After Being Acquired by Tilray Last Year, Blue Point Brewery Sets Its Sights on The Future
After it was bought by cannabis lifestyle company Tilray last year, Blue Point Brewery is planning one of its largest 420 festivals ever this Saturday – Shakedown on Main Street. We sat down with Blue Point’s co-founder and general manager, Mark Burford, to ask what being acquired by Tilray means for the company, how different it is from Anheuser-Busch, and what might be in store for the future.
Ten years ago Anheuser-Busch came to Long Island to buy Blue Point Brewery, Long Island’s largest brand, a move that helped them capitalize on the growing craft beer trend. Last year, Tilray put out an offer to purchase some of the beverage corporation’s brands and in a deal that was struck by August 2023, Blue Point was sold to the cannabis company along with a handful of others. The purchase added to Tiray’s portfolio of craft breweries that already included Montauk Brewing Company.
“I think the biggest change has been the pace of how we work,” said Burford in an interview with LongIslandRestaurants.com, talking about the brand’s new owners.
He explained that while Blue Point was one of Anheuser-Busch’s priorities, it had a whole host of other brands under its belt. With Tilray, Blue Point gets much closer to the top of the business pyramid.
“We have a lot of innovation and excitement being brought to the brand now to tell our story and explain our culture,” he said.
Burford said Blue Point has a “fun, quality beer-driven” culture, one that coincides with Tilray’s focus. According to reports, Tilray now has 5% of the craft beer market share in the country and is the 5th largest craft brewer in the United States.
“The opportunities are fantastic,” said Burford. “They understand where we’re coming from in a big way; it’s a very exciting position to be in.”
Burford said that he couldn’t comment on cannabis or infused beer products – the cannabis portion of the operations are solely on the Tilray side – but he does expect Blue Point to bottle new beers for release this summer. He was tight-lipped on the specifics but did drop hints on what might be to come. Burford said looking at what’s popular in the Patchogue tasting room will give customers a clue as to what might be coming out. Think of the tasting room as a testing ground and focus group for new brews.
“If something becomes a bigger idea it will always be in the tasting room for a while,” he said. “We learn alot from people that way. The beauty of brewing is it’s a constant growing thing. We’re constantly learning.”
One thing Burford did mention is that they are working on a lighter lager at the moment. (It may or may not be a part of their next product release.)
“We’re honing in on something in that department; something slightly different in the lager family,” he said.
The Toasted Lager is their first and flagship beer, the one that put Blue Point on the map.
“We’re leaning into our roots,” Burford said of the lighter lagers they are developing. “One of those will soon see the light outside this building.”
The Blue Point Brewery’s 4th annual Shakedown on Main Street on Saturday will be one of the largest festivals they have put on, according to Burford. It will feature two stages of live music, 50 vendors, immersive live art installations, an array of local food trucks, skateboarding demonstrations, a mini-golf course, a Ferris wheel, and, of course, plenty of beer flowing. They will even have sister brewery Montauk 42 Project available on Saturday.
“This is going to be the biggest and most fun festival we have ever done,” said Burford. “It’s going to be a grand time.”
For tickets to the Shakedown on Main Street Festival, click here.
