Ninkasi Brewing is in the process of realigning its wholesale network in the Pacific Northwest, the brewery announced this week, leaving two houses owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) in order to partner up with a pair of independent distributors. Per a statement from the company, Ninkasi has agreed to deals with Bigfoot Beverage Distributors and the Odom Corporation for coverage throughout downstate Oregon (the company’s home state) and western Washington, respectively.

Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee said on Tuesday his company will drop a trademark infringement lawsuit against Sierra Nevada Brewing, following backlash from what Magee called “the court of public opinion.” The announcement — which Magee made via his personal Twitter account late on Tuesday evening — comes just one day after Lagunitas asked a judge to issue a restraining order that, if issued, would have prevented Sierra Nevada from releasing its new Hop Hunter IPA.

The two largest craft brewers in California are now embroiled in a trademark dispute over craft’s most ubiquitous style — the India Pale Ale. On Jan. 12, Lagunitas Brewing Co. filed a lawsuit against rival Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., the second-largest craft brewery in the country. According to the suit, a new Sierra release, Hop Hunter, infringes on Lagunitas’ trademarked logo designs and packaging for its own Lagunitas IPA — particularly the company’s famous labels that feature the stylized, oversized letters “IPA.”

Later this month, Sierra, craft beer’s second-largest company, will release Hop Hunter IPA, a new, year-round offering that brewery officials are hoping will benefit from the growing attention beer fans are paying to wet hop and fresh hop styles. Sierra is betting that its reputation for a mastery of hops, coupled with an intense focus on innovation, will allow it to consolidate leadership in the evolving subcategory of those wet hop beers.

As we enter our 5th year of covering the rapidly evolving craft beer business, we thought it was time to hit the refresh button and give our website a facelift. With the newly redesigned Brewbound, our goal is to improve the reader experience and deliver a news platform more in line with our maturing brand, our core values and our growing audience. That means a website that peels back some of the unnecessary layers and places a greater emphasis on compelling and engaging news content.

We’re less than 48 hours into 2015 and already a pair of legislative initiatives that would impact how craft beer is sold at supermarket stores is grabbing headlines. In Wisconsin and Colorado, grocery advocates are lobbying for changes that would allow supermarket chains greater flexibility when selling beer.

2014 was by far the most successful year in Brewbound’s short, four-year history. Readership is at an all-time high and attendance at our annual business conferences is growing faster than ever. As we look for ways to improve our daily coverage of the craft beer industry, we’re asking readers to share their thoughts on our reporting in 2014 and help shape Brewbound’s content in 2015.

2014 was another banner year for craft beer. Now, with the pages of our calendar set to flip to 2015, we take a look back at the years most important — and most read – stories in craft beer. Here are the top 10 stories that the defined craft beer industry in 2014.

There is little doubt that most beer salesmen would consider a job heading up sales for Dogfish Head to be one of the most coveted positions in craft. And there was a time when Adam Lambert, the man who held that position, VP of Sales, until the end of November, would have agreed. Brewbound recently discussed his decision to leave Dogfish Head, the keys to becoming a successful beer salesman, and what he hopes to accomplish at New Holland Brewing.

Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson checked in with Yahoo Finance yesterday, providing a small snapshot of craft beer’s growth in 2014. In a video interview with multimedia correspondent Akiko Fujita, Watson said shared updated figures on the amount of craft breweries currently operating throughout the U.S. The latest number? 3,250.

As Brewbound prepares to go on a brief hiatus for the holiday season, we thought we’d feature some exciting collaboration news from two of the country’s fastest-growing craft breweries. Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing and Virginia’s Devils Backbone have partnered to create an imperial dark rye beer that Ninkasi’s founding brewmaster Jamie Floyd describes as “unlike anything we’ve ever brewed before.”