Employees at Anheuser-Busch (A-B) InBev-owned Widmer Brothers Brewing have voted to join Teamsters Local 162, the union announced. Stony Creek Brewery has been approved by its hometown of Branford, Connecticut to construct a new tank farm, which would expand the company’s brewing capacity from 48,000 barrels, to 100,000 barrels.

Virginia state lawmakers are considering a pair of bills that would require retailers to keep alcoholic versions of non-alcoholic beverages, such as Hard MTN Dew, Fresca Mixed, Simply Spiked and Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, separate from their counterparts, according to Pluribus News.

Data and economy experts from 3 Tier Beverages, NielsenIQ’s CGA and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) gave attendees insights into the state of the bev-alc industry and cider’s potential growth opportunities during the 13th annual CiderCon, held last week in Chicago.

Retailers’ coldboxes are “a battlefield” – particularly in the increasingly crowded beyond beer space – but cider is primed to “thrive,” according to Mary Guiver, Whole Foods Market’s global principle category merchant for beer, during a retailer panel last week at CiderCon 2023 in Chicago.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) will still be promoting its big beer brands during Super Bowl LVII, despite foregoing its exclusivity rights for the Big Game this year.

Greater Good Imperial Brewing sees itself as “the authority on imperial beers,” and the Worcester, Massachusetts-based craft brewery is setting its sights on making that statement in 2023.

Trent Tokos, former VP of sales and marketing at Montana Craft Malt, has joined Craft ‘Ohana as the craft portfolio company’s VP of marketing.

Seattle, Washington-based Schilling Cider is deepening its presence in Colorado and will transition to the Molson Coors distribution network in the state beginning February 1.

Last Call: Self-Distribution Inches Closer in Virginia; NA Beer +26% During Dry January on Drizly; Beast Unleashed Distribution Contract Critiqued

The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) Beer Purchasers’ Index improved slightly in January to 38, after the record low reading reported in December.

U.S. brewers shipped an estimated 159,865,930 barrels of beer in 2022, a -4.6% decline versus 2021, according to the Beer Institute (BI), citing domestic tax paid estimates from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Craft beer dollar sales at off-premise retailers reached more than $4.74 billion in 2022, a -4.7% decline year-over-year (YoY), according to the market research firm IRI.

Total beer category dollar sales at off-premise retailers reached more than $44.6 billion in 2022, according to the market research firm IRI.

The cider segment has long been dominated by a small sampling of national brands which shape the industry’s perception of the segment’s overall performance. But regional cider brands tell a different story; one of growth, product diversity and changing consumer perspectives.