The Brooklyn Brewery/Carlsberg relationship grows stronger, now including UK distribution

Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, one of craft’s most recognizable and charismatic brewers.

Carlsberg is the fourth largest brewing company in the world (with something like 6 percent of global beer market share). For over a decade, NYC’s Brooklyn Brewery has been building a budding partnership in the world of beer with Carlsberg. From what we can gather, the relationship started around 2003 when Carlsberg invited Brooklyn Brewery’s famed brewmaster Garrett Oliver to Copenhagen to receive the Semper Ardens award (though we can’t seem to find much about that award on the internet). Eventually, Carlsberg assumed responsibility for distributing Brooklyn beers in Scandinavia, and the two companies have been busy in the last two years buying and revamping cool breweries around northern Europe.

In 2015, Brooklyn teamed up with Carlsberg to open Nya Carnegiebryggeriet in Stockholm, Sweden. In April of this year, it announced that it was welcoming E.C. Dahls Brewery in Trondheim, Norway, into the Brooklyn Brewery Carlsberg family. Now, Carlsberg will be distributing Brooklyn’s impressive craft selection in the United Kingdom. According to an article on the drinks business:

“Brooklyn Brewery is at the forefront of the craft beer revolution, brewing quality beers that drinkers seek out and enjoy,” Liam Newton, vice president of marketing for Carlsberg UK, commented.

“Brooklyn Lager has seen value growth of 54% over the past year in the UK [Nielsen]. The Brooklyn beer range will complement our existing portfolio of premium, craft and specialty beers and ciders and we will ensure it thrives well into the future, like it has in the past.”

Effective Dec. 30, 2016, the deal does follow a previous agreement that will transfer distribution rights from James Clay (an independent UK importer and distributor of specialist and craft beers and beverages). Carlsberg UK’s existing premium beer and cider portfolio also includes: craft cider Bad Apple; Danish style pilsner Carlsberg Export; Italian lager Poretti; Belgium ale Grimbergen; Spanish lagers Mahou and San Miguel; and Sweden’s Backyard Brewery range including Shed Head, Bee 17 and Lawnmower.