transition. Mac & Jack’s has about 25 employees, and Ackley said the intention is for all them to stay employed.

Mac & Jack’s is not the first Seattle-area brewing company to change ownership this year. In August, Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch InBev sold Seattle’s Redhook Brewery to Tilray, a cannabis product company. Redhook was among a total of eight breweries that AB InBev sold to Tilray for $85 million.

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