In a strategic move set to redefine contract beverage manufacturing, three leading independent breweries—Bald Birds Brewing Co. (Jersey Shore, PA), Two Roads Brewing (Stratford, CT), and Yards Brewing Co. (Philadelphia, PA)—have announced the formation of B3 Beverage Company, a new manufacturing collective offering best-in-class contract production services for beverage brands in the U.S. and internationally. Together, the founding leadership bring a combined, unprecedented 100+ years of brewing experience to contract the very best beer and beverages made on the East Coast and the I95 corridor.
The existing leadership teams of all three breweries will remain intact, continuing to operate their taprooms and nurture in-house brands while collaborating under the B3 Beverage Co. umbrella to expand contract capabilities and bolster innovation. Designed to meet increasing demand for scalable, flexible, and quality-focused contract manufacturing, B3 serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands including beer, RTD (ready to drink), seltzer, soda, canned cocktails and other emerging beverages categories.
Each founding partner brings unique, complementary strengths to the alliance. Bald Birds’ longtime focus has been contract brewing and distilling, with a 150,000 square foot facility in Jersey Shore, PA that manufactures upwards of one million cases of beer, RTDs, and non-alcoholic beverages annually. Two Roads carries a reputation for innovation across multiple styles and is a non-alcoholic brew pioneer, having won a silver medal in 2023 for its Non-Alc Juicy IPA. As a 30-year mainstay and Philadelphia’s leading craft brewer, Yards is beloved for its classic ales and community presence, while also producing for several well-known East Coast brands through longstanding contract relationships.
“We recognized a substantial opportunity in today’s shifting beverage landscape,” said Joe Feerrar, Founder of Bald Birds and CEO of B3 Beverage Co. “When the Two Roads and Yards teams saw the potential, they also got excited about leveraging our respective strengths to grow our core businesses and offer even better service and a wider array of options to existing and future contract partners. We’re confident that the fusion of time-tested leadership and next-gen execution will position B3 to become one of the most trusted partners in beverage manufacturing.”
“The opportunity to share resources and best practices with seasoned, growth-oriented, quality-obsessed brewers we‘ve long admired comes at the perfect time, with our mutual contract manufacturing businesses poised to accelerate,” said Brad Hittle, CEO of Two Roads. “B3 enables us to serve and grow our contract customers the right way, while maintaining the needed focus on our strong brands, distributor relationships, and core geographies, with minimal territorial overlap. Most importantly, the teams that built our brands, reputations, and businesses will remain intact, setting the table for our next growth phase.”
Trevor Prichett, CEO at Yards noted, “In the face of a currently challenging environment for craft beer, we recognized right away that we are stronger together. Our collective capabilities allow us to offer turnkey contract solutions for other craft brewers, providing them with consistent high-quality product at competitive prices and without the need for capital investment in new brewing equipment.” Tom Kehoe, the Founder and OG brewer at Yards, expressed that, “For our own brands, this is a great opportunity, as our collective sales and marketing resources and complementary distribution footprints can help us find more growth in new geographies.”
The alliance will benefit from the Bald Birds team’s manufacturing expertise and business development acumen, which will serve as a resource for all three partners. Yards and Two Roads contribute unparalleled product development capabilities, as they both possess the equipment and expertise to develop new-to-world brands in nearly any package configuration. The proposition is buoyed by the involvement of world-renowned talent like Phil Markowski, Two Roads’ legendary brewmaster, and Kehoe of Yards, whose reputation and experience in beer are unrivaled.
Parties interested in B3 Beverage Company’s capabilities and services can contact Steve Toussaint at steve at b3beverage dot com.