The story of Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer brand remains the same; the company can’t keep up with demand for the hard seltzer category’s second largest brand. The mid-March pantry stock up caused by the novel coronavirus shutting down virtually all on-premise sales led to a spike in Truly sales earlier than expected.

Boston Beer Company posted double-digit depletions, shipments and net revenue growth in the first quarter of 2020, continuing momentum that propelled the company to $995.7 million in revenue in 2019.

COVID-19 is forcing brewery owners across the country to make hard decisions. Surly Brewing founder Omar Ansari has made his share of those decisions over the last month after shuttering his beer hall, pizza place and event space in mid-March. Couple those closures with the shutdown of on-premise sales, and around 60% of Surly’s revenue evaporated overnight.

A pair of recent surveys of craft brewery owners in South Carolina and California have revealed the financial pressures the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 have placed on small beer companies. A survey released by the South Carolina Brewers Guild on April 14 showed that 80% of the state’s breweries may be forced to close within the next three months if the current shutdown of on-premise and at-the-brewery sales remain in place.

More than 1,900 fewer beer category (beer/FMB/cider) products — a majority of which were made by independent and longtail craft producers — were sold in off-premise retailers during the first six weeks of the COVID-19 crisis compared to the same period in 2019, according to market research firm Nielsen.

Barry Holmes, CEO of The Bruery and Offshoot Beer Co., offers tips to breweries considering getting into direct-to-consumer or membership club business and shares how The Bruery is engaging its members via weekly, virtual happy hours on Thursday nights. He also discusses how adding a line of canned hazy IPAs and a pilsner through the Offshoot brand has helped fortify The Bruery’s business, which was originally built on barrel-aged and sour offerings.

Untappd — the beer ranking and checking in smartphone app — was built on the notion of being social. However, being social in the U.S. has been taken away by the novel coronavirus disease, which has forced consumers to stay inside their homes and shut down brewery taprooms, tasting rooms, bars and restaurants across the country.

Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced several measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a $1 million donation to the U.S. Bartender Emergency Assistance Program and a 50% reimbursement for untapped, out-of-code beer through July 1.

By most metrics, small and independent craft brewing companies posted solid volume growth in 2019. However, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many craft brewers into “survival mode,” is overshadowing 2019’s growth.

Two months after Constellation Brands made a minority investment in Press Premium Alcohol Seltzer, the company’s chief commercial officer for its beer division, Bruce Jacobson, announced he is leaving the beer, wine and spirits company after 17 years to join the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based hard seltzer maker.

Volume growth for the nation’s small and independent craft breweries held steady at nearly 4% in 2019, as the overall beer industry’s volume declined 2%, according to trade group the Brewers Association’s annual craft beer growth report.

Total beer category dollar sales in off-premise retailers reaccelerated slightly for the week ending April 4, increasing 19% compared to the same one-week period in 2019, according to market research firm Nielsen.

With summer drinking occasions at risk of being lost due to the coronavirus disease COVID-19 shutting down gatherings at beaches and pools, consumer insights firm Social Standards looked at the potential effects of that loss on beverage alcohol products.

Stone Brewing Company laid off employees of its restaurants, taprooms and distributions sales force, which amounted about 306 workers. Some state lawmakers have proposed bills that would extend business interruption insurance clauses to cover losses sustained from closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.