Jessica Infante joined Brewbound in 2019 after nearly a decade in a variety of marketing roles in the craft beer industry. Prior to that, she was a daily newspaper reporter at the Jersey Shore. Jess holds a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication from Emerson College. She is a certified Cicerone and lives in Salem, Massachusetts.
This week’s A Round With … features Dave Vitt, founder and CEO of Bellingham’s own Kulshan Brewing. In the Brewbound Insider-exclusive Q&A, Dave shares how Bellingham’s beer scene has evolved, how the Kulshan team keeps coming up with unique taproom events and how to stay positive in challenging times.
Another day, another Colorado craft beer deal. Longmont-based Left Hand Brewing and Aurora-based Dry Dock Brewing announced they have merged under the craft-centric, crowd-funded platform Left Hand revealed plans to build last year.
The Colorado-based Wilding Brands platform has grown again. Denver-based Great Divide Brewing has been acquired by the parent company of Stem Ciders, Denver Beer Co. and several other brands.
Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC) has changed hands for the second time in a little more than five years. Wine industry entrepreneur Jason McConnell acquired the Boonville, California-based craft brewery in a deal that closed Tuesday, former owner Kevin McGee told Brewbound.
2025’s drinking occasions just can’t hold a candle to 2024, it seems. In the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day (week ending March 16), off-premise bev-alc sales recorded a -3.9% decline year-over-year (YoY), market research firm Circana reported in its newest batch of weekly data. Holiday shopping delivered a +5% increase week-over-week (WoW).
March Madness did indeed extend March Sadness (readers of Brewbound’s weekend newsletter will get the reference). Draft volume during the opening weekend of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments declined -5.8% compared to the same weekend in 2024, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard, which reviewed nationwide sales during the March 20-23, 2025, weekend and compared to March 21-24, 2024.
Beer has gained bev-alc dollar share at bars, restaurants and venues, taking from wine and spirits, according to the latest report from CGA, NIQ’s on-premise data arm. For the 52-week period ending January 25, beer accounted for 40.1% of all dollars spent in the on-premise channel, a +0.3 percentage point increase year-over-year (YoY). Ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails increased dollar share +0.4 percentage points, to 1.2% of total bev-alc dollars.
TailGate Brewery founder and owner Wesley Keegan does not advise that other brewers mimic his Nashville-based brewery’s portfolio strategy, simply because it doesn’t make much sense. Throughout TailGate’s decade in operation, its flagship offerings have been a peanut butter milk stout and an orange wheat beer, neither of which were created with the goal of becoming the brewery’s lead style.
St. Patrick’s Day weekend wasn’t necessarily lucky for purveyors of draft beer, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard, which published its annual recap of bev-alc performance at bars and restaurants during the holiday.
After a promising week, bev-alc off-premise sales returned to the red, declining -3.8% YoY and -1% WoW, according to the most recent weekly report from Circana (data ending March 9).
Longtime lead lobbyist Katie Marisic has exited the Brewers Association (BA), where she was senior director of federal affairs. Marisic represented craft brewers’ voices and the BA in Washington, D.C. for a decade.
Officially in its second year, Hot Plate Brewing in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, has some star power behind one of its next releases. Effervescent lemongrass saison shares its name with comedian Patton Oswalt’s standup special, performed at a nearby theater later this month.
One of the latest signs that craft beer has entered a new era: Patrons of storied brewpub chains Gordon Biersch and Rock Bottom can now order domestic lagers produced by the world’s largest breweries.
It cost more to go out for a drink last month than it did a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) February 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. The CPI for total beverage-alcohol away from home increased +3.4% last month compared to February 2024.
