On June 4, Detroit entrepreneur Mark Rieth signed a definitive agreement to buy Atwater Brewery back from Canada-headquartered cannabis and craft beer company, Tilray Brands, a move that officially returns the iconic neighborhood staple to local hands. While the ink is dry on the agreement, the deal is expected to officially close later this summer.
Rieth is reacquiring the Atwater brand name, its intellectual property, the Detroit brewing equipment, and the actual Detroit brewery building in the historic Rivertown district, a property he actually still owned and had been leasing back to corporate operators.
Atwater’s Rivertown taproom and the Grosse Pointe Park location are included in the buyback. However, Tilray Brands will hang onto the Grand Rapids taproom, and continuing to operate that location under its own umbrella. As with most of these kinds of transactions exact financial details of the deal have not been publicly disclosed…