Maine beer tourism company merges, then plans an acquisition
Courtesy / Brew Bus Tours
The Maine Brew Bus, which began shuttling beer-tasters to Portland-area breweries in 2012, has grown to serve other markets. A bus is shown outside Portland's Hadlock Field, where the tour makes stops for Sea Dogs baseball games.
A burgeoning Maine-based brew bus business has just gotten bigger.
Brew Bus Tours, which operates in Portland, eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, has merged with an Australian beer tourism company, Dave’s Travel and Events, to form Vestigo Travel Group — and the new company is already acquiring another one.
Vestigo plans to buy a majority share in Brews Cruise Inc., a brewery tour operator headquartered in Asheville, N.C., according to a news release Monday night. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month, the release said, but did not disclose terms.
Brews Cruise, founded in 2006 by the husband-and-wife team of Mark and Trish Lyons, has brewery tour operators in nine U.S. locations, including Colorado, Idaho, Montana and much of the South.
Dave’s Travel and Events, launched in 2014 by Dave Phillips, is the largest provider of brewery-themed tours and activities in Sydney, Australia, according to the release.
Zach Poole began Brew Bus Tours in Portland in 2012 as the Maine Brew Bus. Its recognizable green school buses and designated-driver-guides provide a behind-the-scenes look at Maine’s craft breweries, distilleries, wineries and more. The company later expanded to the Boston area, acquired a Portland competitor in 2017, and then opened in Rhode Island.
Poole, who now co-owns Vestigo with Phillips, said in the release, “We have always wanted to work together in some way since we met at a beer tourism conference several years ago. Dave has quickly become part of the Portland community and we have plans to create new opportunities not only here in Maine but in other parts of the country.”
With the merger and acquisition, Vestigo will have operations in 20 locations on two continents, but will remain headquartered in Portland.
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