Brewbound readers in 2020 sought out news about the pandemic, mergers and acquisitions, brewery closures and job changes. 2020 marked a year of shifts for brewers, as well as Brewbound, which shifted its business model to a subscription model. With that in mind, we’ve pulled the five most-read stories before the paywall was introduced and the five most-read stories after.

the temps dip below 70° in Southern California, it’s time to collectively agree that fall is now the very best time to drink beer. It’s that highly anticipated time of year when Ballast Point makes available their seasonal brews in limited releases.

Ballast Point Brewing Company today announced the indefinite closure of its Chicago brewpub, effective October 24, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A classic German-style beer brewed in San Diego, Ballast Point’s award-winning Longfin Lager has long been one of the go-to beers of the brewing team and fans of the light-bodied Helles.

Today on Brewbound Frontlines, the leaders of Ballast Point Brewing will discuss their journey from running small upstart Kings & Convicts to making one of the year’s biggest acquisitions of 2019.

Constellation Brands’ sale of Ballast Point to an investor group fronted by little-known Chicago upstart beer company Kings and Convicts officially closed on Monday.

Kings & Convicts, the Chicago-area craft brewery that reached an agreement to acquire Ballast Point and its multiple taprooms from Constellation Brands in December, has hired industry sales veteran Mike Giordano as vice president of sales for the San Diego craft brand.

Brewbound readers in 2019 gravitated to stories about major craft brewery mergers and acquisitions, hard seltzer launches and reformulations, lawsuits and distribution disputes and brewery closures. The announcement of the $300 million merger between Boston Beer Company and Dogfish Head set the stage for a busy year of M&A activity, as many craft brewers began to form partnerships to weather a more tumultuous competitive marketplace.

Richard Mahoney, the chairman of the board of The Wine Group, is the lead investor in Chicagoland craft brewery Kings & Convicts’ acquisition of Ballast Point Brewing Company from Constellation Brands, according to the ChicagoTribune. Brooklyn Brewery restructures sales force.

Four years after paying $1 billion for Ballast Point Brewing Company, Constellation Brands today threw in the towel on its big craft bet, announcing an agreement to sell the San Diego craft beer brand along with “a number of its associated production facilities and brewpubs” to Kings & Convicts, a little-known Chicagoland craft brewing company.

Constellation Brands is closing another Ballast Point taproom. The New York-headquartered beer, wine and spirits giant plans to close the taproom and restaurant at its Daleville, Virginia, production facility by the end of September, according to the Roanoke Times. Constellation will also cut 25 full- and part-time workers, as well as 16 temporary employees, the outlet reported.

Constellation Brands will shutter two Ballast Point Brewing facilities in Southern California, and back out of a plan to open a brewpub in San Francisco, Brewbound has learned. A spokeswoman with the New York-based beer, wine, and spirits company today confirmed the closure of Ballast Point Brewing’s 80,000 sq. ft. “Trade Street” sour beer and barrel-aging facility, which opened in San Diego in late 2017, as well as its Temecula, Calif.-based brewpub, which opened in 2016.

Constellation Brands reported its fiscal year and second quarter 2019 earnings results today, which were highlighted by a 7 percent increase in net sales, to more than $8.1 billion.