Justin Kendall provides daily coverage of the beer industry on Brewbound.com, conducts live-streamed interviews during Brewbound’s events and co-produces the Brewbound podcast. Kendall is a nearly 20-year career journalist who led alt-weekly newspapers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.
In this week’s Last Call: A look at California beer production; Sen. Schumer backs permanent excise tax cuts; TTB accepts $20,000 offer in compromise from Cigar City; and more beer industry news.
As sales of U.S. craft beer have begun to slow, so too has the appetite for domestic dealmaking. More recently, however, there’s been an uptick in the number of international craft acquisitions — including a pair of well-regarded London-based breweries. London’s Fourpure Brewing Co. announced today a 100 percent sale to Australia-headquartered and Kirin-owned Lion Pty Limited.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Tivoli sues Montucky Cold Snacks over brand rights; President Trump’s trade war with China escalates; Jake Leinenkugel seeks medical marijuana study for military vets; New Belgium joins the American Hemp Campaign; H-E-B begins beer and wine delivery; and more news.
The Brewers Association (BA) announced a sponsorship deal earlier this week to feature a Buffalo Wild Wings branded pop-up sports bar on the floor of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), its marquee tasting and judging event held annually in Denver. The partnership with the chicken wing chain, which was acquired last November by Arby’s for $2.9 billion, is the second major sponsorship deal for the late September festival. In early June, the BA announced that Pernod Ricard-owned Jameson would build a barrel-aged beer garden on the festival floor.
Wilmington, North Carolina-based Ironclad Brewery has established a venture capital business unit in order to invest its profits into other startups. Speaking to Brewbound, CEO Ted Coughlin said Ironclad will make investments in the beer space as well as other sectors with significant growth potential. He added that Ironclad will invest its profits — which he estimates will average about $200,000 annually — in about eight startup companies a year.
Upstart Texas beer maker Hop & Sting Brewing Company has purchased the assets and brands of Grapevine Craft Brewery from owner Glen Harrod. Financial terms of the deal — which did not include the building and land — were not disclosed, but Hop & Sting co-owner Brian Burton told Brewbound that “it was something just barely within our budget.”
After more than two years of construction, noted gypsy brewer Grimm Artisanal Ales will open its first brick-and-mortar brewery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday, June 30.
More than two months after reworking plans for a second brewing facility in Virginia, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery today announced it has finally closed on a long-anticipated $3.2 million deal to acquire 49 acres of land in Roanoke.
Constellation Brands reported its first-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings today, which were highlighted by 8.9 percent growth in beer depletions (sales-to-retailers) and an 8.6 percent increase in shipments compared to the three-month period in 2017. Although beer was a major focus of today’s call, Sands spent a great deal of time discussing and answering questions about Constellation Brands’ $191 million investment into Canadian cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corporation.
Ride-sharing service Lyft announced today a partnership with the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. It’s just the latest in an ongoing effort by the San Francisco-headquartered, on-demand transportation company to focus on getting patrons to and from brewery taprooms by forming partnerships with state guilds across the country.
In the latest edition of Press Clips: Beer rationing begins in Europe; trademark infringement fights continue; Beavertown feels the fallout from selling a minority stake to Heineken; and more.
After years of fighting for the right to sell to-go beer, manufacturing breweries in Texas now have allies on both sides of aisle. Texas Democrats and Republicans both included language in their respective party platforms supporting the legalization of off-premise sales privileges for the state’s production breweries as well as changes to the three-tier system of alcohol distribution.
A California-based craft beer company that had aspirations of expanding into China with a new line of products has gone belly-up after a series of events forced the company to back away from both ventures. Schubros Brewery, based in the eastern region of the Bay Area, has permanently closed, according to company founder Ian Schuster.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Pabst and MillerCoors are headed to trial in November; Amazon adds beer delivery in Texas; the Florida Brewers Guild claims big beer is pushing small brands out of Publix; and more news.