Last Updated on January 22, 2023, 8:51 AM | Published: January 22, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — The leaders at COOP Ale Works in Oklahoma City say that they are still local and still committed to navigating the state’s changing brewing industry, even though some rumors have been flying about their ownership.
As the demographics and demands of the local craft beer scene continue through the seismic changes brought on by COVID-era dynamics and an aging consumer base, producers have struggled to weather can shortages, low taproom attendance, and blink-and-you-miss-them drinking trends that have put a strain on the industry.
As arguably the very largest and most visible craft brewery in Oklahoma, COOP has dealt with those same issues on a considerably larger scale.
Plans beginning in 2018 for a sprawling new COOP campus have lingered in multi-million dollar limbo for more than four years, and an attempt to break into the coveted nationwide hard seltzers market with a bang has been met with a lackluster local response.
Though these costly setbacks have helped to fan recent reports of the 14-year-old brewery’s ownership being bought out, longtime Head Brewer Blake Jarolim says that the reality is simply a “reorganization” of COOP’s investor base.
“We’ve always had investors, and we still have investors, and they’ve always taken care of us,” Jarolim told me. “We’ve relied on our investor group to get us where we’re going, and we continue to do so. Daniel [Mercer, COOP co-founder] is still CEO, I’m still head brewer, and none of our employee base has changed.”
On how that “shuffling” of investors – as Jarolim put it – affects controlling shares of the privately held company, he did not elaborate.
23rd Street Armory still undeveloped
In 2018, COOP won a contentious bid for the long-vacant 23rd Street Armory, formerly home to the Oklahoma National Guard, with plans for a massive renovation effort that would transform the space into a brewing facility, taproom, event center, and even a hotel, with a cost upwards of $20 million.
A major announcement event was held featuring Congresswoman Stephanie Bice, with the hope that work would be quickly underway for a planned opening in the autumn of 2020.
As of 2023, construction on the project has still yet to begin in earnest.
“There were a variety and host of environmental issues that were mediated at the property, and title issues, and all sorts of different things that we’re working through,” said Ryan Stump, COOP’s Vice President of Business Operations. “The state would have had to go through all of that stuff, really, to transact it to anyone else, and all that due diligence just was not something that we had anticipated in the original timeline.”
Summer 2022 saw COOP finally completing the transaction to take full ownership of the armory, but word of the renovation project has been quiet ever since.
“There will be some announcements that we make soon about the progress of that project,” Stump said. “Right now, we’re finalizing some plans that we need to kind of tie up the details on before we make formal announcements about that.”
Sonic Hard Seltzers
Easily COOP’s largest development in years was the 2021 announcement of a wide-ranging partnership and licensing agreement with fast food chain Sonic to break into the nationally exploding hard seltzer market.
With a line of alcoholic seltzer flavors based on Sonic’s signature drinks, the partnership was set to as much as triple COOP’s sales and production and to extend their distribution reach into states across the country.
Competing with undisputed seltzer leaders Truly and White Claw has proven to be a tall order, however.
“There’s a bit of a dampening on the seltzer market in general,” Stump said, “There’s been pockets where it’s been very receptive and there’s been pockets where it hasn’t moved exactly like we wanted it to.”
One of the markets where the reception has been less than ideal is Oklahoma.
Sole distribution rights for COOP products in the OKC region recently changed hands, with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) selling the rights to the more beer-focused Capital Distributing in a move that surprised local buyers.
Both Jarolim and Stump avoided speculating on whether that deal had anything to do with the reportedly large number of unsold Sonic Seltzers that RNDC had been storing.
“Frankly, that transaction was between the distributors,” Jarolim said. “Much like a marriage, we married RNDC, and they were a great partner for us, and they decided that our brands weren’t as valuable as exchanging them for Capital. And we obviously had some seat at the table during that transaction, but that was a decision that was made between RNDC and Capital as far as what best fit their portfolio.”
With early kinks worked out for things like canning issues and flavor development, COOP’s licensing agreement with Sonic is set to continue expanding and hoping to find its niche.
“That’s absolutely something we’re looking to grow,” Stump said. “We’re super excited this year to kind of get a little bit of a restart with some of these markets that we’ve moved into that really haven’t seen a full year of Sonic Hard Seltzer.”
Tapping into the Community
COOP isn’t the only OKC brewing operation to see troubling times in recent years.
The collaborative “proving ground” for upstart breweries that was the OKC Brewer’s Union closed in 2021, and the surprise closure of respected Elk Valley Brewing’s taproom on this past New Year’s Eve marked a sad loss for the city’s beer community.
Despite COOP’s own plans for turning the armory into a massive taproom and event destination, Jarolim equates these closures in part to a cultural shift away from taproom appeal.
“We’ve always been a production brewery,” he told me. “We opened as a brewery in an environment where taprooms were illegal, so that’s how we’ve built our model. And some of these other breweries, they’ve built their model on taproom business, and that’s just an unknown area of how to make a blueprint for success. But some people have done it, absolutely, and some people will continue to do it.”
One OKC brewery that has seen success both in their taproom and their competitively sized production output is Anthem, where Jon Ebrey, Director of Sales and Marketing, says that even their business is admittedly down.
“Most of the taprooms in our area have been off over the last six months or so but a few are doing well,” Ebrey said. “The entire craft industry has had a tough couple years, and we are in an undeveloped market.”
What all of that means for the craft beer bubble that has been expanding for more than a decade in OKC remains to be seen, but COOP’s new principle investors – whoever they are and however much they own – are clearly banking that it hasn’t burst just yet.
“There’s these hyperbolic stories that people put out there about how much the seltzer market’s declining, or how much the craft beer market’s declining.” Jarolim said. “And I’m not saying that that’s wrong, but when you’re coming off massive growth for so long, eventually it’s got to plateau or come down to some extent.”
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
