Cannabis Company By Craft Beer Maker Known For It’s 420 Branded Brews

Canadian Cannabis company Aphria Inc. is jumping into the U.S. with the purchase of a craft beer company Sweetwater Brewing Co. The Atlanta beer brand has been a part of the lifestyle of stoned citizens for decades.

The deal was close at $300 million, marrying a long-serving craft brewer known for its “420” beer labels with the pot industry. 

While Sweetwater does not make drinks with a cannabis buzz yet, the companies seemed to suggest that could be in the offing as the two sides seek to leverage Sweetwater’s contacts in the U.S. and Aphria’s APHA, +9.85% cannabis ties to find potential benefits to the coupling.

“Our 420 brand offerings and SweetWater 420 Fest complement Aphria’s cannabis business and create mutual opportunities for accelerated expansion into other cannabis- and beverage-related products in the U.S. and Canada,” Sweetwater founder and Chief Executive Freddy Bensch said in Wednesday’s announcement.

Bensch will remain CEO of the company he founded in 1997, long before an explosion in craft breweries, especially in the company’s home state of Georgia. Sweetwater will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aphria, and keep its 125 employees on staff, the companies said.