OHIO – An Ohio Craft Brewery based in Cleveland, Ohio,including a tasting room and distribution center in downtown Columbus, was founded in 2014 by local entrepreneurs Paul Benner and Justin Carson. Originally conceived as a homebrew-inspired educational brewery, Platform’s business is rooted in community-centric entrepreneurialism and data-driven innovation. Platform is widely known in its local market for their innovative seasonal offerings, limited taproom releases and seltzers has sold its business to the mega giant Anheuser-Busch.
Platform Beer Co., the fastest growing regional brewery in the United States in 2017 known for their diverse portfolio of unique beers and innovative approach, will join Anheuser-Busch’s Brewers Collective as its newest craft partner. Platform brings data-driven innovation and energy to the craft beer world with operations in Ohio’s three largest metropolitan cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. The partnership will continue Anheuser-Busch’s long track record of working with their craft partners to make the U.S. beer category stronger and more vibrant.
Platform, founded in Cleveland by local entrepreneurs Paul Benner and Justin Carson, began in 2014 as a homebrew-inspired brewery devoted to community outreach and education. Still carrying community values at the core of their business today, Platform is known throughout Ohio for their taproom customer experiences and vast beverage portfolio of award-winning innovative products – creating more than 200 unique beers per year. The brewery’s unparalleled creativity and experimentation has resulted in more than 600 recipes that include a variety of unique seasonals, sours, ciders and fruit ales, barrel-aged beers, and a line of hard seltzer.
“In speaking with the other craft brewery founders in Brewers Collective, we know partnering with Anheuser-Busch means we will have the resources and the autonomy to bring our vision for Platform Beer Co. to life,” said Platform co-founder Paul Benner. “Being able to continue leading the day-to-day operations was an important factor in our decision and we have no doubt that this partnership will benefit our loyal staff and passionate customer base”.
Platform owns and operates four facilities in Ohio: their flagship Cleveland tasting room, a 60 barrel (BBL) Cleveland-based brewhouse, a tasting room in Columbus which doubles as a distribution center and warehouse, and their Cincinnati Tasting Room and coffee shop concept “LOCOBA”. More growth is in store for Platform’s community footprint, including Platform’s first dedicated sour beer brewing facility and on-site tasting room – “Phunkenship” – opening soon in Cleveland, and a 10 BBL brewery and tasting room in Pittsburgh to open in the near future.
“We are excited to invest even more into our local economy through capital improvements and job creation,” added co-founder Justin Carson. “We will be able to provide our staff with resources like robust healthcare benefits including parental leave, 401K and growth opportunities that we currently don’t have and will make Platform an even better place to work and grow.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Paul, Justin and the entire Platform team to Brewers Collective,” said Marcelo “Mika” Michaelis, president, Brewers Collective. “We are inspired by their experiential mindset, and we look forward to supporting their growth plans as they continue to push boundaries through their intrinsic craft values of education, connection and collaboration. It’s this growth that will give beer drinkers access to even more choices in today’s competitive and dynamic beer market.”
In the last three years alone, Anheuser-Busch has invested more than $130 million post-partnerships in its craft partners to hire new employees, open new facilities and brew more great beer. Our craft partners have expanded their production volume and created nearly 1,000 new jobs to support their growing breweries.
