After years of refusing to put his beer in cans, Jim Koch — the founder of Boston Beer Company (BBC) — believes he’s finally found a package worthy of his brewery’s flagship offering, Boston Lager. Slated for an early summer release, the “Sam Can,” as Boston Beer’s brewers have termed it, is the result of… Read more »
The country’s largest craft brewer, Boston Beer Company, is enjoying impressive sales growth in the convenience channel to begin 2013, up over 25 percent through a four-week period ending Jan. 19. Those numbers, and others, seem to confirm a growing presence for at least the country’s best-established craft beer brands in convenience stores.
A recent agreement ending a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action against controversial flavored malt beverage maker Phusion Projects, LLC could have future implications for the craft beer industry. On Tuesday, Phusion agreed to change its packaging and add an additional label statement about its alcohol content on cans and bottles of its Four Loko product.
Consumers hoping to locate their favorite craft beers have a new tool courtesy of World Class Beer (WCB), an association of craft and specialty beer minded distributors. WCB last week announced the release of its “Craft Beer Locator” app, which is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices and boasts location information for 100,000… Read more »
The country’s third largest craft brewery, New Belgium Brewing, is expanding its distribution footprint. Company spokesman Bryan Simpson told Brewbound.com that beginning in July, New Belgium will distribute its beer in Florida. “Florida is a great craft beer market,” Simpson said. “It was the right market for the amount of volume and capacity the brewery… Read more »
Small brewers would receive a significant reduction in federal excise taxes under a bipartisan bill introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s the third time that Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa) and Richard E. Neal (D-Mass) have introduced the legislation, House Bill 494, the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce (Small BREW Act). The Brewers Association applauded the introduction of the bill.
The Goose has landed. Nationwide. Goose Island, the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned, Chicago-based brewer that last August announced its intent to extend distribution nationally in 2013, has made its core offerings available on draught across the country. The company said draught availability of its 312, IPA, Honker’s and Mild Winter beers are part of a phased rollout that will include the nationwide release of bottle products later this spring.
Peak Organic beers are headed west. Sales of the Portland, Maine-based company’s beers began on Tuesday in San Francisco through wholesaler Matagrano Inc. The move out west marks a slight shift in distribution strategy for the company: until this week, it had only sent its beers as far west as Georgia.
It’s a great time to be selling craft beer in Illinois. Deschutes Brewery reported today that since launching in the state on Jan. 7, it has sold more than 18,000 case equivalents to 1,800 customer accounts. “We are thrilled by the volume results from our launch month,” Stacy Denbow, the company’s Market Expansion Manager said… Read more »
Score another one for the Chicago Cluster. Boulevard Brewing confirmed today that the distribution rights for its brands in the Chicago market have been sold to OneIllinois, a consortium of MillerCoors wholesalers known as the “Chicago Cluster.”
Alchemy & Science, the craft-brew incubation project spearheaded by beer industry veterans Alan Newman and Jim Koch, confirmed today that it has quietly made its latest acquisition. The Vermont-based company recently purchased the trademark rights to the business name “Just Beer” from Buzzards Bay Brewing of Westport, Mass. “Just Beer” was the name of a… Read more »
Sixpoint Brewery has published a short documentary film to coincide with the company’s most recent beer release, 3Beans. 3Beans – a 10 percent ABV ale brewed with Romano beans, Cacao beans and cold-brewed coffee – is a collaborative effort between Sixpoint and two other Brooklyn-based companies, Stumptown Coffee and Mast Brothers Chocolate.
Following an impressive year in which the company’s volume growth increased by 67 percent, Utah-based Uinta Brewing Company will launch its first canned packages. The initial offerings are scheduled to be released this March.
As an onslaught of new craft beer companies continues to chip away at a finite amount of retail shelf space, Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) — which markets Kona Brewing, Redhook Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing brands — is hoping to defend its turf with a new set of packages and labels for its products. Most… Read more »
