Craft beer industry news.
In a move that underscores the ongoing tension between beer wholesalers and brewers in Massachusetts, up-and-coming Night Shift Brewing has launched a full-scale distribution business aimed at challenging what the brewery calls an anti-competitive and archaic system.
Acclaimed brewer Dave Hoops has announced plans to build a brewery and taproom in the Canal Park district of Duluth, Minn. Hoops has nearly 25 years of brewing experience, was a founding member of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, is a beer columnist, serves as a beer judge for the Brewers Association, and has won six medals at the Great American Beer Festival—three as Lead Brewer at Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley, CA and three as Master Brewer at Fitger’s Brewhouse. Hoops currently works as a consultant for Bev-Craft, a craft beer think tank based out of Superior, Wis.
Two Roads Brewing of Stratford, CT will release their newest beer in the “Road Less Traveled” series in early November. Named Bog Wild, the beer is a tart cranberry sour made with fresh cranberry juice and spices.
In this week’s edition of press clips: Bart Watson blogs about the craft slowdown; Modern Times Beer reveals an Anaheim brewery project and Golden Eagle announces an Illinois acquisition.
As the weather gets colder and some craft beer drinkers gravitate towards darker beers, Right Brain Brewery is happy to greet them with Naughty Girl Mint Stout six-packs. Naughty Girl Stout, previously available only in 22 oz bottles and on draft, takes inspiration from a well-known mint chocolate cookie, delivering complex chocolate notes with a cooling minty finish.
Culinary brewery Moody Tongue and its Brewmaster Jared Rouben will open the Tasting Room at Moody Tongue (2136 S. Peoria St.) tonight, Friday, October 28 at 5:00 p.m. Located adjacent to the brewery in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, the Tasting Room provides an educational experience for guests to explore their palates in an intimate yet open setting.
In the near future, JDub’s beers will be available in Georgia. JDub’s is currently interviewing distributors in the Peach State and we hope to be on shelves in stores and on draft lines soon. Recent IRI data gives us optimism for the expansion, which shows that over the past month, JDub’s is the #1 selling Florida craft brewery amongst all beers sold in Florida liquor stores. (IRI sales data snippet available upon request) Moreover, we have already built a solid relationship with Kroger that will be a focus of ours moving into the new territory.
In the final entry of our three-part series on branding considerations for craft breweries, Isaac Arthur, a partner and designer at CODO Design in Indianapolis, Indiana, explains how an established brewery might approach a rebranding process.
Short’s Brewing Company announces the distribution of a new seasonal beer, The Double Magician. A double version of staple brew and fan favorite, The Magician, The Double Magician is slated to be released on Halloween.
ThirstyBear Organic Brewery puts a uniquely American spin on the ancient Belgian brewing practice of wild fermentation with the much-anticipated release of Stave Series No. 16: The Wild American. For its annual limited-edition Stave Series, ThirstyBear barrel aged The Wild American in American oak, inoculated the brew with Brettanomyces and dry-hopped it with the American hop varietal Mosaic. ThirstyBear’s Stave Series releases are a highly coveted annual favorite for Bay Area craft beer fans.
Moody Tongue Brewery, the Chicago-based culinary brewery, continues to expand its national reach to culinary-focused markets as it officially launches in the San Francisco Bay Area this November, providing residents with a chance to get their hands on the highly acclaimed chef-driven beers.
Before it moved into a new 67,000 sq. ft. brewing facility at 100 Clinton Street in Framingham, Mass., popular Boston-area craft brewery Jack’s Abby occupied just 15,000 sq. ft. of space in a warehouse less than one mile away from its current location. And when the company finishes building out an expanded “Springdale” taproom and barrel-aging space in a recently acquired area next door to its existing production site, it will officially be operating within a 130,000 sq. ft. footprint.
Twenty years ago, brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker established Firestone Walker Brewing Company in a converted shed on the back-forty of the Firestone family vineyard on California’s Central Coast. Ten years later, after moving up the road to Paso Robles, the brewery celebrated its first decade with X (or 10), a trailblazing barrel-aged anniversary ale blended with input from local winemakers, and offered for the then-audacious sum of $9.99 per 22-ounce bottle. Now comes XX, which is both a celebration and a culmination, marking Firestone Walker’s 20th anniversary on California’s Central Coast. XX is a limited release that will be available via individually boxed 22-ounce bottles ($23.99) at select accounts across all Firestone Walker markets starting in November.
Santa Fe Brewing Company (SFBC) is excited to announce that they have transitioned all of their everyday beers to cans, discontinuing all 12 oz. bottle packages effective immediately.
