Cellarmaker Brewing Acquires Fellow Bay Area Brewery The Rare Barrel
San Francisco-based Cellarmaker Brewing Company has acquired The Rare Barrel and its facility in Berkeley, California.
Cellarmaker will continue the “Rare Barrel brand and product line in addition to using the brewery in their facility to provide an increased presence of Cellarmaker beer throughout the Bay [Area],” according to Cellarmaker’s announcement on Facebook.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The Rare Barrel is a sour-focused brewery founded in 2013 by Joy Goodwin, Alex Wallash and Brad Goodwin. Cellarmaker – which also launched in 2013 – is “close friends” with the Rare Barrel founders, working together “on various collaboration beers” over the years and celebrating their five-year anniversaries together.
“It’s been a privilege to consider them friends and colleagues,” Cellarmaker wrote.
Rare Barrel has been exploring a sale for more than six months, according to the company in an Instagram post.
“Like many others, the financial toll of the pandemic hit us hard and we determined that the best way of preventing a closure would be to find a partner to take over The Rare Barrel,” the company wrote. “For the past 10 years, we at TRB [The Rare Barrel] have had the great honor to work with so many terrific friends across this industry, a long list of wonderful employees and passionate customers. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your support and kindness.”
With the addition of Rare Barrel’s facility, Cellarmaker will be moving out of its taproom on Howard Street after nine years. The company has been “on the hunt for a larger location to grow the brand for some time,” which was accelerated after the company was “unable to reach any reasonable agreement” with the facility’s landlord for the coming year.
“The decision to close Howard Street is not something we took lightly and was incredibly difficult,” Cellarmaker wrote. “We sincerely appreciate each and every one of you that has visited us at our Howard Street location over the past nine years. We will continue to operate the tasting room through the end of December and hope you’ll join us for one (or three) final beers before we say goodbye to our original flagship location.”
All of Cellarmaker’s Howard Street production will move to Rare Barrel’s facility. The location “will need to close before they can officially take over,” but that date has yet to be determined, according to Rare Barrel. Cellarmaker’s House of Pizza in Bernal Heights will remain in operation “serving as [its] San Francisco location.”
Rare Barrel produced an estimated 800 barrels of beer in 2021, according to the Brewers Association (BA). Cellarmaker produced an estimated 2,300 barrels, increasing from 1,930 barrels in 2020, according to the BA.
Just Kidding: Qatar Will Not Allow Beer Sales at FIFA World Cup
Two days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar, the country has said it will not allow beer sales at the event, walking back previous expectations, The New York Times reported.
“Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters,” FIFA wrote in a statement published early this morning.
The decision specifically impacts Budweiser’s $75 million sponsorship agreement with FIFA for the tournament. Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) will be limited to selling just its non-alcoholic brand Budweiser Zero to fans, the Times reported.
“The tournament organizers appreciate A-B InBev’s understanding and continuous support to our joint commitment to cater for everyone during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” FIFA wrote.
A small exception to the rule will allow beer and other alcoholic beverages, such as an official FIFA Champagne, to be served in stadium luxury suites – “reserved for FIFA officials and other wealthy guests,” according to the report.
Alcoholic beverages are allowed in Qatar, but are strictly regulated to hotel bars and other limited locations. FIFA and Qatar have battled over bev-alc allowances, frequently adjusting what would be permitted during the event, including limited hours for purchases and locations where the beer could be sold.
Last month, Qatar’s World Cup chief Nasser Al Khater stated that the sale of beer would be allowed outside of the eight event stadiums in “fan zones.” But last week, when red Budweiser tents were seen outside the stadium, FIFA was allegedly asked to move these beer stations to more discreet locations, “away from where most of the crowds attending the games would pass,” the Times reported.
Epic Brewing to Close Denver Taproom
Salt Lake City, Utah-based Epic Brewing will close its Denver location at the end of this year after nine years in the River North Art District (RiNo), Porch Drinking reported.
Epic opened the 19,000 sq. ft taproom and brewery in 2013. The “more saturated Denver market” as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and “inflation-related expense around freight and material goods” contributed to the decision to close, according to the report.
Epic will move all its production to its home state of Utah and will continue to operate its taproom in Salt Lake City. The company is considering returning to Denver in the future with a small tasting room, according to Porch Drinking.
Epic produced 12,632 barrels of beer in 2021, a -6% decline year-over-year (YoY) after a -42% YoY decline in 2020, according to the BA. The company’s production peaked in 2017 with 28,186 barrels, but has reported varying declines since.
Allagash to Keep Tasting Experience Option at Portland Taproom with ‘The Cellars’
This month Allagash Brewing Company will open The Cellars, a “refined tasting space” with small-batch offerings, at its Portland, Maine taproom.
The space is expected to open November 26 and will host guided tasting sessions for guests in “the section of the brewery where Allagash founder Rob Tod brewed his first-ever batches of beer.”
The news follows Allagash’s September announcement that it would open a new tasting room in Scarborough, Maine, converting its Portland space to mainly a production facility. The new tasting room is expected to open in 2024.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be able to share these innovative and experimental beers with guests in our beautiful barrel room space,” Allagash’s sales and hospitality director Naomi Neville said in a release. “The Cellars allows us to connect more deeply with our guests while continuing to provide a tasting experience at our home in Portland.”
Neville will oversee The Cellars experience, according to the release. Tours will be available, with a reservation required, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at $35 per person.
As previously reported, Allagash’s Portland tasting room will remain open until the Scarborough location is opened. The Cellars will serve as a way to still keep a “tasting experience” in Portland, but at a smaller scale, allowing for expanded production capacity at the location.
“Portland has been and will always be our home,” Tod said in a September release. “It’s where we brew all of the beer that made us what we are today, where we employ a team of over 140 people, and that’s not changing. Our core goal at Allagash has been to give people new experiences and create community through beer, and this future space in Scarborough will achieve that and so much more.”
Allagash produced a record 117,798 barrels of beer in 2021, a +24% increase YoY, according to the BA. The company is now the 23rd largest BA-defined craft brewery by volume, and the 32nd largest brewery in the U.S. overall.
Drizly: RTDs and Hard Seltzers ‘Permanently Changed’ How Retailers Stock Shelves; Craft Beer Could See 2023 Comeback
The boom of ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs) and hard seltzers in recent years has “permanently changed” the way retailers manage their shelves, according to the e-commerce alcoholic delivery platform Drizly in its annual Retail Report.
Drizly surveyed more than 250 adults who “manage or own an independent liquor store.” The majority of those respondents (71.2%) said RTDs and hard seltzers have permanently altered how they manage shelf, cooler and floor space.
Both segments appeared to exceed retailers’ expectations for this year, despite the slowdown of hard seltzer. Just under half of respondents (45%) said RTDs overperformed expectations, while 40% said so for hard seltzers – the second and third highest after tequila (54%).
Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) plan to carry more RTDs in 2023 – the fourth most after tequila, bourbon and scotch – while 12.7% plan to stock fewer. Nearly half of respondents (49.4%) plan to stock more hard seltzer next year, while 28% plan to stock less.
But it may not be totally bad news for traditional beer, as Drizly said craft may be poised for a comeback in 2023, with more than a third of retailers (35%) labeling craft beer a top trending bev-alc segment for next year. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents said craft beer outperformed 2022 expectations, the fifth highest after whiskey (33%).
Out of the beer styles, the majority of retailers (58.6%) expect to stock IPAs more in 2023, followed by seasonals (38.5%), hard seltzer (33.6%), lager (22.1%), ale (25%), cider (21.1%), non-alc beer (17.9%), stouts (17.9%) and sours (17.3%).
Out of the total non-alcoholic beverage category, the majority of retailers expect to stock more NA beer in 2023 (60.9%), followed significantly behind by NA wine (21.8%), NA RTDs (21.4%) and NA spirits (19.2%).
Boston Beer Releases First Environmental, Social and Governance Report
Boston Beer Company released its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report today – the company’s “first stand-alone document” available to the public detailing the company’s ESG impacts and initiatives.
2021 was a “pivotal point” for Boston Beer, according to president and CEO Dave Burwick in the report.
“Within Boston Beer, we used 2021 to set the course for the future,” Burwick wrote. “That included formalizing our approach to ESG by outlining a company-wide philosophy.”
That philosophy is led by three tenets:
- “Holistic” sustainability with “environmental management, social responsibility and economic improvement;
- A reduction in waste and investment in environmental, social and economic pillars;
- And the “opportunity to improve people’s lives and the world around us” while adding value to the business.
Highlights in the report include:
- The company’s first year participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC’s) Corporate Equality Index, which “evaluates corporate policies, practices and benefits relating to LGBTQ+ workers,” scoring 70% on the index;
- The formation of an Executive Sustainability Committee (ESC) and the creation of a new senior manager of sustainability position to assist the ESC;
- The development and implementation of a formal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy;
- An increase in candidates hired from “traditionally underrepresented groups” from 17% to 20% and the addition of a diversity talent advisor;
- And the commission of an “extensive, independent pay equity review” to identify pay gaps, closing “priority gaps” in 2021 with plans to continue in further biannual reviews.
The full 56-page report is available here.