Frederick Brewing Company
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Formerly called
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Wild Goose Brewery |
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| Industry | Microbrewery |
| Founder | Marjorie McGinnis, Kevin Brannon, and Steve Nordahl |
| Headquarters | Frederick, Maryland, United States |
| Products | Beer |
Frederick Brewing Company (at one point also known as Wild Goose Brewery) is a brewery at the Wedgewood Business Park in Frederick, Maryland, United States. It was founded sometime between 1992 and 1993 by Marjorie McGinnis, Kevin Brannon, and Steve Nordahl and had its grand opening on 12 February 1997. The company was taken over by Snyder International Brewing Group in 1999 and merged with Snyder International Brewing Group in 2001. In early 2002 or 2003 the company was placed into receivership and in 2006 was purchased by Flying Dog Brewery and renamed Wild Goose Brewery. At some point the brewery stopped being known as Wild Goose Brewery and just became Flying Dog Brewery.
The brewery was generally considered to be state of the art. The plant cost somewhere between $4.4 million and $8 million to build, with $4.5 million of the cost being paid for with economic development bonds, and in 2002 it had a capacity of 80,000 barrels annually. The company though was never able to sell more than 11,000 barrels of its brand Blue Ridge in any given year. When the company's stock was initially issued in 1995 it sold for over $6 a share and was traded on NASDAQ, but by 2002 it sold for less than 10 cents.
Frederick Brewing Company is considered to exemplify the 1990s microbeer bubble. Modern Brewery Age calls Frederick Brewing Company "the exemplar of heedless expansion of the micro segment". According to K. Timothy Swanson, there was a microbrew craze in the 1990s that ended with consumers being confused by the vast number of beers available. When the microbrewing industry declined, Frederick Brewing Company went with it.
Frederick Brewing Company was founded in either 1992 or 1993 by Marjorie McGinnis, Kevin Brannon, and Steve Nordahl.
In 1995 the founders raised money through an initial public offering for the company. They used the money to purchase land with enough space to build a 100,000 barrel brewery and expensive modern brewing equipment. The company created the Blue Ridge brand of beer which did well at first, but eventually began "gathering dust on store shelves throughout the Mid-Atlantic". To raise sales the company purchased Wild Goose Brewing Co. and Brimstone Brewing Co. and also created Hempen Ale. The Hempen Ale brand was popular for a short time. In 1995 it was ranked the fourth fastest growing brewery by Beverage World.
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