Top Features

Production at 25 of the top 50 Brewers Association-defined craft breweries didn’t grow last year, according new data released today by the trade organization.

Popular southern California craft brewery The Bruery, which specializes in creating experimental sour and barrel-aged beer offerings, has sold a majority stake to Boston-area private equity firm Castanea Partners, Brewbound has learned. Specific financial terms were not disclosed; the deal is expected to close this month.

After 21 years at the controls of New Belgium’s brewing program, legendary brewmaster Peter Bouckaert will depart the country’s fourth-largest craft brewery for a much smaller project. New Belgium, which is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo. and has a brewing facility in Asheville, North Carolina, today announced that Bouckaert would leave the company for Purpose Brewing and Cellars, which was described in a press release as “an aspiring farm brewery” that would produce both coffee and beer.

Owl’s Brew, makers of tea-based cocktail mixers and a tea-and-beer Radler line, announced Thursday it has closed a $4 million series A funding round. The round included large investments from Anheuser-Busch InBev’s “disruptive growth organization,” ZX Ventures, and investment firm Cambridge Companies SPG. As part of ZX’s investment, a representative of the group will join Owl’s Brew’s board of directors.

More than 80 members of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts lobbied state lawmakers on Beacon Hill yesterday, rallying behind House Bill 2823, which would allow beer companies making less than 30,000 barrels annually to terminate relationships with wholesalers for no cause.

In a move that broadens its U.S. distribution footprint to 36 states and Washington, D.C., Dogfish Head Craft Brewery said Monday it would begin selling beer in West Virginia and Kansas later this month.

As expected, two North Carolina breweries have filed a constitutional challenge to a state law that requires breweries producing more than 25,000 barrels annually to contract with a wholesaler.

Michigan-based hospitality business holding company Farm + Ferment announced last week that it had acquired one of the state’s oldest craft brands, Arbor Brewing Company.

In a move aimed at upgrading its U.S. operations and “strengthening” its core brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev today said it would spend $2 billion on numerous brewing, packaging, supply chain and sustainability projects over the next four years. In 2017 alone, A-B said it plans to invest $500 million into various brewery, distribution, packaging and innovation initiatives.

Marty Butler is is the co-founder of The Butler Bros, an Austin-based branding, consulting and graphic design studio that has executed rebrands for craft breweries such as Maui Brewing Co. and Real Ale Brewing. In his column for Brewbound Voices, Butler, who also co-founded the Austin Home Brew Festival, describes his firm’s creative process while sharing lessons learned during recent branding projects with companies across the beer, spirits and food industries.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Wicked Weed postpones the Funkatorium Invitational; Speakeasy’s sale price is report; Massachusetts and Maryland alcohol task forces set meeting dates; and much more.

Hundreds of U.S. craft brewers that had been experimenting with a selection of South African-grown hops will no longer have access to the proprietary supply after Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns the farm, said it would reserve 100 percent of the latest yield for its own brands.

Wachusett Brewing Company today announced that Christian McMahan, who most recently served as a managing partner of creative agency Smartfish, would join the Massachusetts-based craft brewery as its new president. McMahan, who previously spent 2 1/2 years as the CMO of Heineken USA (2008 – 2010) and worked for six years as the vice president of marketing for Diageo (2002 – 2008), will officially join Wachusett in mid-June.

New allegations of illegal pay-to-play activities within the beer industry have resurfaced in Boston. A 14-month investigation by the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) into a wholly owned Anheuser-Busch wholesaler has resulted in charges that the beer distribution company illegally provided nearly $1 million in free equipment to retailers, according to the Boston Globe, who first reported the story.