Carlsberg and Brooklyn Brewery have been working together for well over a decade. They are distribution partners, investment partners and beer buddies, pursuing ventures around the globe. The two companies have invested significantly in destination breweries over the last few years in exotic locales like Stockholm, Sweden, Trondheim, Norway, Hong Kong and London. Last year, Brooklyn and Carlsberg announced another — the opening of Švyturys Brewery — another joint venture but this time in Lithuania. Wait, Lithuania? From BB’s blog:
It’s probably the last place you might think there is a thriving craft beer market, but craft is over 10% of the market there and growing. Klaipeda is a seaside resort famous for its lighthouse, and home of the original Svyturys Brewery. It’s also right next door to that Russian military enclave, Kaliningrad, but don’t worry Trump and Putin are good friends, so no problems there. The team at Svyturys has been developing excellent craft beers for several years, and when they told us they wanted to knock down their old administrative building and replace it with a new brewhouse, barrel aging cellar, tasting rooms, and a restaurant, we were in. Keep an eye to the north for more news soon.
We kept an eye out. Then, just last week, Brooklyn Brewery released a video on the facility, and it looks fairly awesome, giving credit to the score by The Kills — a band whose music can make anything feel cool. We have also read reports that Brooklyn is slowing down its destination locales after opening Švyturys, but the Lithuania brand is a pretty impressive and aggressive expansion milestone that’s seen Brooklyn go across the globe (and we didn’t even talk about its Jeju Brewing Co. investment in South Korea).
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