Brewbound — Craft Beer News, Events & Jobs

Alcohol e-commerce platform Saucey and Los Angeles-area cannabis delivery business Emjay have combined to form Pacific Consolidated Holdings, the company announced today.

Pacific Northwest-based hospitality and brewpub chain McMenamins has launched the second phase of its investment drive as it seeks to raise as much as $15 million from accredited investors. Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Titletown Brewing is seeking a new owner or investors due to the COVID-19 pandemic hampering sales.

Dexter, Michigan-based Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales has opened a new cafe and brewery in East Lansing, Michigan, the company’s ninth location. Uinta Brewing’s new pub at Salt Lake City International Airport marks its first offsite expansion since opening in 1993. Brooklyn, New York-headquartered Other Half Brewing opened its third brewery and taproom in Washington, D.C., last week.

The leveling up of Millennials and Generation Z consumers is a bright spot on the horizon for craft beer, the beer industry’s leading economists said during last week’s Brewers Association Collab Hour webinar. “There’s really good tailwinds for craft,” Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson said.

The Boston Beer Company has lofty goals for 2021. The company expects all of its brands — Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head, Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea and Angry Orchard cider — to grow next year. In a conversation with Brewbound, Boston Beer Company CEO Dave Burwick explained that the company will launch several new products… Read more »

The bar and restaurant industry will find little comfort in the most recent report from Nielsen CGA. With colder temperatures around the country threatening to put a damper on outdoor dining and COVID-19 cases on the rise in the majority of states, about half of all adults say they have no intention of returning to dining or drinking outside their homes soon, the on-premise arm of market research firm Nielsen found.

After posting strong double-digit growth in shipments, depletions and revenues on the back of Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea in the third quarter, Boston Beer Company stock (SAM) topped the $1,000 mark for the first time ever, up from $371.12 at the start of 2020. As of press time (2 p.m. ET October 23), shares were trading at more than $1,066 (+15% and more than $145 than the previous day).

An alcohol-free version of Guinness, called Guinness 0.0, will launch in Great Britain and Ireland on October 26 — and the product will come to four markets in the United States in 2021.

Pabst Brewing general manager and president Matt Bruhn said Pabst entered 2020 after a “tough but good” 2019, in which the company led the industry in price at a sub-premium level. He called it a “stabilizing year.” “We headed into 2020 in a really good position,” he said. “We built momentum in Q4 ’19, started to turn some of the trends around volumetrically, launched some cool innovation, had some winners in the back half of ’19. Quarter one 2020 was excellent.”

The Boston Beer Company is still riding a big wave thanks to Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea. The company — which produces Truly, Twisted Tea, Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head and Angry Orchard cider — posted increases in shipments (+30.5%), depletions (+36%) and net revenue (+30.2%) during the third quarter of 2020.

Craft brewers’ sales improved during the third quarter of 2020, but are still far off from where they were in 2019, according to a new analysis by Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson. Combining several datasets tracking on-premise sales, Watson found that Q3 sales fell 22% below baseline, a marked improvement over Q2’s 45% below baseline.

Tourists and a pandemic don’t mix. Salem, Massachusetts-based Notch Brewing announced Wednesday that it would close its biergarten for on-site service beginning Friday through November 1, as its hometown faces a deluge of tourists in the lead up to Halloween.

This week’s edition of the Brewbound Podcast brings together industry experts to share their perspectives on what wholesaler consolidation means for smaller craft breweries and if there’s an end in sight to the disruptions.

Pabst Brewing general manager and president Matt Bruhn believes mainstream beer is facing a “Kodak moment,” Just not in the traditional sense. “We’re at a Kodak moment where the consumer demand is upending the industry,” he explained. “Now if you only have the ability to produce mainstream beer, you’re going to get caught short.”