Longtime Allagash Brewing sales director Naomi Neville will depart the Portland, Maine-headquartered craft brewery in early February after more than 14 years. With Neville’s impending exit, Allagash has promoted Josh Fruchtman to sales director.

Matagrano, an independent South San Francisco-based Anheuser-Busch distributor, has inked a deal to acquire Bottomley Distributing, which services Silicon Valley and the South Bay Area.

The deal environment within the craft brewing industry is “a bit slow” with “a lot of volatility, a lot of uncertainty,” which isn’t very conducive to dealmaking, Arlington Capital Advisors managing director Ryan Lake shared during the 2023 Brewbound Live business conference earlier this month.

Amid a sea change of top positions within craft this year, leadership at Rhinegeist Brewery explored the transition at the top of the Cincinnati, Ohio-headquartered craft brewery at the 2023 Brewbound Live business conference in Marina del Rey, California.

The Brewbound Podcast this year featured conversations with industry leaders on hot topics to strategies for navigating craft brewing’s mature era. The Brewbound team of Justin Kendall, Jess Infante and Zoe Licata discussed the closure of Anchor Brewing, data trends in craft and non-alc, leadership changes and refocused strategies. Those stories and more were reflected in the most listened to Brewbound Podcast episodes of 2023.

The fallout surrounding the conservative-led boycott of Anheuser-Busch’s (A-B) Bud Light brand and the accelerated declines that ensued accounted for three of Brewbound’s top stories of 2023. The internal machinations at A-B, including a reshuffling of its craft division, also piqued Brewbound readers’ interests. As we close out the year, here’s a look back at the 10 most-read stories of 2023.

As another Dry January approaches, the non-alcoholic (NA) category has posted “its largest year of absolute dollar growth in five years,” Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA) CEO Marcos Salazar shared during the trade association’s webinar earlier this month.

Year-to-date (YTD) craft beer sales in off-premise retailers have inched closer to flat with one month to go, according to market research firm Circana. Through December 3, craft beer sales in multi-outlet and convenience stores are down -0.9%, an improvement compared to the last four- (-1.6%), 12- (-3.9%) and 52-week (-1%) periods. Craft dollar sales… Read more »

Ty Gilmore, president of Tilray Brands’ U.S. beer division, estimated that he receives around two to three calls a day from potential sellers looking to join the Canadian cannabis firm’s craft brewery platform.

Stowe, Vermont-based von Trapp Brewing will launch refreshed branding in the first quarter of 2024, including a reimagining of its ibex logo and updated packaging. The new look packaging will begin shipping to distributors in February and is expected to be on shelves throughout von Trapp’s 13-state footprint by the end of March.

Garage Beer’s new owner, Andy Sauer, and VP of marketing, Corey Smale, join the Brewbound team to discuss taking over the craft lager brand following a deal with Kentucky’s Braxton Brewing earlier this year.

Boston Beer Company is adding another non-alcoholic (NA) brand to its portfolio, expanding a ready-to-drink (RTD) offering and discontinuing another.

Craft Vermont is being sold to Farrell Distributing (a Molson Coors distributor) and Baker Distributing (an Anheuser-Busch house), in a transaction expected to close in February, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Molson Coors chief commercial officer Michelle St. Jacques announced a series of leadership moves in an all employee email sent today, along with the creation of the Americas Commercial Accelerator, which will be focused on driving “capability building across all geographies and categories.”