Thirsty Thieves Steal Nearly 3300 Cases of Beer From Atlanta Brewery

Employees at SweetWater Brewing Co. in Atlanta are dealing with one heck of a headache, the Associated Press reports—and it isn’t from a hangover. Early in the morning on June 21, brew burglars paid a visit to the company’s plant and stole two of their refrigerated trailers. The trucks, which had been loaded for a morning pickup, contained nearly 3300 cases of beer. In all, the small brewery lost more than 78,500 bottles.

The trailers were later located in the Atlanta area via GPS. The first was ransacked, and the second contained lots of damaged property, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (according to the AP, both trailers were empty). About one-fourth of the pilfered alcohol was later found at a warehouse in Clayton County, south of Atlanta. But sadly, the beer bandits weren’t caught and the recovered booze had to be destroyed because "we can no longer trust that that beer would be up to the quality standards that we as a brewery maintain,” SweetWater’s director of marketing Steve Farace told the Associated Press.

Each trailer carried pallets of SweetWater’s Summer Variety Pack, and the theft reportedly wiped out the brewery's Atlanta inventory of a pineapple-flavored IPA called “Goin’ Coastal.” “For a small company like us to lose that much beer, it really hurts,” Farace told the Associated Press.

Large-scale food, beverage, and condiment thefts are common—and lucrative—occurrences around the globe. Since no band of thieves can possibly consume 6 million pounds of maple syrup or 8818 pounds of Comté cheese on their own, they typically unload these stolen goods on the black market, where they're snapped up by other markets and restaurants.

That's why SweetWater wants you to keep your eyes open, and let them know if you see any stores or establishments selling SweetWater Summer Variety Packs. They contain these beers: 420, IPA, Take Two Pils, and Goin’ Coastal. The packs have expiration dates of September 20 and 21. If you do spot them, call 911, or reach out to the brewery directly by dialing 404-691-2537 or email feedback@sweetwaterbrew.com.

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