The Brewers Association – a not-for-profit trade group representing the interests of small and independent U.S. craft breweries – today debuted an official “independent craft brewer seal” that it hopes brewery owners will “proudly display” on packaging, marketing materials, merchandise, websites and in taproom windows, among other places. The marker is aimed at helping drinkers distinguish between beers produced by small craft beer companies and those made by multinational corporations, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has purchased 10 craft breweries since 2011.
In anticipation of moving into a new production facility in late 2018, Russian River Brewing Company has put its original Sonoma County production brewery on the market.
Standard Sales Company, based in Odessa, Texas, has announced plans to purchase Falls Distributing Company in Wichita Falls, Texas. Specific financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction, which is pending supplier approvals, is expected to close on September 1, according to a press release issued by Standard Sales Company last Friday.
On a recent visit to Connecticut, Dan Kenary, the co-founder and CEO of Boston’s Harpoon Brewery, discovered that 60 percent of the unrefrigerated beers at one retail account did not have code dates. “That’s shameful,” he exclaimed to roughly 200 beer industry professionals attending last week’s Brewbound Session business conference in New York City.
Constellation Brand’s continued effort to move Ballast Point Brewing into its so-called “Gold Network” of U.S. beer distributors took a significant leap forward this month when the San Diego-based brewery’s distribution rights were sold in its second largest market — Massachusetts.
Constellation, a cross-category alcoholic beverage company best known for selling Mexican import offerings Corona and Modelo, has confirmed to Brewbound that Ballast Point beers are no longer being sold in Massachusetts by Atlantic Beverage Distributors and the Sheehan Family Companies-owned Craft Beer Guild LLC.
Yet another established craft brewery founder has stepped away from day-to-day CEO responsibilities. Deschutes Brewery founder Gary Fish has turned his CEO position over to Michael LaLonde, who had been serving as the president and chief operating officer for the Bend, Oregon-based craft brewery.
The number of licensed breweries in Virginia has grown 468 percent since 2012, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced last week. In a press release, Gov. McAuliffe said Virginia was now home to 206 licensed beer companies, ranking the mid-Atlantic state no. 13 in the U.S. for number of breweries.
Despite the growth in “own-premise” sales, executives from prominent beer-centric retail chains Yard House, Old Chicago (Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries) and World of Beer told a room of industry professionals attending last Thursday’s Brewbound Session that the increasing amount of beer flowing through brewery taprooms wasn’t yet a major concern.
Craft beer has an identity crisis, Bell’s Brewery CEO Laura Bell told an audience of nearly 200 industry professionals attending Thursday’s Brewbound Session in New York City.
Armada Brewing emerged victorious in Startup Brewery Challenge 8, a business pitch competition sponsored by Craft Brew Alliance, which was held during Thursday’s Brewbound Session conference in New York City. John Kraszewski, the founder of Armada Brewing, competed against representatives from four other emerging breweries: M.I.A. Beer Company, Good City Brewing, Black Star Line Brewing Company, and Torch & Crown Brewing.
Independence matters to craft beer drinkers. During Thursday morning’s New York version of the Brewbound Session, Nielsen senior vice president of beverage alcohol practice Danny Brager and associate client manager Caitlyn Battaglia revealed the findings of a new 2,000-person Harris Poll survey co-developed by Brewbound and Nielsen examining whether 29 popular buzzwords used to market beer are resonating with regular craft beer drinkers.
