Is SweetWater Brewing Company Headed To Wall Street?

Few people are more constitutionally suited to the good life than Freddy Bensch, a co-founder and chairman of SweetWater. When he’s not coming to work in shorts and sandals, Bensch famously enjoys fly fishing in Montana. His business card identifies him as the company’s “Big Kahuna.” But life could soon be getting even better for Bensch.

Late last week, Reuters reported the 18-year-old Atlanta institution is preparing for a possible initial public offering that could value the company in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s a lot of fly rods. SweetWater’s spokesperson declined comment on the media report, which was based on unnamed sources. If it goes down, the Midtown company would be only the third craft brewery—behind Boston Beer Company, the company that owns Samuel Adams, and Craft Brew Alliance, brewers of Redhook Ale—to be publicly traded on a major stock exchange.

Founded by Bensch and Kevin McNerney in 1997, Sweetwater has grown from a local industry pioneer, best known for its pleasingly hoppy beers and independent branding, to a regional powerhouse that helped pave the way for Georgia’s craft beer boom. SweetWater’s potential IPO would follow the brewery’s decision to sell off a minority share to private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners in late 2014… CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY AT ATLANTA MAGAZINE