Dixie Brewery owner Gayle Benson announced the company will change the name of the New Orleans-based craft brewery to one that does not reference the Confederacy. The new name has yet to be selected.

As it planned for eventual reopenings of its 11 own-premise locations, craft beverage rollup Artisanal Brewing Ventures surveyed consumers in April and found they wanted more than just the basics to combat the spread of COVID-19 inside taprooms. So, ABV is going a step farther and adding needlepoint bipolar ionization (NPBI) technology to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at its nine indoor locations by the end of June.

Newport Craft Brewing and Distilling has added another New York City-based brand to its portfolio with the acquisition of Radiant Pig Beer Company, the company announced yesterday. Newport CEO Brendan O’Donnell told Brewbound that Radiant Pig, which Rob Pihl founded in 2013, gives Newport Craft more access to New York, “which is now really a closed market for new breweries.”

Seattle-based Fremont Brewing reopened its beer garden on Sunday after a temporary closure following an employee testing positive for COVID-19. Six weeks after calling off its Philadelphia expansion, Everett, Massachusetts-based Night Shift Brewing may add another taproom location in Natick, Massachusetts, in early 2021, according to the Natick Report.

Off-premise beer category dollar sales have topped $1 billion in three of the last four weeks, according to market research firm Nielsen. Sales of beer, cider and FMBs increased 20.3%, to $1.006 billion, for the one-week period ending June 13, Nielsen reported.

Fresh Fest, the nation’s first craft beer festival to showcase black brewers, has canceled its in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will instead go digital later this summer.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, new product innovation at breweries has declined by nearly half, according to alcoholic beverage compliance firm Sovos ShipCompliant. New product registration from breweries declined 43.4% in April and May in Sovos ShipCompliant’s database, compared to the same months in 2019.

Seattle, Washington-based Fremont Brewing has temporarily shuttered its brewery and beer garden after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, June 16.

Melvin Brewing restructures leadership team; Doug Campbell out as president and GM of Brewery Ommegang; Molson Coors taps Marcelo Pascoa as Coors Family VP of brand marketing; and more People Moves.

A pioneer of the Vermont craft beer industry will no longer have a physical presence in the state. Magic Hat Brewing, now owned by Rochester, New York-based FIFCO USA, will vacate its brewery and performing arts center, called “The Artifactory,” in South Burlington, Vermont, next month, according to a press release.

With restaurants and other on-premise retailers allowed to reopen in varying capacities in all 50 states, consumers are tentatively wading back into dining out, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen CGA, the market research firm’s on-premise arm. Nielsen CGA surveyed consumers from June 5-7 in four states — California, New York, Texas and Florida — where restaurants reopened to varying degrees.

Harpoon Brewery parent company Mass. Bay Brewing has disbanded its distributing company and sold the rights to sell its products in the Boston area to Randolph, Massachusetts-based Burke Distributing.

The California Department of Public Health has rescinded a requirement that alcoholic beverages must be served with a meal, according to an industry advisory issued by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

San Diego, California-based AleSmith Brewing’s 25 anniversary celebration was slated to start in late March and continue on through the end of 2020. But those parties were either canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.