Craft Beer Guild LLC — a Massachusetts beer wholesaler responsible for selling about 200 craft brands from around the U.S. — has agreed to pay more than $2 million for violating state laws that prohibit unfair trade practices and illegal activities, the Boston Globe reported. The Globe, citing a person familiar with the wholesaler’s operations, said the fine was about $2.6 million. That amount also includes sales made via its “Craft New Hampshire” operation, the ABCC and Craft Beer Guild confirmed.

In March, Wachusett Brewing – via its newly established Craft Cocktail Company DBA — will introduce a line of hard seltzer products under the “Nauti Seltzer” brand identity. Positioning it as a “healthy alternative in the hard soda category,” the 110 calorie, five percent ABV Nauti Seltzer offerings – which will come in raspberry, lemon-lime, grapefruit and cranberry flavors — will have a national focus from the onset and are aimed at health-conscious consumers looking for an alternative to traditional beer.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Harlem Brewing has inked a 39-store deal with Walmart, Brooklyn could leave Williamsburg in 2025, the Iowa Senate has passed a growler freedom bill and more hard soda is on the way.

The clock is winding down on Craft Beer Guild LLC, the Boston-area beer distributor that earlier this month was handed a 90-day license suspension for violating state laws that prohibit illegal pay-to-play schemes. The clock is winding down on Craft Beer Guild LLC, the Boston-area beer distributor that earlier this month was handed a 90-day license suspension for violating state laws that prohibit illegal pay-to-play schemes. The wholesaler, which is responsible for selling about 200 craft brands throughout Boston, Central and Western Massachusetts, has until Wednesday, March 2 to decide if it will pay a fine equal to 50 percent of gross profits over the 90-day period in lieu of serving a suspension.

Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing will enter Louisiana next month, the 36th state where the company’s products are sold. The brewery has inked an agreement with Crescent Crown Distributing LLC. for coverage throughout the state. California’s Knee Deep Brewing, meanwhile, this week announced a foray into Florida, signing with Crafty Connoisseurs Distributing for coverage throughout the southeastern region of the state.

Craft deal-mania is officially back. Just days after Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing announced it would merge with New York’s Southern Tier to form the family office-backed Artisanal Brewing Ventures, a pair of established breweries — Chicago’s Goose Island and Delaware-based brewpub chain Iron Hill — today announced transactions of their own.

Illinois’ Destihl Brewery is making a multi-million dollar bet on growing consumer interest in sour beer. Slated to open in early 2017, Destihl plans to build a 47,000 sq. ft. brewing facility in Normal, Illinois that will feature a “highly specialized ‘dual’ 60-barrel and 120-barrel brewhouse” designed to accommodate increased production of the company’s line of kettle-soured beers.

Here’s your first craft beer deal of 2016: Victory Brewing and Southern Tier Brewing will combine to form Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV), a private-equity backed holding company formed by Southern Tier founders Phineas and Sara DeMink and Ulysses Management LLC. Southern Tier had previously sold a majority stake to the New York-based family office in 2014.

Bell’s Brewery will expand distribution into Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota this year and has begun the process of identifying new wholesale partners in each state. In a press statement, the Michigan-based brewery said no specific launch dates had been set and that distributor selections could “take some time.”

After more than 15 months of investigations, regulators in Massachusetts have determined that Craft Beer Guild LLC — a wholesaler responsible for selling about 200 craft brands from around the U.S. — knowingly violated state laws prohibiting unfair trade practices and illegal pay-to-play activities. News of the decision was first reported by the Boston Globe. In a notice dated Feb. 11, 2016 and obtained by Brewbound, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) slapped Craft Beer Guild — a subsidiary of the Sheehan Family Companies, which owns several alcoholic beverage distributorships across more than a dozen states — with a 90-day license suspension for offering inducements and unfair discounts in exchange for guaranteed retail placements.

On the verge of being a nationally distributed craft brand, Oskar Blues Brewery yesterday announced it would expand distribution into three new states. The Colorado-headquartered company, which operates a second brewing facility in Brevard, NC., has signed agreements with wholesalers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma and will begin distributing to the new markets over the next two months.

Hoping to capitalize on a slew of successful fruit-forward IPA introductions, Boston Beer Company this week began nationwide distribution of Samuel Adams Rebel Grapefruit IPA. Brewed with real grapefruit and grapefruit peel, the latest Rebel line extension has a “tart, sharp character,” according to the company. In an effort to “round out bitterness from the peel” and add “sweet juiciness,” Boston Beer also adds grapefruit juice before filtering the beer.

Amidst speculation that his company was about to be scooped up by Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cigar City founder Joey Redner responded to questions regarding the future of a company he launched just seven years ago. That speculation, fueled by a blog posting that cited three unnamed sources as providing what it called ‘a credible rumor,’ was only so much noise and speculation, noted Redner, who said “there’s nothing to announce.”

Michigan’s Bell’s Brewery will expand distribution into Arkansas, its 24th state, today announcing agreements with a pair of wholesalers that jointly make up the “Arkansas Craft Alliance.” Bell’s signed with Arkansas Craft Distributors LLC and O’Connor Distributing — which includes Three Lakes Distributing, Three Rivers Distributing and White River Beverage — for statewide distribution of the brewery’s entire portfolio beginning in April