U.S. craft brewers are now shipping nearly half a million barrels of beer around the world, according to the latest Brewers Association (BA) estimates. In a press release, the BA — which represents the interests of small and independent U.S. craft brewers — said American craft beer exports grew 16.3 percent in 2015, to more than 446,000 barrels and a retail value of about $116 million.
Stone Brewing Co. is nearly national and the San Diego-based craft beer maker said it plans to be distributing in all 50 states before the end of 2016. It will move one step closer today, as it rolls out throughout Arkansas, its 42nd state. Michigan’s Bell’s Brewery, meanwhile, said it will continue its 2016 distribution expansion in May with forays into Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.
Full Sail Brewing has updated its look. The Oregon-based craft brewery this week unveiled a new logo and refreshed artwork for several of its core brands. Focusing on natural elements and landmarks surrounding the brewery, the rebrand was intended to emphasize Full Sail’s connection to nature and to modernize the company’s image in a market flooded with thousands of craft beer options.
Deschutes Brewery will continue distributing in the St. Louis area, albeit with a new wholesaler, the Oregon-based beer maker announced today. The company has signed an agreement with Major Brands, the largest Missouri-owned distributor of wine, beer, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages.
Rotation nation is alive and well. Popular craft-centric chain Yard House, which operates 63 restaurants across the U.S. and boasts an average of 130 tap handles per location, this week announced plans to evolve its beer program by adding nearly 1,600 new draft offerings. Beginning March 28, The California-based on-premise retailer, which recently completed its annual “beer review,” said it would tap an average of 20 to 30 new beers per restaurant.
Total craft growth slowed in 2015 as U.S. craft brewers grew volumes by 13 percent and retail dollars by 16 percent last year, according to new data compiled by trade group The Brewers Association (BA). In its annual report on industry-wide growth, the BA said more than 4,250 small and independent U.S. brewers collectively produced about 24.5 million barrels of beer in 2015.
After much-anticipation, Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery today announced plans to build a second commercial brewing facility in Roanoke, Virginia. The company, which brewed a majority of the 340,000 barrels it produced in 2015 out of a large brewery in Bend, Ore., doesn’t plan to begin construction on the new east coast location until 2019.
Pottsville, Penn.-based D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc. today unveiled its new “Respect. It’s Earned.” campaign, which includes print, digital, and TV marketing as well as retail-specific promotions. Running throughout the company’s 18-state footprint, the new campaign is the largest in the brewery’s history and builds on previous messaging that also touted the company’s heritage and emphasized its flagship Lager.
As sales of Mexican imports continue to grow, Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced plans to bring another label from south of the border into select U.S. markets. In a press release, A-B InBev said it would begin rolling out Estrella Jalisco, a light-flavored 4.5 percent ABV pilsner originally brewed in the city of Guadalajara, across 10 states this month.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week announced plans to delay enforcement of its new menu-labeling regulations until 2017. In a statement, Dr. Susan Mayne, who joined the FDA last January as the new director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the organization opted to move enforcement from December 1, 2016, to “the date that is one year after it issues final, Level 1 guidance,” as a result of language in the omnibus appropriations bill enacted by Congress on December 18, 2015.
MillerCoors is staying in Chicago. In a note sent to employees yesterday, CEO Gavin Hattersley said the company would keep its name, and its headquarters in Chicago, after Molson Coors acquires the 58 percent stake in the joint venture with SABMiller it does not already own.
Atwater, together with Flemish Fox Brewery & Craftworks, a soon-to-launch beer company founded by Christine Celis of “Celis Beer” fame, jointly formed a new company and will collaboratively construct a 27,000 sq. ft. facility capable of producing upwards of 60,000 barrels per year. A yet-to-be-named joint entity will own the real estate and the brewery assets.
In the hub of North Carolina’s craft beer industry, one brewery is growing like a weed. Asheville-based Wicked Weed Brewing today announced it would build another production facility this summer, its fourth brewery space in as many years. Located on 17 acres in South Asheville, the new 57,000 sq. ft. facility will be entirely devoted to the production of sour, farmhouse, and wild-fermented beers — style categories that Wicked Weed has increasingly focused on in recent years.
