Full Sail Brewing Co., the nearly four-decade-old craft brewer perched above the Columbia River in Hood River, has been acquired by Sazerac, the Louisville, Kentucky-based spirits conglomerate behind Buffalo Trace and Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. The deal, confirmed by the company this week, has already upended life at the brewery's Hood River pub, where staff say they were let go within days of the sale becoming public.
In an email to the Portland Business Journal, Sazerac said it is “pleased to confirm the acquisition of Full Sail Brewing,” as reported by KGW, and said the brewery's team and manufacturing capabilities will add capacity to Sazerac's broader network. The spirits company, which owns dozens of alcohol brands including vodkas, tequilas and gins alongside its bourbon labels, did not immediately respond to KGW's inquiries about the future of Full Sail's operations. Industry outlet BevNET framed the purchase as a move to add capacity for ready-to-drink beverages, a category Sazerac said grew 23% nationally over the prior 52 weeks, according to Nielsen data cited in a July press release.
News of the sale first surfaced on social media the Monday before, and The New School reported that a Full Sail brewer wrote online, “On November 2nd, 2026 we were acquired by Sazerac.” A pub employee quoted by the outlet said simply that the Hood River pub “closed its doors and myself and the rest of the pub staff said goodbye.” Full Sail could not be reached Tuesday morning, KGW reported.
Pub Closure and Layoffs Follow the Sale
According to the same brewer's account relayed by The New School, all restaurant staff were let go with one week of severance pay, and beer production going forward will be limited to existing contracts. The New School said it had reached out to Full Sail representatives to confirm, deny or clarify the reports, a step that underscores how much about the deal remains unconfirmed by the company itself. Full Sail had long operated a pub and restaurant in Hood River alongside its brewing operations.
On its own website, Full Sail describes itself as a Pacific Northwest-based beverage contract packaging manufacturer, saying its Hood River facilities can produce more than 30 million cases annually and that it operates a 200-barrel brewhouse. Those contract-manufacturing capabilities appear to be central to what drew Sazerac's interest, though the evidence available does not spell out what becomes of Full Sail's existing beer brands or broader workforce under the new ownership.
From Employee-Owned Pioneer to Private Equity to National Spirits Brand
Full Sail traces its roots to 1987, when it was founded near Hood River as the Hood River Brewing Company, making it one of Oregon's earliest craft breweries, per the Oregon Encyclopedia. The brewery was previously employee-owned before it was purchased in 2015 by the Oregon Craft Brewers Company, an investment group that included San Francisco-based Encore Consumer Capital, which still lists Full Sail in its manufacturing investment portfolio. On the Portland Business Journal's 2026 Oregon craft beer makers list, Full Sail ranked as the state's 11th-largest brewery, known for flagship amber and session beers.
The brand's output has shrunk dramatically over the past two decades. Full Sail's production peaked at 120,000 barrels in 2007 but had fallen to just over 67,000 barrels by 2019, according to Good Beer Hunting. More recently, Full Sail's Hood River sales fell by nearly a third in 2024, per Brewers Association data cited by Axios, which also found that six of Oregon's 10 biggest craft breweries saw sales decline that year, many by double digits.
A Shrinking Industry Statewide
Full Sail's sale lands amid a broader contraction across Oregon's craft beer scene. The state had 297 breweries in 2025, a 3% drop from the year before and its lowest count since 2018, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported, noting that breweries statewide are contending with rising prices for malt, aluminum and other materials. Nationally, craft beer production fell 4% in 2025 to 22,034,000 barrels, and the number of operating U.S. craft breweries dropped to 9,578, a 2.9% net decline from 2024, according to the Brewers Association.
Not every Oregon brewer is struggling equally. Axios reported that pFriem Family Brewers saw sales jump 22% in 2024 while Fort George Brewery grew 9%, even as Rogue Ales sales fell 18% and Buoy Beer Company declined 10%. Some breweries have responded to the squeeze by closing outright, as Oakshire Brewing announced in September, citing rising costs, competition, COVID-19's lasting fallout and shifting dining habits. Others have pooled resources instead: four Central Oregon breweries and a cidery formed the Oregon Beverage Collective to share production and manage costs, OPB reported, while the Rhine family, owners of Cascade Lakes Brewing, separately acquired Crux Fermentation Project. Anheuser-Busch, meanwhile, sold off 10 Barrel Brewing and Widmer Brothers Brewing in 2023, part of a pattern of consolidation reshaping who owns Oregon's beer.
