Cigar City Brewing

Amidst speculation that his company was about to be scooped up by Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cigar City founder Joey Redner responded to questions regarding the future of a company he launched just seven years ago. That speculation, fueled by a blog posting that cited three unnamed sources as providing what it called ‘a credible rumor,’ was only so much noise and speculation, noted Redner, who said “there’s nothing to announce.”

Despite ongoing capacity constraints, Cigar City Brewing managed to grow its annual production by more than 28 percent in 2014, selling over 44,000 barrels of beer, founder Joey Redner told Brewbound. The growth was driven primarily by the brewery’s top-selling flagship, Jai Alai IPA, which accounted for more than half — about 23,000 barrels — of all barrels sold. Cigar City sold just over 5,000 barrels of its second most popular brew, Florida Cracker, Redner said.

Two retail advocacy groups and a couple of powerful wholesaler networks in Florida are challenging a state law that allows brewers to operate as vendors, leaving many in the craft industry in fear that their businesses may be at risk. Brewers in the state have been able to operate on-site tasting rooms outside of the framework of the traditional three-tier distribution system thanks to a tourism exemption, originally written to allow Anheuser-Busch to sell beer products at Busch Gardens, a theme park the company owned at the time.

Cigar City’s search for a second production facility took the company to the Carolinas this week. As reported this morning by the Citizen Times, Joey Redner, founder of the Florida-based craft brewery, has been scouting locations in Western North Carolina as well as in Upstate South Carolina, in hopes of finding a place to build a new brewery comparable in size to its flagship facility in Tampa.

It’s been nearly 18 months in the making, but Brew Hub is finally ready to open the doors to its Lakeland, Fla. brewery. The company has installed a 100-barrel brewhouse and is now taking its brewing and fermentation equipment for a test drive, Schoen told Brewbound.

Atlanta, GA — Vicinity Manufacturing is pleased to announce that Cigar City Brewing has selected VicinityBrew’s Brewery Management Software to fulfill their ERP needs.

Cigar City is about to set sail on Carnival Cruise Lines. Beginning this week, two canned offerings from the Tampa, Fla.-based craft brewery will be available on 13 Florida-based ships sailing to the Caribbean, Mexico and The Bahamas.

Florida craft brewers could face stricter retail regulations under a new bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday. This morning, the Florida Senate voted 30-10 in favor of SB 1714, an amended version of the controversial bill introduced by Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel that would limit the amount of beer brewers can sell directly to… Read more »

Florida’s Senate Rules Committee voted 9-4 yesterday in favor of a bill that would tighten regulations within the state’s three-tier alcohol distribution system. Under Senate Bill 1714, brewers that produce more than 2,000 kegs (approximately 1,000 barrels) annually and operate on-premise retail fronts would be required to first sell their beer to distributors before buying… Read more »

If you ask a group of beer industry professionals for their take on the Brewers Association (BA) definition of a “craft brewer,” take cover — it’s a polarizing topic. So, at last week’s Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, Brewbound asked a number of brewers for their thoughts on the revised craft brewer definition. The latest installment in our video series is published above for your viewing pleasure.

One prominent Sunshine State craft brewer is considering a major expansion, but he’s worried that an ongoing legislative wrangling over the state’s growler-fill laws might actually force him to move the project out of the state. Joey Redner, the founder of Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Fla., told Brewbound that the company is unable to… Read more »

Coronado, CA—Jurata Baltic Porter, the second of two collaborations between San Diego fave Coronado Brewing and nationally acclaimed Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa, FL, is now hitting shelves and taps across the country.

The agreements mark the first commercial movement from a potentially disruptive contract brewer with an ambitious model — one that has the flexibility to work with both emerging and well-established breweries.

In search of a way to meet demand without putting a strain on his current brewing capacity, Joey Redner, the founder of Tampa, Fla.-based Cigar City Brewing headed to Puerto Rico. Located in Ponce, on the southern coast of the island, is the recently shuttered Cervezas del Sur brewery.