Two Robbers Hard Seltzer has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round led by New York-based Brand Foundry Ventures. The company has plans to add six new markets to its footprint: Maryland, Virginia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.
California craft brewers had a rougher 2020 than the overall industry, as in-state volume production declined 11% compared to 9% nationwide, Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson reported last week during his presentation at the California Craft Brewers Association’s spring summit.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has forged a master distributor agreement with Canteen Spirits, while its growth and innovation arm ZX Ventures has made an investment in the 2-year-old ready-to-drink canned cocktail brand.
After initial projections that the hard seltzer segment would grow at a rate of 70-100%, Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said the expectation is now in the 60-90% range, with Truly outpacing the segment.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global investment and innovation group ZX Ventures has announced a research-and-development partnership with animal-free protein maker Clara Foods.
Boston Beer Company’s torrid run driven by Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea continued into the first quarter of 2021. Through the first 13 weeks of 2021, Boston Beer — whose brands include Samuel Adams, Truly Hard Seltzer, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Twisted Tea and Angry Orchard — reported a 48% increase in depletions and a 60.1% increase in shipments.
The first panel of the day, starting at 3 p.m. ET, will reconvene several panelists from the April 2020 Brew Talks to reflect on the pandemic, one year later and the path forward.
Allagash Brewing has launched a pair of recycling programs as part of the Portland, Maine-headquartered craft brewery’s commitment to sustainability.
Mass. Bay Brewing Company and the Massachusetts Brewers Guild (MBG) have launched Hop Forward Equality, a website with resources and a job board with the goal of creating a more diverse and equitable industry and consumer base for Bay State breweries. “We have to ask ourselves why, and we have to do a better job truly encompassing and embracing our communities,” MBG executive director Katie Stinchon said in a press release.
The loss of higher-margin on-premise consumption cost the beer industry more than $20 billion in 2020, National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist Lester Jones reported yesterday during a webinar. “Volumes went up a little bit, maybe 0.5-1% up, but spending shifted dramatically,” Jones said. “
Canadian cannabis firm Canopy Growth announced today a partnership with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits to distribute its portfolio of CBD-infused beverages in the U.S.
California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) executive director Lori Ajax and lobbyist Chris Walker shared the progress the organization has made on behalf of the state’s craft breweries yesterday during what board chair Lynne Weaver called the “second and hopefully last” virtual conference. California is home to 958 craft breweries, which produced 3.3 million barrels in 2020, making it No. 1 in craft beer production nationwide.
Off-premise dollar sales of craft beer have maintained a “moderate growth” rate through the first three months of 2021, as dollar sales increased 6%, to $1.3 billion, according to NielsenIQ data shared by Bump Williams Consulting.
The COVID-19 pandemic driven shutdown of on-premise service at bars and restaurants led to a big but expected cut in draft packaging last year, according to the 2020 “Package Mix Report” shared by the Beer Institute and compiled by the National beer Wholesalers Association’s Department of Industry Affairs.
