ATLANTA, Georgia – Scofflaw Brewing Company co-founders Matt Shirah and Travis Herman are known for shocking the local craft beer market, typically with irresistible IPAs found on an ever increasing number of tap handles. Recently, the rapidly growing Georgia brewery did it again — with the announcement that industry veteran Christopher Brown has joined the company as an Executive Vice President and will enter into a partnership with Matt and Travis later this year.
“Chris Brown’s experience will be instrumental in identifying market opportunities and messaging to a broad range of potential consumers,” said Shirah, the Scofflaw President. “He has worked with many brands, large and small, and is able to get outside of the box that seems to be a macro/national craft mind set. He is comfortable with confrontation and brings fresh and substantive ideas to the table. This is very important for growing brands. Mimicry is not going to be a successful long-term strategy and adds little to a brand’s value.”
Brown comes to Scofflaw after 15 years at United Distributors, first as the Director of Marketing and the last seven as the Craft Beer and Spirits Sales Manager. In his previous role, Brown directed United’s strategy on adding craft brewery and distillery brands to the portfolio while managing its craft sales team for the state.
“At United, I was involved in the development of numerous breweries from impetus to implementation, whether it was giving advice, coaching brewery owners and salespeople or helping implement strategy for the development of their businesses,” said Brown. “Scofflaw was a brand I fought hard to get into United’s portfolio. I don’t think anyone could have predicted this type of growth, but I knew from Day One that I had found something awesome. Now, I get to direct my entire focus and attention on one amazing brand that I am proud to be a part of.”
“The focus,” said Shirah, “will remain on creating a meaningful experience for the end user and creating incremental value for our partners in the South. This includes our distribution network, the smallest package store, any on-premise site the we are fortunate enough to have offering our products, all the way up to the largest box retailer.”
A new 50-barrel brewhouse is expected to be fully operational by mid-year at the current facility on the Westside of Atlanta, which will help double the capacity to 30,000 barrels per year along with new fermentation tanks. Scofflaw anticipates releasing as many as 25 new beers this year on draft and in packaging at its Tasting Room. In addition to the new brewery capacity, a one-year partnership with BrewDog USA for canned beers will help increase market expansion for the popular Scofflaw IPAs.
With Scofflaw’s unprecedented growth, Brown has set his sights on the fast-paced changes ahead of him. “It was a natural fit for me to join the executive team and further develop Scofflaw in marketing and strategic business decisions,” he said. “United hired me immediately after receiving my MBA in 2003 and I am truly thankful they have enabled me with an incredible amount of experience. With this new opportunity, United is now my customer as Scofflaw’s sole distributor. While I take key projects off Matt’s overloaded plate, together, we have the goal of taking Scofflaw to new heights here in Georgia.”
About Scofflaw Brewing Company
Co-founded by Matt Shirah and Brewmaster Travis Herman, who developed beers on a one-barrel system in the basement of the home of Shirah’s mother-in-law, Scofflaw opened in August of 2016. It has been named by BeerAdvocate, Paste Magazine, USA Today and Craft Beer & Brewing as one of the best new breweries in America. Follow Scofflaw on Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter @ScofflawBrewing.