Mountain Crest Brewing Corp.

Mountain Crest Brewing Company is a beer company based in Calgary,Alberta founded by Manjit & Ravinder Minhas, a sister-brother team in their 20's.

Brand Labels

The brands sold include Mountain Crest Classic Lager, Mountain CrestGold Lager, Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, Boxer Lager, Clear Creek Ice, Mountain Crest Pilsner, Rani Indian Lager,Jack's American Lager, Axehead Extreme Extra Strong Lager, Perfect10 Extra Strong Beer, Peelers Mojito and Peelers Orange Squeeze . Its brands are brewed at the Minhas Craft Brewery in Monroe, Wisconsin in small batches of 350 barrels.

Controversy

Can Design

One of the earlier logo designs for Mountain Crest's premier pilsner eerily resembled Molson Canadian's Pilsner brand. A tipi in the foreground with predominantly green and yellow color coordination was later changed when Molson paid Mountain Crest to change it.

Advertising and Slogans

The Mountain Crest Brewing Company has featured several commercials featuring the slogan "Damn Good Beer". The advertisements include creator and founder Ravinder Minhas explaining that the beer will not help you get a girl or catch a sasquatch (as seen in Kokanee commercials). The company's commercials are always very cheeky and out-of-the-box compared to typical beer commercials - in some cases resulting in ill-conceived campaigns. The latest commercial for Minhas Creek Brewing Company mocks other breweries for using recycled bottled or cans, while boasting that Minhas Creek presents its beer in a 100% new (and therefore energy-expensive and non-environmentally friendly) aluminum can.

[http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=246]

Mr. Ravinder Minhas is 26 years old and is a 2005 graduate of The University of Calgary in Petroleum Engineering. Ravinder was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and still calls Calgary home.

At the ripe age of 18 years old (right out of High School), Ravinder and his older sister Manjit (age 19 at the time), decided to start a company called Mountain Crest Liquors Inc (MCLI). Mountain Crest Liquors mandate was to bring design, create recipes and market high quality premium liquor and sell them at a discounted price. The siblings started with rum, rye, gin, blended scotch and vodka. Things went well for the pair but there big break came when Tequila prices in Canada sky-rocketed due to a ‘so-called’ blue agave shortage in Mexico (the main ingredient in making tequila). Ravinder and Manjit however had a secure supply of tequila at a amazing price, they took over a large amount of the Tequila business in Alberta. In 2005 Ravinder decided to purchase MCLI from Manjit (so she could concentrate on expansion territories in Canada.) He now solely owns MCLI which now has over 90 products in it portfolio ranging from hard liquor to cream liquors and wines.

The Liquor business was great but Ravinder’s dream and the engineer in him wanted to be in the beer business. So in 2003 he incorporated a company called Mountain Crest Brewing Company (MCBC) to create and sell premium beer at discounted prices. Upon entering the Alberta market, Mountain Crest Classic Lager (his flagship brand) had instant success and quickly became a household brand. The consumers loved the beer so much that the suggested slogan became ‘Damn Good Beer’ which can be found on all 9 beer brands that have been created and marketed by Ravinder’s Company. The line extension include a classic pilsner, a light beer, an American lager and variety of other beers.

In 2006, Ravinder solely purchased and changed the name of America Second oldest Brewery to the Minhas Craft Brewery, located in Monroe, Wisconsin. The brewery is now the 14th largest brewer (by volume) in America and is on track to be in the top 10 in 2009. The Minhas Craft Brewery makes over 80 different styles of beers, malt beverages, soda’s and new age beverages. Some famous ones being iEnergy( official sponsor of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA Team), Berghoff Beers, Huber Bock, Mountain Creek Classic Lager, Simpler Times, Blumers Soda and Lazy Mutt Farmhouse ale. Overall his companies have sold well over 500 Million cans of beer.

Ravinder’s ‘Damn Good Beers’ can be found in many states and provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba in Canada, in over 30 states in the US and overseas in Japan & Korea.

Ravinder has a simple philosophy when it comes to running his companies, he likes to be hands on in many aspects and works on a zero debt mandate. He has no loans, partners, lines of credits or financing, he has been able to grow and sustain his business by re-investing profits and keeping lower overheads.

Ravinder has been the recipient of many awards for accomplishments at such a young age. Some of them being:

• Business In Calgary’s ‘Leader of Tomorrow’ (2008)• University of Calgary – Graduate of the Last Decade (2007)• Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2007)• Calgary Inc’s Top 40 under 40 (2005)• JCI’s (Junior Chamber) Outstanding Young Calgarian (2005)• Alberta Centennial Medallion (2006)• FASD ( Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) Recogniton Award (2006)• Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Semi Finalist (2006)

As well as being in the Beer and Liquor Business, Ravinder is also an owner in Shergill Homes, a construction company building homes in Alberta, mainly in Fort McMurray and outside the City of Calgary, as well as in a small energy company that just went public on the Nasdaq called Minhas Energy.

External links

* [http://www.DamnGoodBeer.ca Mountain Crest Brewing Corp. official site]
* [http://www.DamnGoodBeer.biz Minhas Creek Brewing Company official site]
* [http://www.MinhasBrewrey.com Minhas Craft Brewery official site]