Top Features

In this edition of People Moves, Modern Times’ head brewer departs for Hong Kong, Fifty West hires the owner of Blank Slate and more.

Fighting an ugly court case, but in charge of distributing more than a half-million cases of beer annually, Northern Nevada-based beer wholesaler Crown Beverages ceased operations on June 30, Brewbound has learned. Many of the beer brands Crown once distributed have found a new route to market via competing wholesalers that deliver to retailers in the area.

A new distribution company with ties to a small Virginia craft brewery is set to launch in the Southwestern part of the state. Saint X LLC — which aims to provide an alternative route to market for small craft brewers — has set up shop in a 10,000 sq. ft. warehouse located near recently launched Beale’s Brewery in Bedford, Va.

In the latest Distribution Roundup: Stone fills out its nationwide footprint; Knee Deep adds six states; Coppertail Brewing adds 20 counties in northern Florida; and more.

The founders of a music-focused production company that has worked with clients from Converse to Kanye West are getting into the craft beer business. Brent Nichols, Daron Hollowell and Kelcie Jadkowski of Ring the Alarm — which composes and licenses music for TV, movies and advertising campaigns — have launched 24 Hour Beer, a session-strength beer company aiming to become the “the anti-craft, craft beer.”

In this week’s Last Call: Utah considers revising 3.2 laws; Golden Road rethinks its proposed Oakland beer garden; ex-New Belgium brewmaster’s Purpose Brewing & Cellars sets grand opening; and more.

Florida beer wholesalers and brewers are attempting to return to work in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which wreaked havoc on the state and has left millions of residents without power.

A nearly decade-long debate over how to reform Massachusetts’ controversial beer franchise laws continued Tuesday afternoon, as craft brewers and beer wholesalers packed a basement meeting room of the statehouse to testify before the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.

Melvin Brewing has begun shipping limited quantities of beer to New York, and parts of California’s Bay Area, as part of a plan to build buzz for the brand before officially launching in those territories in early 2018.

Brewbound is excited to announce that Brew Talks events will be held during the upcoming Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) shows. Brew Talks, Brewbound’s traveling meetup series for beer business professionals, will gather leading industry brewers and distributors for in-depth discussions about the future of the craft beer segment and intimate networking opportunities.

After adding nearly 2,000 workers over the course of acquiring 10 U.S. craft breweries, Anheuser-Busch InBev is doing some cutting.

Fast-growing Lord Hobo Brewing – which launched in 2015 and grew more than 400 percent last year — today announced that it has sold a minority stake to Valterra Partners, a boutique private investment firm with offices in New York and Massachusetts. Specific financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close this month.

As recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey continue in the Houston area, Florida is bracing for category 5 Hurricane Irma, which is slated to hit this weekend. The storm is expected to be more powerful than Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 hurricane that devastated the Bahamas and Florida 25 years ago and is considered the most destructive hurricane in the state’s history. Several Florida breweries are already preparing to hunker down.

Upland Brewing owner and president Doug Dayhoff will sell his minority interest in the company back to existing investors and depart the company at the end of the year, the company announced today. Speaking to Brewbound, Dayhoff, 47, said the investor group would repurchase his minority interest in the company over the next “1-2 years.”