Craft Brew Alliance

Craft Brew Alliance, Inc. (“CBA”) (Nasdaq: BREW), a leading craft brewing company, today announced that it was named “Craft Beer Company of the Year” by Hooters of America, a leading national restaurant chain with locations across the country. The award underscores CBA’s strong partnership with Hooters and specifically recognizes the successful launch of a special 2015 summer promotion featuring Kona Brewing Company’s Big Wave Golden Ale, one of the fastest-growing brands in the craft beer category.

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) is in the process of purchasing a minority stake in Nantucket, Mass.-based Cisco Brewers, CEO Andy Thomas told Brewbound on Monday. The two parties are still negotiating specific terms, but Thomas said a deal would be for less than 25 percent of the company, enabling Cisco to maintain its status as a Brewers Association-defined craft brewer.

How do you deliver more beer to more people? That’s the number one question craft brewery entrepreneurs are currently wrestling with, said Karmen Olson, Craft Brew Alliance’s senior manager of emerging business. Speaking to more than 130 beer industry professionals during Wednesday night’s Brew Talks meetup, held at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., Olson provided a glimpse into CBA’s new emerging business unit, which seeks to invest in and form “strategic partnerships” with small U.S. craft breweries.

Appalachian Mountain Brewery (AMB) has extended its strategic partnership with Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), entering into an alternating proprietorship agreement that will include increased production of the North Carolina-based company’s core beers at the larger company’s east coast brewery. In an earnings release, AMB said it is “excited to be able to increase capacity significantly by leveraging excess capacity that CBA has in Portsmouth, N.H.”

Shares of Craft Brew Alliance (BREW) plunged today following yesterday’s after-hours release of weaker than expected second quarter earnings. During a quarterly earnings call, CEO Andy Thomas tried his best to reassure investors that the company’s performance in home markets, and its continued investment against a long-term strategy of improving gross margins, were bright spots in an otherwise disappointing three-month period.

The opportunity to deploy a good pun never escapes the folks over at Craft Brew Alliance. A “swelling” number of beer drinkers are purchasing the company’s Hawaiian-themed session brand, Kona Big Wave, according to a press release. Citing recent IRI data, CBA said that annual Big Wave Golden Ale sales are up 66 percent – or as the company also put it: “four times the growth rate of the entire craft beer category.”