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.
Barrel One Collective is getting a new leader, a little more than six months after the founding of the New England-centric parent company of 15 brands, including Harpoon and Smuttynose. Nathaniel Davis will take the reins as CEO from Harpoon founder Dan Kenary, who will transition to the role of president after an eight-week sabbatical.
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Justin Kendall, Jessica Infante, Zoe Licata and Ferron Salniker
Boston Beer revealed a new 10-year sponsorship deal with the Boston Red Sox last Friday for its Samuel Adams brand; Spirits giant Proximo has shifted its California distribution to Breakthru Beverage, which it is with already in CO, MO and NV; New Belgium alum Ramon Tamayo joined Calicraft (Walnut Creek, CA) as head brewer in May; and more headlines
Hendler Family Brewing (HFB) and Sloop Brewing have forged a strategic partnership in which the Framingham, Massachusetts-based brewery platform will take over production, sales and marketing for the Hopewell Junction, New York-based craft brewery’s portfolio, including flagship Juice Bomb IPA (6.5% ABV).
The state excise tax rate on beer in Missouri has been cut by two-thirds. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law House Bill 1041 on Thursday, which set the excise tax rate at $0.62 per barrels for all malt-based alcoholic beverages produced at Missouri breweries, a drop of $1.24 per barrel from the previous rate of $1.86. The new rate is the lowest beer excise tax in the nation.
If recent off-premise scan data has been a bummer lately, don’t expect the on-premise to deliver optimism either. Beer volumes at bars and restaurants have declined mid- to high-single digits on draft (-5.7%) and in package (-9.3%) year-over-year (YoY) during the second quarter of 2025, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
The beer category’s summer selling season arrived with a whimper, according to the latest Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
Total beer supply in the U.S. was down 3.6% in May compared to the same month in 2024, marking continued declines but slight improvements for the industry, according to data from the Beer Institute (BI).
Constellation Brands’ beer division posted uncharacteristic across-the-board declines for the first quarter of the company’s fiscal year, it announced yesterday.
In California’s Coachella Valley, Peter Heimark, president and CEO of Indio-based Heimark Distributing, reported that it was “100 degrees and rising,” and shared that NA beers are taking off in the desert, among other observations.
Craft beer dollar (-9.4%) and case sales (-10.9%) straddled double-digit declines in the grocery channel for the four-week period (L4W) ending June 15, according to the most recent monthly report from market research firm Circana.
When several companies walked back their support for underrepresented groups and canceled diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Brooklyn Brewery got even louder in its long-time support of the LGBTQ+ community. In this week’s edition of A Round With, our Q&A with industry leaders exclusively for Brewbound Insiders, Brooklyn president and CEO Robin Ottaway explains why 2025 is “the moment to step up.”
Non-alcoholic beer, Italian imports and fruit-forward offerings are just a few of the summer trends popping in Total Wine & More and Whole Foods Market stores. Total Wine’s Adrea Starr and Whole Foods Market’s Mary Guiver offered insights into what they’re seeing as summer sets in.