Gordon Biersch Brewing Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gordon Biersch is an American brewery founded by Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch. Gordon, a graduate from the five-year brewing engineering program at Weihenstephan, and Biersch opened their first brewery restaurant in Palo Alto, California in July 1988.

In November 1995, the two founders and their original investors, wanting to expand their then-$20 million business, accepted an $11.2 million investment from the Fertitta family of Las Vegas^[1]^[2]. Lorenzo Fertitta, a 1991 graduate of the University of San Diego, became the controlling owner. While the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company continues to operate as a brewery and bottler of Gordon Biersch beers, the company sold its restaurant assets in 1999.

The company's restaurant assets were sold in 1999 to Big River Breweries in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That company now operates as Gordon Biersch Brewery Restarant Group, Inc. and operates 30 restaurants in 14 states and Washington, D.C., with eight more operated by franchisees in various airports in the United States. [1]

In February 2006, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group announced it had filed plans for an initial public offering. The Company later pulled this filing and postponed the offering due to unfavorable market conditions.

[edit] Awards

Gordon Biersch brands have won several awards including the best Bohemian-style pilsner with their Gordon Biersch Czech Lager. (Gold, 2004 Great American Beer Festival). They won the Bronze at the WorldBeer Cup 2002 with their Gordon Biersch Vienna in the category of Vienna-Style Lager.