Full Sail Brewing sells to Sazerac, BuzzBallz owner
BuzzBallz Owner Sazerac Buys Oregon Craft Pioneer Full Sail Brewing for Its Production Lines
Full Sail Brewing, one of the founding breweries of Oregon craft beer, has been sold to Sazerac, the Louisville, Kentucky, spirits company behind Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Southern Comfort and BuzzBallz.
Sazerac confirmed the acquisition Tuesday, Nov. 3. Terms were not disclosed.
“The Full Sail team has created a strong business plus production and manufacturing capabilities, and this acquisition enables us to add additional capacity and capabilities to our network,” Sazerac said in a statement. The company has not said what happens to the brewery’s brands, its pub or its employees.
Pub closed, brands in question
Word that the Full Sail pub at 506 Columbia St. in Hood River had closed began spreading on social media Monday, Nov. 2. On Tuesday, Full Sail brewing shift lead Bart Prouty wrote on Facebook that restaurant staff were let go with one week of severance and that Sazerac held a meeting for production staff that morning.
“On November 2nd, 2026 we were acquired by Sazerac and the Full Sail and Session brands officially died,” Prouty wrote. He said the brewery would now make beer only for existing contracts and called it “a 100% contract production facility.”
Sazerac and Full Sail have not confirmed the pub closure, the layoffs or the end of the Full Sail and Session brands.
The deal appears to be about the plant. Full Sail advertises that its Hood River facility can produce more than 30 million cases of beverages a year, and it holds licenses to make beer, wine, cider, seltzer and spirit-based ready-to-drink cocktails. Perhaps Full Sail’s facility would be a BuzzBallz facility soon.
Sazerac bought BuzzBallz in 2024 and has added more RTD brands since, including Dirty Shirley in March and Au Vodka in September.
Irene Firmat founded Full Sail in 1987 as Hood River Brewing Co., in a former cannery. It became employee-owned in 1999 and was sold to private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital in 2015. In recent years it focused on Full Sail Amber and Session Lager, filling extra capacity with contract work. The brewery made about 12,800 barrels in 2025 and sold beer in seven states.
Beer Street Journal has asked Sazerac and Full Sail for comment and will update this story.
