Evil Genius Beer Co. acquires national brand 21st Amendment Brewery

The independent Fishtown brewery formally announced the acquisition Monday at the start of this week’s Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. 21st Amendment Brewery, which shuttered operations in November amid years of financial struggles, had hinted about the deal on social media in recent days. It was reported Friday by Breweries in PA.

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Financial terms were not immediately available, but Evil Genius has now taken ownership of 21A’s California production facility and national distribution rights. Some of the brand’s best-known beers, including its Hell or High Watermelon wheat and Brew Free! Or Die IPA, are already hitting shelves again and will be back without any changes to their award-winning recipes.

“Evil Genius and 21st Amendment share the same values and story, rooted in independence and having fun,” Evil Genius Founder co-founder Luke Bowen said in a statement. “I remember falling in love with Hell or High Watermelon. Sipping that beer on the waterfront was my introduction to watermelon beer.”

21st Amendment was founded in 2000 by Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan, who chose the name as a tribute to San Francisco’s thriving beer industry in the years before Prohibition. The passage of the 21st Amendment in 1933 was followed by a period of consolidation that wiped out many of the city’s original breweries.

When 21st Amendment started canning its beers in the mid-2000s, the company’s creative branding and packaging kicked off a trend that saw more craft brewers emphasize art and storytelling in their beer lineups. The brand grew from a local brewpub into one of the nation’s top 50 craft brewers, gaining national distribution and hitting a peak of about 112,000 barrels in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Amendment Lager, which is among the beers Evil Genius is bringing back, won gold at the World Beer Cup two years ago.

Declining sales, high operating costs and pullbacks from lenders — problems that have hit large parts of the craft beer industry in recent years — led 21st Amendment to cease operations last year and seek out a buyer.

Bowen and Evil Genius co-founder Trevor Hayward, who met at Villanova University, started the company in 2011. They opened their Lab, a production facility and taproom at 1727 N. Front St., in 2017. The company is known nationally for its pop culture-themed beers, including the Stacy’s Mom hazy IPA and “Simpsons”-inspired Purple Monkey Dishwasher, a chocolate peanut butter porter.

Evil Genius is now sold in eight states, relying mainly on contract brewing beyond the small batches made at its 15-barrel brewhouse in Fishtown.

The acquisition of 21st Amendment isn’t the first time Evil Genius has made moves to keep traditional craft beers available. In 2022, the company struck a licensing agreement with Lancaster’s Stoudt’s Brewing Co. — one of Pennsylvania’s first craft breweries – to bring back several of its signature beers at bars in the Philly region after the brand shuttered two years earlier. 

Bowen said the purchase of 21st Amendment was made in a similar spirit.

“This isn’t a big beer takeover,” he said. “This is about two guys who love great beer ensuring the beer people genuinely love stays in their fridges — and ours.”

In addition to Hell or High Watermelon and Brew Free! or Die West Coast IPA, customers will now be able to find the citrus-infused Brew Free! or Die Blood Orange IPA and Amendment Lager on store shelves. 21A’s El Sully, Fireside Chat, Pumpkin Haze, Tall Hat Imperial IPA and other Brew Free! or Die varieties will return in the coming weeks and months.