Two St. Louis craft breweries are forming a partnership. Schlafly Beer and non-alcoholic beer maker WellBeing Brewing Co. announced a joint venture Thursday that will see Schlalfy manage sales and production of WellBeing’s brands while also working with the company’s existing contract brewing and distribution partners.

Another financial services firm has lowered Boston Beer Company’s stock (SAM). RBC Capital Partners today downgraded the company’s stock from an “outperform” rating to “sector perform.”

The sale of Modern Times took another turn Thursday with the ultimate acquirer of the San Diego brewery still in question.

Weeks after a partial roof collapse at Buoy Beer Company’s facility in Astoria, Oregon, the company has resumed beer production and operations of its restaurant, as well as opened a summer pop-up pub.

The 2022 release of Russian River’s Pliny the Younger generated $6.1 million in economic impact, a record for the brewery and a $1 million (+20%) increase compared to 2020, the last year that the triple IPA was released.

U.S. beer shipments declined -2.2% in May 2022, to an estimated 14.6 million barrels, according to the Beer Institute, citing the latest domestic tax paid shipment estimates shared by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Constellation’s beer depletions increased +8.7%, while shipments grew +17.3%, to 99.5 million case equivalents during the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, the company reported today. Net sales increased +21%, to more than $1.898 billion, with gross profit of more than $1 billion (+14%). The beer business’ operating income also increased +13%, to $762.8 million.

Another craft brewery is exploring a potential sale of the company. Melvin Brewing announced today it is seeking “a strategic partner” to “support and assist with current growth initiatives,” a process that could lead to the sale of the Alpine, Wyoming-based craft brewery.

Halfway through 2022, the beverage-alcohol industry is facing an unending wave of headwinds. Scott Scanlon, EVP of market research firm IRI’s beverage-alcohol vertical, shares the firm’s mid-year report card for the bev-alc industry. Scanlon strikes an optimistic tone for the beer category for the rest of 2022.

In the wake of Breakthru Beverage’s acquisition of J.J. Taylor’s beer business in Minnesota, Summit Brewing Company’s portfolio has moved to A-B house Capitol Beverage Sales in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, with pieces of territory doled out to College City (A-B) and Dahlheimer Beverage, a Molson Coors house.

A judge in Orange County Superior Court has approved the sale of San Diego-based Modern Times Drinks to BX MT BAMF LLC – a limited liability company connected with Anaheim, California-based Brewery X – for $20 million.

Following the news that Stone Brewing Company is in the process of being sold to Japan’s Sapporo Holdings for $165 million, Stone CEO Maria Stipp and director of public relations and communications Lizzie Younkin spoke with Brewbound Friday morning about the proposed deal.

Stone Brewing Company is being sold to Sapporo Holdings, the two companies announced today.

A federal judge told Stone Brewing and Molson Coors to work out a post-trial injunction over the use of the word “stone” or end up on the wrong end of a court order that both companies may not like, according to Courthouse News Service.