Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer of Constellation Brands’ beer division, has been promoted to a newly created role of executive vice president and CMO of the New York-based alcohol company. In a press release, Constellation Brands said Sabia, who joined the organization in 2007 as the vice president of the spirits division, would oversee all aspects of marketing across the company’s beer, wine, and liquor portfolios.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Another brewery files for bankruptcy; Stone seeks to dismiss MillerCoors’ counterclaims; Tree House and Jester King announce expansion plans; BrewDog and Terrapin announce new hires; and more.

Over the last two years, brewery-owned taprooms and satellite retail outposts have emerged as both lucrative profit centers for emerging craft beer makers and an opportunities to deliver unique experiences to thirsty consumers. But as the number of taprooms has grown, so too have concerns about their impact on the three-tier system.

Constellation Brands reported its fiscal-year 2018 earnings on Thursday, which were highlighted by a 3 percent increase in total net sales, to more than $7.6 billion. Net sales of Constellation Brands’ beer brands — including Mexican import labels Corona, Modelo and Pacifico as well as craft breweries Ballast Point and Funky Buddha — increased 10.1 percent, to about $4.7 billion.

Aloha Sculpin IPA features a distinct yeast strain known as Saccharomyces “Bruxellensis” Trois, or Brux Trois, turning the flagship IPA into a tropical oasis with aromas and flavors of guava, mango, and pineapple without any fruit additions. While Belgian yeast strains are known for their clove and banana-like aroma, this strain bears exotic fruit aromas.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Constellation Brands-owned Ballast Point announces plans to consolidate its operations in Miramar; Epic Brewing recalls a batch of beer; A-B releases its Bud Light “Dilly Dilly” ad; and more.

San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing will open the first on-site brewery in Anaheim’s downtown Disney District at Disneyland Resort this fall. The Disney taproom is the seventh Ballast Point location in Southern California — and first in Orange County — for the Constellation Brands-owned craft brewery. The move is part of the beer company’s ongoing strategy to grow the Ballast Point brand through local outposts both in California and across the country.

Just five months after selling to Constellation Brands, Funky Buddha Brewery is seeing the benefits of its new partnership. The South Florida craft brewery will take advantage of brewing and canning capacity at Ballast Point, another Constellation-owned company, and launch its product in cans for the first time.

Following a proprietary review of the craft beer segment, and its own positioning within it, Constellation Brands has re-launched a number of its Ballast Point offerings with a new look in an attempt to “tell its story more effectively” to consumers. In an interview with Brewbound, Constellation CMO Jim Sabia and Marty Birkel, the president of the organization’s craft and specialty division, said an initiative to better understand consumer-purchasing behavior provided the company with some key takeaways that helped shape its overall craft strategy moving forward.

In our latest edition of People Moves: Caitlin Braam, the president of Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing, will depart the organization at the end of the month. Constellation Brands also confirmed that Dave Mills, chief sales officer of the company’s Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits brand, will depart the organization at the end of August.

Constellation Brands has acquired fast-growing Florida-based craft beer producer Funky Buddha and, in the process, formed a new “High End Craft and Specialty” business group specifically tasked with overseeing the company’s present and future craft brewery purchases. Financial terms of the deal, which closed yesterday, were not disclosed. The structure is similar to Constellation’s 2015 purchase of San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing, which was worth $1 billion, Brewbound understands. A sale price was not disclosed, but the all-cash deal is for 100 percent of the company, according to KC Sentz, who co-founded the brewery with his brother Ryan Sentz.

An already competitive craft beer scene in Chicago is about to get even more crowded. Constellation Brands – a beer, wine and spirits producer that makes popular import beer labels such as Corona, Pacifico and Modelo — yesterday announced plans to open a Ballast Point outpost in Chicago early next year.

Executives from the largest beer companies in the U.S. gathered in San Diego this week for the annual Beer Institute (BI) meeting, and a theme of unity emerged as industry leaders attempt to stem continued share losses to wine and spirits.