He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president. Now, 188 years after his death, Thomas Jefferson can add to his resume. According to a Times Dispatch report, economic developers in Virginia dug up (read: hired an actor to play) Thomas Jefferson to help sell Stone Brewing on the state when the company was still in search of a place to build a facility on the east coast.
10 Barrel Brewing, a craft beer company based in Bend, Ore., today announced it has agreed to be acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer manufacturer. Official terms of the deal were not disclosed. It’s Anheuser-Busch’s second craft acquisition this year — it purchased New York’s Blue Point Brewing in February — and reflects the beer giant’s growing interest in the craft segment.
Smuttynose Brewing yesterday announced it will begin distributing beer to Arizona per an agreement with Arizona Beer and Cider Company, a new wholesale outfit based in Phoenix. Though this is Summtynose’s first foray into Arizona, it’s not the first time the company has done business with the founders of Arizona Beer and Cider, Jim and Jason Ebel.
The Brewers Association (BA) is once again calling on its members to steer the organization’s response to the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial spent grains proposal in its most recently revised form. Hoping to inform additional comments, the BA is surveying its craft brewery members to find out how many process their spent grains before selling them to farmers for use as animal feed.
In an off-beat quest to upend Prohibition-era regulations that many brewers in the state decry as overly burdensome, the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild (GCBG) has launched a crowdfunding campaign in hopes of hiring a lobbyist to work on behalf of the state’s craft beer industry. The Guild has already tapped the services of Atlanta’s Thrash-Haliburton, a government affairs firm, but now plans to use the funds raised on Indiegogo to bring them on full-time.
Reyes Beverage Group today announced it would acquire South Florida’s Gold Coast Beverage Distributors in a blockbuster deal that brings another 27 million cases to a Reyes Group that, through its 12 wholesale outfits across the country, already sells more than 100 million cases annually. Once complete, the deal would make Reyes comparable in size to the largest distributor in the U.S., Anheuser-Busch InBev, with around 140 million cases.
Beginning early November, Fort Collins Brewery will ship its core lineup and select seasonal offerings throughout Arizona per an agreement with Young’s Market Company. Named after the northern Colorado town it was founded in, Fort Collins will round its distribution footprint out to 23 states with the launch.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing, one of California’s faster-growing, but relatively unknown, craft breweries, has announced a slew of expansion plans that include a new international presence, adding three new taprooms and turning over distribution rights to a local beer wholesaler. The company plans to start contract brewing in Germany within six months while it searches for a location to build its own facility in the Bavarian region of the country.
Harpoon Brewery today announced it will promote Charlie Story, the Boston-based company’s current vice president of marketing, to the position of president. Storey, who joined the company in 1996, will oversee marketing, retail and festival initiatives and also manage the brewery’s distribution arm.
A Florida restaurant has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court claiming that the state’s ban on 64 oz. growlers is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. According to Sunshine State News, the suit aims to end the ban on half-gallon growlers, which has been a highly controversial issue in the state; currently, 32 oz. and 128 oz. growlers are legal, but the industry standard 64 oz. option is prohibited.
Pushing farther into the state of Pennsylvania, Port Brewing will expand its distribution throughout Pittsburgh, the company announced today. Per an agreement with Wilson-McGinley, the brewery, which is headquartered out of San Marcos, Calif., will begin selling core and seasonal products from its Port Brewing and Lost Abbey labels in the newly added market this year.
There’s a difference between being coastal and being on the coast. That’s a difference that Pelican Brewing has long exploited, as visitors to its beachside pub and brewery in Pacific City, Ore. can dig their toes in the sand, pint in hand, without straying from the premises. In a state that needs no help selling itself as a craft beer destination, Pelican’s immaculate location has for years given the company a leg to stand on that was uniquely its own.
You’d more likely come across a stone bust of Sam Calagione than one bearing the visage of Plato at World of Beer’s recently launched eponymous school. Well, you would if the school had a physical location, anyway. To build the “Ultimate Beer Quiz,” World of Beer tapped some of the biggest names in craft beer, asking them to help create a series of online quizzes aimed at educating beer consumers.
As part of its continued effort to realign its California distribution network, Knee Deep Brewing will now be sold by DBI Beverage of Sacramento throughout the region. “This is the final step in the reorganization of our distribution network in Northern California,” said Jerry Moore, Knee Deep CEO, in a news release.
