Michigan’s Short’s Brewing is on the verge of its 17th anniversary — one that will go without an in-person celebration for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch is urging the leaders of the beer industry’s three major trade groups — the Brewers Association (BA), the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) — to work together to beat back efforts by spirits groups to bring taxes on spirits-based, lower-alcohol, ready-to-drink offerings in line with beer, hard seltzers and FMBs.

Net sales of Constellation Brands’ beer portfolio — including Mexican import labels Corona, Modelo and Pacifico — topped $6 billion, an 8% increase, in fiscal year 2021, the company shared today while reporting its full-year earnings.

New Belgium’s first company-owned restaurant — located in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood — will open Friday, April 9.

The Brewers Association (BA) released its annual craft brewery production report, which showed a 9% decline in 2020, in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BA chief economist Bart Watson cautioned that the decline is not a perfect representation of the year for the nation’s 8,764 craft breweries.

The COVID-19 pandemic put hard times on the U.S. craft brewing industry in 2020, as production declined for the first time in the modern craft era, the Brewers Association (BA) announced today. The number of barrels produced by craft breweries had steadily grown in recent years, from 24.3 million barrels in 2016 to a peak of 26.3 million barrels in 2019.

The consumer-facing, in-person Great American Beer Festival tasting event will not take place for a second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brewers Association (BA) announced today. However, the competition that accompanies the festival will go on as planned this year, while the in-person event is slated to return in 2022 for GABF’s 40th anniversary.

Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing has named Tony Amaral head of sales, following the departure of Tom McReavy, who formerly led the Petaluma, California-based craft brewery’s sales division before taking the top sales role at Stone Brewing last month.

In Bump Williams Consulting’s latest data dive, the firm explored whether new brands and line extensions are “building the segment or stealing share and volume from existing players.”

Anheuser-Busch touted the successful first-week performance of its hard seltzer collaboration with rap star Travis Scott, Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer, which sold out in many brick-and-mortar stores within 24 hours and online within 12 hours.

It’s April Fool’s Day but this is no hoax. Stone Brewing Company is launching a hard seltzer line. In fact, Buenavida Hard Seltzer is now available on draft at all of Stone’s taprooms and pubs, including its World Bistro & Gardens locations in Escondido and Liberty Station, and Stone Brewing Napa.

The Brewers Association (BA) released its annual top 50 rankings of craft breweries by beer sales volume in 2020. Although there was some jockeying for position, the top of the list remained largely unchanged, with D.G. Yuengling & Son, Boston Beer Company and Sierra Nevada holding down the top three spots again.

Molson Coors addressed concerns caused by a cybersecurity incident and February’s winter storm in Texas in a post-trading Friday press release that reaffirmed its full year 2021 financial guidance and provided an update on its post-disruption business.