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.

Heineken USA (HUSA) is giving away 1,000 31-packs of its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0, as part of a campaign to win beer-drinking occasions during “Dry January.”

Coronado Brewing Company announced Thursday the appointment of James Murray as the San Diego craft brewery’s next CEO. Meanwhile, Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered Monday Night Brewing has hired Jill Matherson as its director of people and culture.

Costa Rica-headquartered FIFCO today named beverage industry veteran Rich Andrews as the next CEO of FIFCO USA. Andrews will supplant Adrian Lachowski, whose planned exit from the company was announced last week.

With just one month left in 2019, off-premise beer dollar and volume sales appear poised to finish in the black. Through the first 11 months of 2019, off-premise beer category dollar sales in multi-outlet and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI are up 5.2%, to nearly $34.5 billion, while volume sales are up 2.3%. The largest dollar sales growth in 2019 thus far has come from flavored malt beverages, including hard seltzers.

Beer, wine and spirits companies are a signature away from another year of federal excise tax relief. The U.S. Senate today passed a tax extender package that includes a one-year extension of the tax relief in the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CMBTRA) that was slated to expire at the end of 2019.

New Belgium Brewing Company’s employee owners have voted in favor of selling the company to Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages despite concerns over the Japanese beer giant’s business dealings in Myanmar.

Leaders in the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees reached a tax deal late Monday that includes a one-year extension of the federal excise tax relief for alcohol producers and importers.

FIFCO USA CEO Adrian Lachowski will exit the company on January 15, 2020, Costa Rica-headquartered global beverage company FIFCO (Florida Ice and Farm Co.) announced Wednesday. FIFCO expects to announce Lachowski’s successor in mid-January.

Nancy Palmer has left her post as the executive director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild to become the director of government affairs at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Palmer, the first woman to receive the Brewers Association’s F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award, started at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in November. She had served as executive director of the guild since being promoted to the post in July 2014.

Craft brewers are on pace for another year of low single-digit growth, the Brewers Association announced today in its annual “The Year in Beer” review. The not-for-profit trade organization representing small and independent U.S. craft breweries projects 2019 volume growth of 4%, down slightly from the 2018 number.