Old 99 Brewing Company First Local To Go Regional

A brewery’s growth is most obviously noted by the number and size of fermentation tanks, but Old 99 took a different big step this month by becoming the first of the seven Roseburg breweries to ink a distribution deal. Bigfoot Beverages now distributes Old 99, which, with the stroke of a pen, grows the brewery from a local to a regional size.

“We have been chatting with them for some time about the possibility of joining forces in trying to get more Old 99 beer to market.” said AJ Tuter, one of the three Old 99 owners and brewers. “It has been quite the process to get to this point to be able to make a decision like this, but I think we have done a good job growing our business healthy and not too fast.”

The advantage of using a distributor, added Arter, is that “they provide sales, marketing and storage.”

The Old 99 brewers anticipate that they will now have more time to do what they do best—making great beer. “Our hands are a little tied at the moment not having enough time in a day to deliver beer to market and do a good job at it. Having a distributor enables us to focus more on brewing beer and providing the best product possible, instead of trying to manage accounts at the same time.” said Arter.

The reach of the distributor’s service area, Bigfoot’s footprint, so to speak, is one of the reasons that Old 99 decided to go with them. Bigfoot Beverages distributes beer in 11 Oregon counties, and is headquartered in Eugene, with offices in Bend, Coos Bay, Newport, and Roseburg. From these five Central and Southwestern Oregon centers, Bigfoot distributes 27 Oregon and 24 regional and national craft beers, as well as cider, mead, and wine.

Started in 1947 as Fullerton Beverage, a Pepsi Cola distributor, the company changed its name to Bigfoot Beverages in 2012 when they began to distribute craft beer. Besides beer and soft drinks, Bigfoot also distributes energy drinks, sports drinks, juice, tea, ready-to-drink coffee, and water.