In the latest People Moves: Monday Night Brewing hires a new VP of Sales; the Beer Institute adds health policy and regulatory affairs director; former Half Acre VP seeks new opportunities; Dovetail builds a sales team; and Common Cider appoints a new VP of sales.

In this week’s Last Call: Schlafly acquires Trailhead Brewing; German keg company Blefa invests in American Keg; and Heineken and Bud Light launch non-alc and hard seltzer ad campaigns.

Lagunitas Brewing Company is cutting less than 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan, the Heineken-owned, Petaluma, California-based craft brewery confirmed today to Brewbound.

Total beer dollar sales in 2019 increased to $37.2 billion in U.S. off-premise retailers, according to market research firm IRI. The Chicago-based market research firm, which tracks category-wide sales at major off-premise retailers, reported a 5.2% increase in beer dollar sales, and a 2.3% increase in volume sales at multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military) through December 29.

The Reyes Beverage Group is making another wholesaler purchase in California. Reyes’ Crest Beverage subsidiary announced Monday an agreement to acquire all of the assets of Imperial, California-based Claypool Distributing.

Hard seltzer is not a fad; it’s a category, Brandy Rand, the COO of market research firm IWSR, declared today during Beer Business Daily’s Beer Industry Summit in Palm Beach, Florida.

Former Revolution Brewing chief commercial officer Donn Bichsel Jr. has launched 3 Tier Beverages, a Chicago-based sales and marketing consulting firm. He describes his new role as a “fractional director of sales and marketing” who can offer nearly two decades of professional experience after working at some of the world’s largest beer makers.

Long-time brewmaster Andy Schwartz has landed the top brewing job at Milford, Connecticut-based Dockside Brewery. Milford, Delaware-based Mispillion River Brewing has hired Claus Hagelman as its new director of sales. Non-alcoholic craft brewery Athletic Brewing has hired Rosalie Kennedy as its first marketing manager.

The first top 100 craft brewery transaction of 2020 is in the books. San Francisco-based private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital has completed the acquisition of Lion Beverages LLC, a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based contract brewery and maker of the Lionshead and Stegmaier brands.

Saint Archer co-founder Josh Landan is launching a new hard seltzer brand today in California. Ashland Hard Seltzer is Landan’s play into the more than $2.5 billion hard seltzer segment. The Ashland brand will launch in more than 250 points of distribution, including national chain commitments from major big box and grocery retailers.

Boston Beer Company has reformulated yet another of its top offerings. The company announced today the reformulation of its Samuel Adams Cold Snap spring seasonal release. The recipe tweak follows changes made last year to the formulas for Samuel Adams Summer Ale and every Truly Hard Seltzer flavor.

Molson Coors Beverage Company announced plans to cease production at its facility in Irwindale, California, by September 2020. The second largest U.S. beer manufacturer also announced an agreement with Pabst Brewing Co., giving the Los Angeles-headquartered beer company the option to purchase the Irwindale facility for $150 million.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: A New York bill would double the state’s excise tax; the Indiana cold beer sales effort will resume; U.S. cider trade group changes name; Silver Eagle distributes 1 million cases of Karbach beer in Houston; C Squared moves; and Backlash exits taproom.

Brewbound readers in 2019 gravitated to stories about major craft brewery mergers and acquisitions, hard seltzer launches and reformulations, lawsuits and distribution disputes and brewery closures. The announcement of the $300 million merger between Boston Beer Company and Dogfish Head set the stage for a busy year of M&A activity, as many craft brewers began to form partnerships to weather a more tumultuous competitive marketplace.