It’s no surprise that Brewbound readers in 2022 sought out information on the year’s biggest craft brewery sale: the acquisition of Stone Brewing by Japanese brewing giant Sapporo.
Brewery deals are always among the most-read stories on Brewbound. However, the sale wasn’t the only thing keeping the San Diego craft brewery in the news in 2022.
We’ve rounded up the 10 most-read stories of 2022, in reverse order.
Not even a full year removed from the craft brewing industry’s speaking out movement that brought to light allegations of toxic workplace behavior, sexual harassment and worse, additional revalations continued to come to light, including allegations against Scottish craft brewery BrewDog and its co-founder and CEO James Watt.
A BBC expose in January included accusations of inappropriate behavior by Watt toward female employees and guests following visits to the company’s U.S. brewery and taprooms. Several former employees told the BBC that staff members created whisper networks to warn their coworkers of Watt’s pending visits to the BrewDog locations and his alleged behavior.
Watt responded to the BBC report with a threat of legal action and posted in a forum for BrewDog shareholders that being accused of “inappropriate behaviour” was “the most upsetting and damaging” “of all the false claims made in the programme.”
BrewDog is no longer B Corp certified, less than two years after earning the status. BrewDog has denied that the certification was revoked, and that the company has instead decided to “step aside” from it “for the time being” in favor of focusing on the company’s own ethical objectives, laid out in its BrewDog Blueprint, the company told Eater.
9. Jury Awards Stone Brewing $56 Million in Trademark Infringement Case with Molson Coors
Four years after Stone Brewing filed a lawsuit against Molson Coors alleging that the macro brewery’s Keystone brand had infringed upon the craft brewery’s “Stone” trademark, a federal jury sided with Stone and awarded the brewery $56 million in late March.
The $56 million award was well below Stone’s ask of $216 million. Over the course of a few weeks in March, there were several revelations, including the attorneys for Stone arguing that the 2017 Keystone Light rebrand that separated the words key and emphasized stone, led to a 20% decline in business for the craft brewery (a loss of $174 million) and that the brewery had considered a sale (more on that later).
The October raid by federal regulators of the Bay Area office of Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the country’s largest wine and spirits distributor, raised more than a few eyebrows but left more questions than answers.
Spokespeople for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service confirmed that representatives from their respective agencies were on-site at Southern Glazer’s Bay Area office but declined to share the purpose of the “official activity.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed an order against Uber-owned Drizly and CEO James Rellas, alleging the alcohol e-commerce platform “failed to use appropriate information security practices to protect consumers’ personal information,” resulting in a data breach that affected 2.5 million consumers.
“Respondents’ failures to provide reasonable security for consumers’ personal information have caused or are likely to cause substantial injury to consumers,” the FTC wrote.
Molson Coors is increasingly pulling the plug on brands that aren’t performing. In January, the company ceased production and distribution of the Saint Archer craft brewery brand. The move came two years after the company attempted to go national with the Saint Archer Gold challenge brand to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob Ultra, including promoting it with a 2020 Super Bowl ad buy that featured pro skateboarder Paul Rodriguez skating from store to store in search of the beer while whistling along to Guns N Roses’ “Patience.” But the company was impatient with the new product and announced its hibernation seven months later.
Enter, once again, Kings & Convicts, which swooped in and scooped up Saint Archer’s San Diego production facility. Kings & Convicts previously acquired the Ballast Point brand from Constellation Brands in 2019.
Brewery brand auctions aren’t over until they’re over. San Diego’s Modern Times Beer Co. was put on the auction block by court order, but the winning bidder didn’t end up as the owner of the beer brand.
Anaheim’s Brewery X placed the $20 million winning bid for Modern Times during the June auction process. However, the company later backed out of the deal. Eventually, Maui Brewing, who served as the stalking horse bidder in the auction, wound up getting Modern Times for $10 million, well-below the $264 million that the company’s founder valued the business.
5. Greg Koch Muses on Life After Stone in Farewell Post
The leaders of the craft beer revolution in the 1980s, 1990s and even 2000s are beginning to look to their next chapters – including one of the most outspoken revolutionaries. Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch had vowed to never sell his craft brewery to the man. That pledge proved breakable in 2022 when Stone was sold to Sapporo for $165 million.
In a nearly 2,500-word missive that opened with quotes from Metallica and Roman poet Heraclitus, Koch reflected on what the sale of his company to the Japanese brewing giant means for his future. For Koch, he called stepping away “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“I have to be self-aware enough to know that just because I co-founded and led the company for many years, I may not be the best person to helm Stone into the future,” he wrote. “I’d planned to operate the puppet strings all the way to my last days, but can easily see now how disrespectful that would be to all the people that have shared our vision along the way … especially the folks that are here now and showing up and working hard every day. I’ve run the calculus every which way (over and over in my head for years now), and this is the most pragmatic decision to ensure this beautiful thing I care so much about has a future.”
As for Stone sans Koch, the company launched a spirits-based ready-to-drink canned cocktail line and is gearing up for production of Sapporo products at its bicoastal facilities.
Some were probably more excited for a non-alcoholic version of Guinness, but a hunch tells us more were into finding out that Baja Blast would be the fourth Hard MTN Dew flavor.
The tropical fruit flavored FMB joined MTN Dew Original, Black Cherry and Watermelon in a 12 oz. can variety 12-pack for the brand’s limited roll out for the product, which Boston Beer licensed via PepsiCo, which distributed the product through its new distribution branch, Blue Cloud. The roll out to new markets has proven bumpy due to regulatory hurdles. Nevertheless, Boston Beer brass said in July that they expect Hard MTN Dew to be “a big contributor” in 2023. We’ll have to wait for the Q4 earnings call to find out if they’ve since cooled on the product as it has lost traction in its longer-tenured markets.
The Brewers Association’s (BA) annual release of its rankings of the top 50 craft breweries by sales volume is among the most anticipated reveals of the year. In sharing the list, the trade group also revealed that craft brewer volumes increased by +8% in 2021.
Although the top of the list remains fairly static, the intrigue comes from the newcomers. In 2021, non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing jumped from No. 65 to No. 27, with the Stratford, Connecticut-based brewer crossing the 100,000-barrel threshold.
Kona Brewing in Hawaii returned at No. 29, after returning to BA craft status following Anheuser-Busch InBev and Craft Brew Alliance divesting of Kona’s Hawaii business in order to complete their merger.
Maui Brewing, which wasn’t ranked in 2020, checked in at No. 43; Scofflaw Brewing leaped 21 spots to take the No. 45 spot. Fiddlehead Brewing rocketed 37 spots to rank as No. 49; and North Coast Brewing returned to the top 50 after a 1-year hiatus to take No. 50.
Expect the 2022 list to be released around early April 2023.
2. 30 Workers Laid Off Following New Belgium and Bell’s Merger
Following the November 2021 sale of Bell’s Brewery to New Belgium parent company Lion Little World Beverages, about 30 employees were laid off in April 2022. The layoffs amounted to less than 3% of New Belgium and Bell’s combined workforce.
The majority of affected employees were in the company’s sales team due to overlaps in geographic territories and wholesaler or retailer relationships. Employees were offered severance packages, and are invited to apply for open sales roles in other territories.
“We’ve done everything possible to protect as many jobs as we could, but in a few cases there was irreconcilable overlap,” Adam Fetcher, senior director of communications and public engagement, told Brewbound in a statement at the time. “Ultimately, we made the tough decision to say goodbye to a small number of good people.”
Unfortunately, layoffs within craft beer continued late into 2022.
1. Stone Brewing Sold to Sapporo
The year’s biggest transaction – the sale of San Diego’s Stone Brewing to Sapporo for $165 million – was the most-read story on Brewbound in 2022. Brewbound was the first news outlet to report the news at 2:16 a.m. ET, which likely helped skyrocket this story to No. 1.
In Stone, Sapporo secured the ninth-largest, BA-defined craft brewery by volume in the U.S. in 2021, the 18th largest brewing company overall in the U.S., one of the most recognizable names in the craft brewing movement, and bicoastal production facilities.
Sapporo beer produced at Stone’s breweries is expected to hit the market by Q3 2023.
What’s next in 2023? We’re only a few weeks away from finding out.