Flying Dog moves HQ to Maryland; CEO to stay

By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 4, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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Photo by Associated Press / 2007

Bottles of Flying Dog beer work their way down the packaging line in April 2007 at the Wild Goose Brewery in Frederick, Md.

Colorado's erstwhile No. 2 craft brewer has officially relocated its headquarters to Maryland - where it now brews all its beer - from Denver.

Flying Dog Brewery also is getting a new CEO, who will remain posted in Denver.

Flying Dog's headquarters relocation comes after the brewer at the start of this year shifted all of its brewing operations to a state-of-the-art brewery it bought in Frederick, Md.

Before the Maryland brewery purchase in 2006, Flying Dog had brewed all of its beer in Denver.

Flying Dog has been the second-largest craft brewer in the Rocky Mountain region, behind New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins.

Flying Dog ranks as the 29th largest craft brewer nationwide, according to the Brewers Association.

The headquarters relocation was done with little fanfare. Thursday's news release announcing Eric Warner's departure as CEO was datelined Frederick, Md.

At the time the brewing operations were shifting to Maryland late last year, Warner said that Flying Dog would maintain its corporate headquarters in Denver.

But that's no longer the case.

"All of our beer is coming out of Frederick. So we look at that as our home base," said Neal Stewart, Flying Dog's director of marketing.

He said the company's top brass - including the new CEO, the chief financial officer and the marketing department - would remain in Denver.

Warner had been CEO for eight years. He's being replaced by the brewery's chairman, Jim Caruso.

"Eight years as CEO is a long time in that position in this or any other industry," Warner said in a news release. "I could not be prouder of all that's been accomplished, and I want to make a change while I'm at the top of my game."

Flying Dog began brewing beer in Maryland in 2006. Increased costs for raw materials such as hops, malt and glass prompted the relocation of all of the company's brewing operations to Frederick, about 45 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

The company sells more than 60 percent of its beer east of the Mississippi River.

Flying Dog, which sells its beer in 46 states, spent $1.4 million to buy Frederick Brewery Co., Maryland's largest brewer. Frederick had been wallowing in a form of bankruptcy known as a receivership.

Flying Dog's Maryland brewery has an annual capacity of 60,000 barrels. It has room for expansion.

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467

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