Tilray Targets $20M Savings After Craft Brewery Closures
The owner of Shock Top and Redhook cut its US brewing sites from ten to six and trimmed distributors. It wants to save $20 million over two years.
Tilray Brands, the owner of Shock Top and Redhook, is shrinking its US craft beer operation. It expects to save $20 million over the next two years.
What was cut
Tilray now runs six US breweries instead of ten, and its distributor network is 9% smaller.
Breweries for Hop Valley, Redhook and Revolver were shuttered. Production of Terrapin beer moved from the brand's Georgia brewery to other sites. Tilray also sold the Atwater brand, which it bought from Molson Coors in 2024.
Since the start of 2025 it has cut its SKU count by about 28%, dropping duplicate, lower-margin and slower-moving products. Tilray says more steps to reduce complexity are underway, and CEO Irwin Simon said the company wants to consolidate its distributors further.
Where Tilray is focusing
Tilray says it wants to focus on established regional brands, national offerings and categories it sees as higher-potential growth. It names nonalcoholic beverages and functional energy drinks. The shift also looks toward premium and imported beers.
Simon said the leaner cost structure should "drive margin expansion and stronger earnings" across US beverage operations and leave more room to reinvest in brands.
Carlsberg arrives in January
The restructuring comes before a partnership with Carlsberg starts in January. Tilray will have to scale up quickly to sell the Danish brewer's beers in the US. "Bringing on Carlsberg is going to be a big feat for us," Simon said on an earnings call.
Tilray's latest results already show the effect of buying craft brewer BrewDog for $44 million earlier this year. First-quarter revenue was $257 million, up 23% from a year earlier. The beverage business grew 82% because of the BrewDog deal.
Our view
Closing breweries while adding a brand like BrewDog and a distribution deal with Carlsberg points to a company swapping production sites for sales volume. The key unknown is whether four closures and a smaller distributor list leave enough capacity when Carlsberg beer starts moving in January. Tilray's next earnings report should show how much of the $20 million has been captured.
Source: Food Dive