Craft beer industry news.
Budweiser is using the bright lights of advertising’s biggest stage—Super Bowl 50—to take on drunk driving in an unexpected, unorthodox and powerful way. To spark conversations about this vital issue on one of the biggest drinking occasions of the year, the brand has called upon actress Helen Mirren, with her mix of gravitas and charm, to demand that beer drinkers make a plan to get home safely.
Breakthru Beverage Group is pleased to announce key members of its corporate leadership team who will be overseeing the company’s operational, human resource, finance and legal divisions. This team combines industry veterans with diverse experience and backgrounds from both legacy Charmer Sunbelt and Wirtz Beverage.
Stone Brewing is introducing Stone Pataskala Red X IPA, a red IPA brewed with newly available Red X malt from Germany-based BESTMALZ and featuring a backstory as vibrant as its hop bill. Starting this week, the limited seasonal release will debut in 12-ounce six-packs to retailers and on draft to restaurants and bars where Stone beer is sold.
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is releasing Massacre Belgian-style Imperial Stout with Cherries, just for the holiday. This draft only release, the latest installment of Speakeasy’s Perfect Crime Series, delves into the dark side of Valentine’s Day.
In years past, Brewery Ommegang has tickled beer-lovers with its wholehearted embrace of quirky and playful themes for its Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival. From The Big Lebrewski to a Vegas party scene complete with flying Elvis impersonators to a Spinal Tap edition that helped the event score an unparalleled 11, attendees can always count on visuals and experiences that make the weekend like no other. For 2016, the brewery is turning to the patron saint of quirky and playful himself with an all-things Bill Murray theme.
Three of the most dynamic names in the beer world now – Ron Jeffries of Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Mikkel Bjergs of Mikkeller and Jeppe Bjergs of Evil Twin Brewing – are coming together in a collaboration craft beer fans might never have anticipated. In 2014 Ron Jeffries, owner and master brewer of Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, hosted Mikkel and later Jeppe Bjergs to his Dexter, Michigan brewery to create a few new creations.
With co-founder and brewmaster Jeremy Warren out the door, new Knee Deep brewmaster Dean Roberts knows he’s got big shoes to fill. But rather than try to make his own mark, both Roberts and CEO Jerry Moore hope that the newly promoted brewer will just plain stay the course. And why not? In 2015, the brand doubled production, to just under 12,000 barrels, and expanded into five new states.
Seattle-based Two Beers Brewing, which also owns Seattle Cider Company, today named Braam as its new president. Braam, who first began working with Two Beers in 2011 on a freelance basis, joined both companies full-time last January as their director of business development and marketing.
Beginning on March 2nd, the first canned beer by South County Brewing Company will be available through distributors, taverns and grocery stores throughout the Susquehanna Valley, Philadelphia and select Maryland counties. Expect to see 12-packs at beer distributors and in 4-packs and singles at bottle shops, and Weis Markets. Cans will also be available at the brewery tap room in Fawn Grove.
World of Beer, the Tampa-based craft tavern featuring 550+ craft and international beers, has continued its aggressive expansion throughout the U.S. 2015 highlighted the opening of 22 taverns with the projection of more than 100 taverns to be open by the end of 2016. The craft tavern concept also announced it will open its first taverns in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Las Vegas this year.
Karl Strauss Brewing Company is celebrating 27 years of brewing craft beer in San Diego since they revolutionized the city’s beer scene with their first brewery back in 1989. In keeping with their yearly tradition, they will honor the occasion with the release of another innovative barrel-aged beer to add to their esteemed Anniversary Series.
In this week’s edition of Last Call, 10 Barrel eyes a San Diego brewpub opening, North Carolina teamsters protest MillerCoors’ closure of the Eden brewery and Shock Top reveals its Super Bowl 50 ad.
In an effort to lift a controversial rule imposed by the state’s Department of Revenue, Georgia craft brewers this week cut a deal with beer wholesalers and recaptured the right to sell beer directly to consumers as a “souvenir” for brewery tour-goers. The agreement, which is still pending an official DOR policy bulletin, will allow beermakers to once again charge variable rates for brewery tours — something craft brewers gained when SB 63, the so-called “beer jobs bill,” was signed into law last July.
For the first time in 12 years, Michigan’s Short’s Brewing Company will add permanent distribution to markets outside of its home state. The move, made in part by a desire to fill excess production capacity, will bring its beer and Starcut Cider brand to two new markets before April: Illinois and Pennsylvania.
