Night Shift Brewing

Night Shift Brewing has brewed its last batch of beer at New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing Company. The Massachusetts-based craft brewery, which partnered with Smuttynose last November for expanded production of some of its more popular offerings, has begun contract brewing with Isle Brewers Guild (IBG) in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, following news that Smuttynose would be sold at an auction.

New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing, citing overleveraging of investments and missed growth projections amidst increased competition from fellow craft brewers, is scheduled to be sold March 9 at a bank auction.

As a stopgap until it can identify a more permanent solution for capacity constraints, Massachusetts’ Night Shift Brewing will begin augmenting its production via a contract brewing agreement with Smuttynose Brewing Company in New Hampshire.

Devil’s Purse Brewing Company announced today it has signed with Night Shift Distributing to sell its beers in the Boston metropolitan area and throughout Central, Western and Northern Massachusetts.

In our latest edition of Brewbound Voices, Beer Business Finance founder Kary Shumway returns to discuss self distribution. Shumway has worked in the beer industry for over 20 years as a Certified Public Accountant and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Clarke Distributors, Inc. in Keene, New Hampshire. In part II of his column for Voices, Shumway dives deep into the process of self distributing, discussing account and route building, proper cash flow management practices, the “hidden” costs of operating in a self distribution model and succession planning.

In our latest edition of Brewbound Voices, Beer Business Finance founder Kary Shumway returns to discuss self distribution. Shumway has worked in the beer industry for over 20 years as a Certified Public Accountant and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Clarke Distributors, Inc. in Keene, New Hampshire. In part I of a two-part column for Voices, Shumway begins deconstructing the ins and outs of self distribution. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages of self distribution while profiling one brewery he believes is doing it well.

A Massachusetts state task force dealing with examining the state’s decades-old liquor laws met on Thursday — and beer distribution was on the agenda.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Wicked Weed postpones the Funkatorium Invitational; Speakeasy’s sale price is report; Massachusetts and Maryland alcohol task forces set meeting dates; and much more.

Night Shift Brewing’s recently launched wholesale operation, Night Shift Distributing, has signed its first four craft brewery partners. Announced Wednesday, the wholesaler wing of the Everett, Massachusetts-headquartered craft brewery will begin selling products from Pipeworks Brewing Company (Chicago, Illinois), Magnify Brewing (Fairfield, New Jersey), Mast Landing Brewing Company (Westbrook, Maine) and the Reinheits Boten Group (New York importer of German beer) in early April.

How do you maintain the vital culture of a craft brewery while it grows distribution and expands into new businesses? It’s a question many young breweries are forced to answer, as they struggle with balancing the spirit that builds a brand with the need for experienced leadership, the demand for increased sales, and more capacity. Night Shift Brewing is trying to figure it out right now: The Everett, Mass. brewery recently hired two C-level executives to join its team, and it’s once again looking to double production and sales. Meanwhile, the brewery is also trying to support a new wholesaling business — Night Shift Distributing — and managing a growing roster of employees.

In a move that underscores the ongoing tension between beer wholesalers and brewers in Massachusetts, up-and-coming Night Shift Brewing has launched a full-scale distribution business aimed at challenging what the brewery calls an anti-competitive and archaic system.

In July, Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg promised to assemble a task force that would examine the state’s decades-old liquor laws. Three months later, additional details have emerged on what that group will look like, and what it will be asked to accomplish. “According to the treasurer’s office, it will be an autonomous body, free of all control, including the long reach of Bill Kelley and the wholesalers and the brewers,” John Connell, a Boston-based alcohol attorney who represents clients across all three tiers of the industry, told a room of more than 150 beer industry professionals attending last night’s Brew Talks meetup at Jack’s Abby.

For the latest entry in Night Shift Brewing’s Weisse series, the brew crew took our Berliner base and added a whole ton of those red berries during fermentation – thus, Bramble Weisse was born. Previously known as Raspberry Simple Sour, this stunning sour ale is as bold as it looks, with raspberry and lemon flavors throughout and a clean, crisp finish.

The MABG has been supporting the industry since 2007, and for six years, Rob Martin, founder of Ipswich Ale Brewery, has been leading the charge. Early last week, however, the Guild appointed Rob Burns, co-founder of Night Shift Brewing, as their new President.