In this week’s edition of Last Call: Nearly two weeks after lifting aluminum and steel tariffs imposed against Mexico and Canada, President Donald Trump has reversed course and announced plans to levy a 5 percent duty on all goods from Mexico over immigration — bringing the issue back into the taproom. Plus, North Coast co-founder Mark Ruedrich announces his retirement.

The New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) issued a revised special ruling earlier this week aimed at limiting the number of annual events breweries can host in their taprooms. Under the ruling issued Tuesday, the ABC said the state’s craft breweries can hold up to 25 “special events,” 25 “social affairs,” and 52 “private parties” annually inside their taprooms. Additionally, breweries are now allowed to sell their beer at 12 events a year outside of their taprooms.

Massachusetts’ Wormtown Brewery today announced plans to open a second taproom, adjacent to the New England Patriots’ stadium, before the end of the summer. Speaking to Brewbound, Wormtown managing partner David Fields said the Worcester-based craft brewery took control of a 4,000 sq. ft. space at Patriot Place — a shopping, dining and entertainment center near Gillette Stadium in Foxborough — from Battle Road Brewing Company, which had operated a taproom there during the latter half of 2018.

Following a federal judge’s ruling Friday evening, Anheuser-Busch InBev will be required to pull some Bud Light advertisements that suggest MillerCoors’ flagship light lagers, Miller Lite and Coors Light, contain corn syrup. Western District of Wisconsin Judge William Conley granted MillerCoors a “narrow in scope” preliminary injunction, blocking A-B from displaying billboards that say Bud Light contains “100% less corn syrup” than its rival’s lagers, as well as broadcasting a pair of television ads that he deemed “misleading.” The judge also denied A-B’s motion to dismiss the case.

In the latest People Moves: Great Lakes CEO exits; brewmaster moves at Goose Island and Rogue Ales; and several changes at Heineken USA.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: There Colorado breweries are set to close; Sierra Nevada asks breweries to honor their Camp Fire pledges; U.S. beer shipments decline in April; Boston Beer delays its downtown Boston taproom opening; and more news.

Texas craft brewers’ efforts to legalize beer-to-go sales is closer to passage than ever before. On Wednesday, Texas Senators unanimously passed sweeping legislation to maintain operations of the state’s alcohol regulatory body, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), along with several changes to the state’s alcoholic beverage code, including an amendment that would permit a majority of the state’s manufacturing breweries to sell their offerings for off-premise consumption.

Despite months of rumors to the contrary, Stone Distributing Company (SDC) is not for sale. In a memo to employees last week, Stone Brewing CEO Dominic Engels sought to quash talk that the San Diego craft brewing company was attempting to offload its distribution business.

After 12 years of debating North Carolina’s self-distribution and franchise laws, brewers and wholesalers are one step away from their compromise being written into law. On Monday, the North Carolina Senate voted 38-3 to approve the Craft Beer Distribution and Modernization Act (House Bill 363), which the House approved in mid-April. The legislation now advances to Gov. Roy Cooper.

The U.S. beer industry was responsible for creating more than 2.19 million jobs that paid more than $101 billion in wages and benefits in 2018, according to a joint study released today by industry trade organizations the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

Nearly a year after imposing aluminum and steel tariffs against Canada and Mexico, the Trump administration today officially lifted levies imposed upon the two longtime trade allies. Ending tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada and Mexico marks a significant moment for the beer industry, as about 43 percent of aluminum used by U.S. beverage companies comes from Canada, according to Washington, D.C.-based trade group the Beer Institute (BI).

The Texas Craft Brewers Guild’s effort to legalize beer to-go sales inched closer to reality this week, when powerful lobbying group the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas (WBDT) agreed to back a measure that, if passed, would allow consumers to purchase up to a case of beer a day from the Lone Star State’s manufacturing breweries.

Starting in June, nine U.S. states will begin receiving limited shipments of popular but hard to obtain craft beers via a new program called “Guest Brewer.” Brew Pipeline, a so-called “direct-access platform” started by Steven Kwapil and Trip Kloser, is playing matchmaker for craft breweries and wholesalers through the Guest Brewer program. Kwapil and Kloser have tapped industry veteran Marty Ochs — who served as Ninkasi’s director of sales between 2009 and 2013 before launching his own craft beer consultancy — with curating the program’s portfolio of breweries and building its network of wholesalers.

A majority of U.S. Senators support making permanent excise tax relief for alcohol producers and importers. The 2019 version of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) added its 52nd supporter in the U.S. Senate today, with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) becoming a co-sponsor. The legislation seeks to make permanent the two years of tax breaks that alcohol producers and importers received as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which are slated to expire at the end of this year.