Anheuser-Busch InBev has named Golden Road co-founder Meg Gill as the new VP of marketing for its craft beer business division, the Brewers Collective.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to pay a record $5 million offer in compromise (OIC) for alleged trade practice violations related to sports and entertainment sponsorships, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced today.

Brewbound has compiled a list of beer companies and wholesalers who have received more than $1 million in funding through the program. This list is by no means comprehensive, and specific loan amounts were not shared, only ranges.

Energy drink maker Monster Beverage could be entering the more than $2 billion hard seltzer segment, according to an analyst’s report. Stifel Financial analyst Mark S. Astrachan speculated that the energy drink maker is considering entering the alcoholic beverage market, “most likely” with a hard seltzer.

For the one-week period ending June 27, beer category dollar sales increased 16.1%, to $1.007 billion, according to data shared by market research firm Nielsen. Excluding FMBs, hard seltzers and cider, core beer dollar sales increased just 8.1% .

New Haven, Connecticut-based Dichello Distributors is suing Anheuser-Busch, claiming A-B “engaged in an ongoing conspiracy” with Sal DiBetta, a former employee who later worked as CEO of the wholesaler between 2013 and 2016, as well as “other unnamed parties,” to “undermine” Dichello and force president John Hall’s family to sell the business to A-B, according to a complaint filed on June 17 in the Connecticut Superior Court.

Pat and Shawn McIlhenney planning to open a brewery in the former Alpine Beer space; Deep Ellum shutters its Fort Worth taproom; Allagash founder Rob Tod recovers from COVID-19; and California extends bar closures to 19 counties.

Former Fifty West Brewing director of sales Del Hall has left the Cincinnati craft brewery to join 16 Lots Brewing Company’s management team as chief commercial officer, starting July 6.

Days ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has issued an executive order to close bars as the number of COVID-19 infections in the state has increased over the last couple of weeks.

Amid surges in the number of COVID-19 cases across the country, more states and counties are pulling back on on-site consumption at bars and breweries. The reopening of bars for on-premise consumption has also come under fire in recent days from the highest levels of government. During testimony before the Senate on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called out bars, in particular, as “really not good.”

Beer category dollar sales in off-premise retailers have now topped $1 billion in four of the last five weeks, according to market research firm Nielsen. For the one-week period ending June 20, off-premise scans increased 21.2%, to $1.02 billion, the firm reported. Category sales also reached $1 billion for the weeks ending June 13, as well as the weeks ending May 23 and May 30, which bookended the Memorial Day holiday. Sales fell just short of the $1 billion mark for the week ending June 6, totaling $998.4 million.

Days after Texas and Florida mandated that bars shut down for on-premise consumption, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday ordered an immediate end to on-site sales at bars in seven counties, as well as recommended that eight additional counties take similar action in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The Brewers Association has announced a second round of layoffs, cutting 17% of its workforce, the national trade group confirmed to Brewbound. The layoff amounted to nine additional employees of the BA, including one of its most recognizable faces and advocates for small and independent U.S. craft brewers: Julia Herz.

U.S. brewers’ shipments in May declined 6.6%, to 14.2 million barrels, a loss of 1 million barrels compared to May 2019, according to the Beer Institute (BI), which shared unofficial estimates of domestic tax paid shipments compiled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).