Tribe Breweries (Tribe), one of Australia’s largest independent brewers, is proud to announce that Mornington Peninsula Brewery (Mornington) has become a part of the Tribe family, through a partnership structure that has one of the co-founders of Mornington become a shareholder in Tribe.

Matt Bebe, Co-founder and CEO at Mornington, will become a shareholder in Tribe as a result of the partnership and will remain at the helm to lead the Mornington team. All employees of Mornington will continue in their current roles as the brewery looks to grow its reach both domestically and internationally.

This partnership will increase Mornington’s brewing capacity and allow the launching of new brews more rapidly, as production constraints cease being an issue.

Matt Bebe said of the partnership, “Mornington, like a lot of other independent breweries reached a point where we had to make some strategic decisions about our future. Over the last year we maxed out our brewery but wanted to continue on the journey. Joining Tribe is a great decision for Mornington as we can have our cake and eat it too; continue to be both local and independent while also part of a larger collective group that can provide benefits across the board. We are very proud of what we have achieved at Mornington and being a part of Tribe enables us to realise our potential and future aspirations.”

This partnership will allow the brand to gain scale through joining forces with an independent group that can underpin its growth and deliver beers to their loyal consumers, while staying owned by a team who are highly passionate about artisan brewing. Mornington will be able to forge ahead with their personality and uniqueness that makes them who they are – and what consumers really love about their beer.

Anton Szpitalak, Co-founder and CEO of Tribe Breweries said, “It is an exciting day for Tribe and Mornington. Tribe has an aspiration to become Australia’s number one independent brewer and is firmly committed to working with artisans to realise their dreams. Mornington fits perfectly into that vision and with the brewery joining the tribe we take a big step forward on our journey. Mornington is brewing great beers that we know well having brewed some in the past and the team has incredible alignment, we couldn’t ask for more from a new member of the family.”

Over the past five years Tribe Breweries has experienced significant growth and has had a particularly busy 2018 thus far. Later this year their much anticipated state-of-the-art $35 million craft beverage production facility in Goulburn will be opened, alongside the recent opening of Stockade’s Barrel Room in Marrickville, an acquisition of Wilde Gluten Free, and a first of its kind international joint venture with a Thai partner to create a new beer brand, Chao Siam.

Szpitalak concluded, “We are super excited to be building our ‘tribe’ of great independent brands that are able to maintain their heritage and authenticity. Whether we partner brew their beers, or for them to join us as part of the Tribe portfolio; that diversity of choice and freedom hasn’t really existed ever before in the Australian market.”