Top Stories, News, and Analysis from the Craft Beer Industry

When Terry Lozoff first read the recently announced social media guidelines assembled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a few particular bits struck him. Lozoff, the co-founder of the social experiential marketing company Antler Agency, wondered how the TTB plans to monitor the entirety of social media interaction between breweries, wineries and distilleries and consumers. That’s a lot of Internet.

Video presentations from the Brewbound Session Spring 2013 are now available on Beverageschool.com, BevNET.com Inc.’s on-demand, video-based learning site. Brewbound.com hosted 150 beer industry professionals earlier this month at Revere Hotel in Boston, Mass. for its third conference offering craft brewers a unique chance to learn and network with industry experts.

The success of Uinta Brewing’s IPA is anything but another notch on the belt. After making its debut in September of 2011, the Utah-based brewery’s Hop Notch IPA has grown to become the company’s largest single brand. Uinta president Will Hamill said the aromatic beer will represent about 35 percent of total sales before the end of the year.

Alaskan Brewing Co.’s most dedicated fans are sprinting for its gift shop, and one of its brewers is devastated, according to Andy Kline, the brewery’s communications manager. What is causing this emotionally charged scene? The end of one of Alaskan’s most popular beers.

Call it a Memorial Day Weekend 5-pack. On Monday, Texas lawmakers passed five bipartisan bills to help small brewers in their efforts to increase sales and generate more consumer interest in craft beer throughout the Lone Star State.

After completing a nearly two-year long brewery expansion project last month, Sweetwater Brewery yesterday announced three new hires to help strengthen the company’s increased selling efforts and manage the larger production runs. Seth Herman, a 15-year executive with DIAGEO Guinness USA, joins the Atlanta-based craft brewery as its new sales director.

Jimi Hendrix sang “If a six, turned out to be a nine, I don’t mind.” And while it’s easy to imagine a brewer at hippie-dippy Magic Hat blasting Hendrix’ 1967 psychedelic rock classic “If 6 was 9” while mashing in, apparently the executives at North American Breweries (NAB) don’t follow Hendrix’s laissez-faire approach, at least when it comes to trademark law.

Make no mistake, Gary Fish, the founder and CEO of Deschutes Brewery, envisions his brand being sold in all 50 states one day. “We know we are going to get there, we just can’t tell you when we are going to get there,” he told Brewbound.com during a video interview at the 2013 Craft Brewers Conference.

A dispute over which tax relief measure they ultimately support has led to tension between the Beer Institute (BI) and some Brewers Association (BA) board members.

In celebration of American Craft Beer Week (yes it’s a real thing), market research firm Mintel released a few boozy insights that shed a bit of light on today’s beer drinker. According to a recent Mintel survey, craft beer drinkers know what they’re shopping for: 73 percent say that they know what brand they are going to buy before stepping into a retail outlet.

By going against the old  “stack ‘em high and watch ‘em fly” adage, Duvel USA has managed to double its volume and triple its revenue over a three-year period. Simon Thorpe, the president of Duvel USA/Ommegang explained how the company has turned that neat trick during the May 2 Brewbound Session in Boston, presenting a case study on the profitability of the super high-end craft beer segment.

Michael Binstein, the CEO of Binny’s Beverage Depot, has what he calls a battle cry: “If you can’t find it at Binny’s, it’s probably not worth drinking.” That cry is also his company’s motto and a reflection of just how successful the Midwest’s largest, independent beer wine and liquor retailer was last year.