In this week’s edition of Last Call: Yakima Chief Hops faces a breach of contract lawsuit; Greg Koch to be on the big screen Sunday; 5 Rabbit’s fight with Donald Trump set to screen; and more news from the week.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Constellation Brands seeks $3 billion for U.S. wine brands; the New York Prohibition Party seeks alcohol ban; BrewDog takes to the skies; and another wave of brewery closures hits.

Despite ongoing shipment and depletion declines in the United States, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global revenues were up 4.6 percent through the first nine months of 2018. A-B, the world’s largest beer manufacturer, posted global revenue growth of 4.5 percent, to more than $13.2 billion, during the third quarter, as revenue per hectoliter increased 4.2 percent. The company’s gross profit increased 3.5 percent, nearly $8.3 billion.

In this week’s Last Call: Canada lifts its tariff on U.S. aluminum cans; farmers and brewers downplay climate change’s effect on beer production and pricing; the Brewers Association lands Iron Maiden’s singer as CBC keynote speaker; and more news from the week.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: A study finds the economic impact of San Diego brewers exceeds $1 billion; the Brewers Association analyzes GABF winners; a price-fixing probe in India snares A-B InBev, Carlsberg and United Breweries; and more news from the week.

Another round of leadership changes is on tap at Anheuser-Busch. Months after splitting its so-called “High End” craft and import division into two separate business units, and after it reorganized its North American sales and marketing teams, Anheuser-Busch today announced that Felipe Szpigel would leave his post as president of the craft business unit for a newly created position within the company.

In this week’s Press Clips: Anheuser-Busch plans to feature NBA and MLB athletes in ad campaigns; Celis Brewery assumes sales responsibilities for Uncle Billy’s and Pedernales brands; the Beer Institute releases domestic tax paid estimate for August; and more news.

Surging freight costs, a shortage of long-haul truck drivers and new laws restricting the number of hours that drivers can be on the road are cutting into profits of beer companies and other major corporations throughout the United States. Although increased transportation costs are affecting all consumer goods industries, Beer Institute chief economist Michael Uhrich told Brewbound that they’re disproportionately affecting the beer industry because the vast majority of beer sold domestically is shipped. Last year, beer companies shipped 2.9 billion cases of beer, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

This week’s Middle Tier Headlines include: Ska Brewing exits Texas; Cigar City begins exporting to Scandinavia; Maine Beer Company adds Georgia distribution; the NBWA releases the latest Beer Purchaser’s Index; and more news.

Several beer companies throughout North and South Carolina have temporarily halted operations in preparation for Hurricane Florence, which is set to make landfall over the next 24 hours, bringing with it wind gusts exceeding 74 mph and days of storm surges, flooding and double-digit rainfall. States of emergency have been declared in the Carolinas, and the governors in those states have urged more than 1 million residents of coastal towns to evacuate. Georgia, Virginia and Maryland have also issued emergency orders. Palmetto Brewing Co., which was acquired in late 2017 by Catawba Brewing Co., shut down on Wednesday, with its 20 employees being encouraged to evacuate the area.

Thousands of California beer industry professionals met in Sacramento last week for the California Craft Brewers Association annual three-day Craft Beer Summit, Expo and Beer Festival. As an official media partner of the event, Brewbound hosted 10 hours of live streamed interviews, and sat in on a variety of seminars during the show. Here’s what we learned.

Channeling his inner Justin Timberlake, Founders Brewing co-founder and CEO Mike Stevens told hundreds of industry professionals attending last week’s Meeting of the Malts gathering in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that “America forgot how to make beer sexy.” Stevens — who successfully avoided a wardrobe malfunction while participating in a panel discussion about the state of the beer industry alongside Victory Brewing co-founder Bill Covaleski, D.G. Yuengling & Sons chief administrative officer Wendy Yuengling, Yards Brewing founder Tom Kehoe and Cigar City founder Joey Redner — wasn’t calling for a return to the days of provocative advertising, however.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: The Nevada Attorney General investigates MillerCoors; Stone seeks an injunction in its Keystone case; Almanac’s co-founder departs the company; and more news from the week.

Anheuser-Busch announced several personnel moves on Tuesday, including changes to its U.S. marketing and North American sales teams. In separate notes to the company’s wholesalers, chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes and chief sales officer Brendan Whitworth discussed the changes, which are part of North American CEO Michel Doukeris’ commercial reorganization plan.