Fireman’s Brew sets ambitious 2013 expansion goals after private stock offer

Probably once a day, we will start off a story by saying “hey, you know, the craft beer business is booming these days …” and it might seem unoriginal if it weren’t continually being proven correct. Another great example to highlight is the team over at Fireman’s Brew, a Los Angeles-based craft beer company founded by two firefighters.

If you don’t know Fireman’s Brew yet, you will probably see it around soon thanks to some pretty rapid expansion. In 2012, the company reported a 326 percent bump in sales, and this year they expect an even bigger boost thanks to their impressive expansion plans. Over the last six months, Fireman’s Brew expanded their distribution outside of their home state of California to five states: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska and Nevada. Those partnerships included deals with Alliance Beverage Distributing (Arizona), Republic National Distributing Co. (Colorado), Grant Importing and Distributing (Illinois) and Specialty Distributing of Illinois.

In 2013, Fireman’s Brew has stated it plans to double these numbers, aided by a recently announced private stock offering to help raise the necessary capital they need to continue their booming expansion and to build Fireman’s Brew into a national brand. Some quick details on that offering, which was announced in October 2012: The company offered 6,250,000 shares of common stock at $0.80 per share for an aggregate offering price of $5 million. The minimum purchase is 6,250 shares for $5,000. Prospective investors must be residents of the State of California.

We find the stock offering as an impetus to move these plans into overdrive an interesting concept, and we will have a followup story with Founder Rob Nowaczyk and Chief Operating Officer David Johnson in the coming weeks.