Five months after SweetWater Brewing began canning its beer, the Atlanta-based craft brewery is once again augmenting its packaging lineup. Beginning this week, Sweetwater will ship newly designed glass bottles, now embossed with the company’s logo and tagline, to its wholesalers.
It’s been nearly 18 months in the making, but Brew Hub is finally ready to open the doors to its Lakeland, Fla. brewery. The company has installed a 100-barrel brewhouse and is now taking its brewing and fermentation equipment for a test drive, Schoen told Brewbound.
A Florida company claiming to have acquired the majority interest in a World of Beer franchise in Key West has sued the chain’s parent company, alleging it reneged on its initial approval of the deal months after the fact. According to the suit, filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Alfa Professional HR Services, Inc. bought 60 percent of Craft Culture Key West, LLC, the franchisee of World of Beer’s Key West outpost in January.
Concerns over public safety could block the tap lines Chainline Brewing is trying to open up in Kirkland, Wash. Worried citizens fear the new brewery slated to open in a shared commerce complex would pose a threat to public safety and lead to the overcrowding of an already busy parking lot.
It was a “very good” second quarter, according to Craft Brew Alliance, the makers of Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona, Omission and Square Mile Cider. During an earnings call on Thursday, CEO Andy Thomas described the quarter as one that would “go down as a record for CBA.”
There’s still more than a month left in summer but already, pumpkin beer patches are growing on store shelves. The rollout started early this year: New York’s Southern Tier Brewing bottled its popular Pumking offering on May 28 and the first cases of it appeared at a Pennsylvania retail store on June 30.
Last week, Notch Brewing founder Chris Lohring thought that he’d finally found a location where he could build his company’s first production facility. Lohring, who launched Notch as a contract craft brand in 2010, had already visited a dozen properties in Salem, Mass., a coastal town located about 40 minutes north of Boston.
Hopunion and Yakima Chief, two of the country’s largest hop suppliers, have announced a merger that will combine both worldwide operations under a single parent company. According to an Aug. 1 press statement, the new entity, Yakima Chief-Hopunion LLC (YCH), has acquired the equity and assets of both companies and related entities.
Having just celebrated its first anniversary in May, Saint Archer Brewing Co. is proving there’s still room to grow in a crowded San Diego craft beer market. The company today announced it’s in the midst of an expansion that will increase production by 45 percent monthly.
Last Friday, the craft brewer invited several members of the media on a hard tour of its new “Funkatorium,” a 9,000 sq. ft. facility dedicated to sour beer production. The new location, which is scheduled to open to the public in September, will allow the company to quadruple the size of its sour beer program.
Around this time last year, New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan was laying out her company’s expansion timeline. The plan, Jordan said, was to sell beer in all 50 U.S. states by 2018. Fast-forward 12 months and the company is already announcing plans to expand into its 38th state, Kentucky.
With $4 million in bank loans secured for the first phase of construction, the 18,000 sq. ft. expansion will primarily enable Allagash to increase its packaging capacity, grow its lab program, implement a new tour route, and create additional office space. The brewery also plans install four fermentation tanks, said Naomi Neville, the brewery’s national sales director.
One of the country’s oldest breweries is dipping its toe into a sea of craft beer SKUs. The 153-year old Pittsburgh Brewing Company, which currently produces six different premium lager and light lager brands, is rolling out its first craft offering under a new label: Block House Brewing.
In its second quarter earnings report, the Boston Beer Company today announced net revenue growth of 28 percent, an increase of $50.3 million over the same period last year. Second quarter core shipment volume of approximately 1.1 million barrels represents growth of 25 percent over the same period last year.
