Laurelwood Brewing Co. is ending its relationship with Ninkasi Brewing and returning to independent ownership of all assets after its 2019 sale of distribution and brand rights to Ninkasi parent Legacy Breweries.

The buyback took effect in February, Ninkasi co-founder and co-owner Nikos Ridge told The Oregonian on Wednesday. Ninkasi agreed to continue brewing Laurelwood’s packaged and distribution beers through April, giving Laurelwood time to re-establish its distribution brewing.

Andy Schaefer, Laurelwood’s director of sales, on Wednesday said Laurelwood pursued the buyback because “we wanted more opportunity to have control. This came about as a way to take back the direction we wanted to go with the brewery.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Laurelwood has contracted with Barrett Beverage of Clackamas to begin brewing and packaging its beers for distribution. Barrett was established a year ago as a contract beverage producer and began brewing for Via Beer of Portland, Kings & Daughters Brewing of Hood River and Rosenstadt Brewing of Portland.

Laurelwood’s Sandy Boulevard brewhouse will continue to brew for the pub and for smaller-batch experimental beers.

Three years ago, Laurelwood sold most of its assets to Legacy as the Northeast Portland brewery’s pub business was shrinking.

At the time, Laurelwood co-founder Mike De Kalb said selling the large distribution arm would help grow the beer side of the business to include more beers, different packages, formats and expanded distribution in Legacy’s network.

Ridge in 2019 said Ninkasi had previously been under contract to brew Laurelwood’s distribution beers, and the deal was seen as a good way to expand the Laurelwood brand. Legacy had been established shortly before the Laurelwood purchase as a venture built to acquire breweries and establish “brewing hubs,” creating better production and packaging capabilities and raw-material access.

But Ninkasi co-founder Jamie Floyd said the partnership with Legacy had struggled, and Ninkasi separated from the parent company in June 2021, returning to independent ownership under Floyd and Ridge, who resumed his previous position as CEO.

Ridge said the parting was amicable. “What we ultimately realized was that innovation for Laurelwood was important for their business, but for Ninkasi, volumes at that smaller level are harder to produce. It was a mismatched scale.”

Schaefer said the original deal never panned out the way it had been envisioned for Laurelwood, either.

“The deal flooded our distribution with only four of our beers, and we couldn’t show our range,” he said. “But we have something innovative and creative to offer.”

Schaefer said taking back full ownership will allow Laurelwood to be “focused heavily on the home market.”

“We recognize you don’t stick around for 21 years without the help of the community around you,” Schaefer said. “We are going through the process of updating our brand identity, not just packaging but how we are received in the community around us.”

Laurelwood in April hired Paul Plett as head brewer to oversee and reinvigorate the operation on Sandy. Plett was a cellarman at New Jersey Beer Co. before becoming a brewer for St. Nicholas Brewing Co. in Illinois.

“He’s very, very smart,” Schaefer said. “His science and food mind are uncanny, and with no Laurelwood experience he has achieved flavor profiles of what people have loved here but also where we want to go with creative new flavors.”

Part of Laurelwood’s return to local focus is a partnership it plans to announce Wednesday with the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. Laurelwood will join Pelican Brewing and Breakside Brewery as craft beer sponsors for the professional soccer team, and the open-ended deal will guarantee Laurelwood beer sales and marketing opportunities at all Thorns and Portland Timbers men’s soccer team games at Providence Park.

The brewery and the Thorns plan to launch the partnership by releasing a new beer next week at Thorns’ home games. Golden Boot Lager, which the brewery describes as a 5% ABV “crisp, light, golden lager,” will also be available on draft and in 16-ounce cans at Laurelwood’s pub as well as selected pubs and retailers in Oregon and Washington.

Additionally, Laurelwood will collaborate with Zupan’s Markets in May for the 21st edition of Zupan’s Farm to Market series. A mashup of two Laurelwood beers, Megafauna and Green Mammoth, the pine-forward Mega Mammoth Imperial IPA will be available at the markets and at the pub, Schaefer said.

Mike De Kalb and his wife, Cathy Woo-De Kalb, founded Laurelwood in 2001 in Northeast Portland and eventually grew it to several locations across the metro area, plus wide distribution across the Northwest. By the time of the sale to Legacy, all locations except that Northeast Portland pub had closed or were scheduled to close.

The De Kalbs had retained the brewpub at 5115 N.E. Sandy Blvd. in the Rose City Park neighborhood since the 2019 deal. It has been Laurelwood’s main location since 2007, when the pub and brewery were moved a short distance from the original Hollywood District home on Northeast 39th Avenue.

Now with the pub, branding and distribution back under one roof, the Laurelwood team is looking forward to restrengthening its local presence through partnerships like the Thorns.

“The Laurelwood family has been huge supporters and fans of the Portland professional soccer clubs,” Mike De Kalb said, “and we’re thrilled to take our relationship with them to the next level through this great partnership.”

— Andre Meunier; ameunier@oregonian.com; sign up for my weekly newsletter Oregon Brews and News, and follow me on Instagram, where I’m @oregonianbeerguy