Tampa brewery finds buyer, keeps it real

TAMPA — Following months of speculation about an acquisition, Tampa's Cigar City Brewing has been sold.

Longmont, Colo.-based Oskar Blues Brewery purchased Cigar City, according to a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition “stems from the want to take risks, sniff out bulls*** and grow against the grain in an era of increasing competition within craft beer,” company officials say in the statement.

Cigar City founder, Joey Redner, in the statement, says the brewery faces next-level challenges and needs to develop skills and gain resources to meet them. “Florida craft beer drinkers want something they can proudly stand behind,” he says in the statement. “These guys get that. They wrote the book on keeping it real.”

Redner will remain CEO of the brewery, the statement says.

Founded in 2009, Cigar City Brewing has grown steadily and produced nearly 60,000 barrels last year. Oskar Blues Brewery, founded by Dale Katechis in 1997, brewed 192,000 barrels last year.