Brooklyn Brewery, a pioneering force in the craft beer industry, traces its roots back to the late 1980s and has since evolved into a global brand under the leadership of Eric and Robin Ottaway. The brothers joined the company in 1996 and have been at its helm since 2014, overseeing significant international expansion and strategic partnerships.
The brewery’s origins date to 1988 when Steve Hindy, motivated by his experiences abroad and inspired by the expatriate community’s homebrewing in Cairo, sought to revive Brooklyn’s once-thriving brewing scene. Initially, the Brooklyn beer brand was produced under contract until Hindy established the company’s own brewery in 1996 after hiring brewmaster Garrett Oliver.
Eric Ottaway, a Harvard Business School graduate, and his brother Robin, who was then working in early internet ventures, joined the company following a push to improve its digital presence. The Ottaways helped Brooklyn Brewery grow beyond brewing into distribution with the creation of Craft Brewers Guild, which became New York City’s leading specialty beer distributor by the early 2000s before its gradual sale.
In 2003, the Ottaway family acquired full control of Brooklyn Brewery after buying out Hindy’s co-founder, and in 2012 Steve Hindy sold his remaining stake to them. Since then, Brooklyn Brewery has focused heavily on international markets, with around 80 percent of its sales now coming from overseas.
Key to this global expansion were partnerships with major brewing companies such as Denmark’s Carlsberg and Japan’s Kirin. The brewery signed a distribution agreement with Carlsberg in 2004, expanding the arrangement over time to cover multiple countries. Kirin became a 25 percent stakeholder in 2016, while Carlsberg purchased the rights to the Brooklyn brand in Europe and parts of Asia for $130 million in 2021. Despite these investments, the Ottaways maintain joint operational control through a cooperative agreement.
Brooklyn Brewery’s approach blends craft brewing with larger-scale production. Small-batch, experimental beers are developed at their Brooklyn facility, and when successful, production is scaled up by partners such as Carlsberg and Kirin. In the United States, mass production of Brooklyn beers is contracted to FX Matt Brewing Company in upstate New York.
Looking ahead, Eric Ottaway acknowledges challenges within the craft beer sector, particularly a slowing market driven by changing consumer preferences, increased health consciousness, and competition from alternative products like cannabis. After steady growth of around 15 percent annually prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, sales have largely flattened over the last two years.
Nonetheless, Ottaway remains optimistic about the sector’s future, viewing current consumer habits as transient trends. He compares the recent decline in beer consumption to past patterns such as the rise and fall of gluten-free diets. He also stresses the enduring social nature of drinking, suggesting that as pandemic-related lifestyle changes normalize, people will return to social environments like bars and pubs.
The brewery’s leadership combines a global perspective shaped by their upbringing with a belief in the fundamental human desire for connection—a dynamic that continues to inform Brooklyn Brewery’s evolution as it navigates a complex and changing marketplace.