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.
Hard seltzer dollar sales topped $4.14 billion in 2020, increasing 160.4% compared to 2019, according to Bump Williams Consulting (BWC), citing NielsenIQ all-outlet, plus convenience and liquor data through December 26, 2020.
Bell’s Brewery has appointed Carrie K. Yunker to the newly created role of executive vice president. Yunker, who has worked at Bell’s for nearly two decades and most recently served as VP of human resources, will work with Bell’s founder and president Larry Bell to oversee all aspects of managing the company, as well as leading Bell’s senior leadership team and acting as a go-between to the Michigan craft brewery’s board of directors.
Adam Warrington, who led Anheuser-Busch’s corporate social responsibility team for nearly three years, has left the world’s largest beer manufacturer.
Your Cousin from Boston is going to the Super Bowl. Boston Beer Company is investing in a Super Bowl spot that will run during the big game on February 7 in the New York and Boston markets to help boost the reincarnation of its New England IPA brand as Wicked Hazy.
Popular Vermont craft brewery Hill Farmstead is going into hibernation in mid-January and will halt production and cease retail sales until late March.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has signed the franchise reform bill into law, finally ending a two-decades-long debate between the state’s craft breweries and wholesalers.
The Brewers Association announced today that it will postpone its annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) and Brew Expo America until September and move the event to Denver from San Diego, where it had been planned for late March. The 2021 edition of CBC is now slated to be held September 9-12, pending health and safety protocols.
Corporate America is reassessing its campaign spending in the wake of a rally-turned-riot at the U.S. Capitol last week by supporters of President Donald Trump that left five people — including a Capitol police officer — dead. Within the beer industry, the two largest beer manufacturers in the U.S. told Brewbound that they will review their spending.
FIFCO USA will cease production of Portland Brewing Company beers and permanently close the brewery after 34 years, effective on February 5. FIFCO will also transfer production of Pyramid Brewing offerings, which had been brewed in Portland, to the Genesee production facility in Rochester, New York
Total beer dollar sales in off-premise retailers reached nearly $43.8 billion in 2020, according to market research firm IRI. The firm, which tracks category-wide sales at major off-premise retailers, reported a 14.7% increase in dollar sales and a 10% increase in volume sales at multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military) through December 27, 2020.
Combining the trailblazing history of Bulleit Frontier Whiskey with the boldness of Revolver Brewing Company, the whiskey and beer brands have teamed up to reimagine one of the very first Revolver beer recipes—Hey Porter—by aging it in Bulleit Bourbon barrels to create perfection.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Massachusetts lawmakers finally passed franchise law reform legislation. If signed by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, the measure would put to rest a long-simmering debate between the Bay State’s craft brewers and their wholesaler partners.
Five months after considering a sale of as much as 20% of the company, India’s B9 Beverages is in the process of selling a minority stake in the New Delhi-based company for $30 million to Tokyo, Japan-headquartered Kirin Holdings, according to the Financial Times and Reuters.
The changes at FIFCO USA are continuing into the new year, as the company parted ways with Josh Halpern, who had served as chief sales officer over the last three years.
