SAN DIEGO _ The financially troubled Green Flash brewery has been sold to a group of investors following a foreclosure by the company's principal lender, Comerica Bank.
As a result of the sale, which closed last Friday, a new ownership group of investors calling itself WC IPA LLC is taking over, along with a number of top management changes.
Former Green Flash Brewing Co. CEO Mike Hinkley will continue to be part of the leadership team of the new company.
The announcement of the sale comes just a week after Green Flash closed its Virginia Beach, Va., brewery 16 months after opening the East Coast operation. And just a few days after that, more troubling news came: it was closing its Poway barrel-aging facility, Cellar 3.
"After a general slowdown in the craft beer industry, coupled with intense competition and a slowdown of our business, we could not service the debt that we took on to build the Virginia Beach brewery, and in early 2018, the company defaulted on its loans with Comerica Bank," Hinkley wrote in a note to Green Flash shareholders. "While we took substantial efforts to recapitalize the company over the past several months, both before and after the bank default, we were ultimately unable to close a transaction."
The Green Flash and Alpine breweries will continue to operate under new ownership, he said, but Green Flash Brewing Company and Alpine Beer, which Green Flash purchased in 2014, will be dissolved.
Pat McIlhenney, co-founder of Alpine, said he heard from Green Flash on Monday.
McIlhenney and his wife _ Val McIlhenney, who was vice president of Green Flash's Alpine Beer division _ will have no role in the new company. Their son, Shawn McIlhenney, remains under contract as a Green Flash brewer.
Hinkley, who started Green Flash 16 years ago, will lead the new company, according to a news release, although a document from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control identifies him as vice president.
McIlhenney had harsh words for Hinkley.
"He has no business being in this business," McIlhenney said. "His business prowess is abysmal."
Despite the financial troubles, the Green Flash Brewhouse & Eatery in Lincoln, Neb., will open in April, and will brew specialty beers serving the state of Nebraska.
