Icicle Brewing hands majority stake to family hop farm successors

Icicle Brewing is staying in familiar hands, even as Pamela and Oliver Brulotte step back. The Leavenworth brewery sold its majority ownership interests to Shelley and Eric Desmarais of CLS Farms, turning a standard brewery exit into a family succession built around hops, not distress.

The handoff, announced June 9, 2026, keeps the business closely tied to the people who helped shape it from the start. Icicle said the transition was designed to preserve the brewery’s culture, independence and values, with day-to-day operations still led by CEO Joel Martinez, vice president of wholesale operations Jason Leal and vice president of sales and marketing Chris Danforth, all of whom retained ownership stakes.

That continuity matters in a brewery where succession has been gradual rather than abrupt. Icicle was created in 2010 and opened in April 2011 on Front Street in Leavenworth with help from brewmaster and friend Dean Priebe. Its taproom remains at 935 Front Street, Leavenworth, WA 98826, and the company’s roots still trace back to Oliver Brulotte’s hop-farming background.

The family connection makes this transfer stand out. Oliver Brulotte and Eric Desmarais are second cousins, and a 2023 Hop Talk profile noted that their fathers were first cousins. CLS Farms describes itself as a fifth-generation family farm in the Yakima Valley, producing hops along with organically certified apples and soft fruit, so the brewery’s new majority owners bring deep agricultural credentials to a business already defined by hop sourcing and production.

Icicle and CLS Farms have also worked together for years on collaborations, charitable efforts and the One in Eight breast cancer fundraising campaign. Pamela Brulotte said the brewery was never just a business to the founders and that, once retirement became the goal, finding people they trusted to carry forward what made Icicle special came first. That same trust had been built over years of shared work, not just a deal on paper.

The ownership change also fits Icicle’s earlier approach to succession. A 2019 report said the brewery had already awarded ownership shares to key employees including Joel Martinez and Jason Leal, while a 2018 profile noted that Oliver Brulotte would remain involved in visioning work and special projects after a previous restructuring. Around that time, Icicle also completed a 13,500-square-foot production brewing facility and a brewpub remodel, reinforcing a pattern of reinvestment rather than retreat.

For breweries watching how a handoff can be done without losing the room, Icicle’s move offers a clear example: keep the people, keep the standards and keep the brewery connected to the hands that grow the hops.