Deschutes Brewery has made the first acquisition in the 32-year-old craft brewery’s history. Bend, Oregon-headquartered Deschutes has acquired another Bend craft brewery, Boneyard Beer.

Global cannabis sales grew by nearly half in 2020, according to BDSA, a cannabis market research firm based in Boulder, Colorado. Sales increased 48%, to $21.3 billion, compared to $14.4 billion in 2019.

After the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest was canceled for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, brewmaster Matt Brynildson was inspired to finally pull the trigger on his goal of creating a special release bottle club at the Paso Robles, California-headquartered craft brewery.

Oregon lawmakers are considering a tax hike on alcoholic beverages that would increase taxes on malt beverages by $70 per barrel. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in the early hours of Saturday, February 27. The bill includes a $25 billion fund for grants for bars, restaurants and breweries.

The Reyes Beer Division remains a very active acquirer in the state of California. The largest beer wholesaler in the U.S. continued to add to its business in the state today as its Harbor Distributing subsidiary signed an agreement to acquire Redding Distributing Company in Northern California.

Employees of Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Platform Beer Company’s taproom in Columbus, Ohio, walked out en masse on Saturday, February 27, citing unsafe working conditions, according to social media posts.

“As a global pandemic ravaged the world, the country, the state and our very own city, Platform’s handling of the situation — and the praise for its employees — has been almost entirely performative,” the staff wrote in a letter that was shared online.

Anheuser-Busch InBev may be looking inward for a possible successor for CEO Carlos Brito. According to Bloomberg News, Michel Doukeris, CEO of A-B’s U.S. business, is the front-runner to succeed Brito.

Consumers spent $97 million on craft beer through e-commerce in 2020, which accounted for 24% of all beer category dollar sales online. In brick-and-mortar stores, however, craft beer makes up 12.6% of all dollar sales. In fact, craft has the second largest dollar share behind flavored malt beverages (32%), which include hard seltzers.

A group led by hard cider entrepreneur Brett Williams acquired a stake in Wachusett Brewing Company last September, Brewbound has learned. “An opportunity presented itself during the pandemic to invest in Wachusett and we decided to do so,” Williams told Brewbound Thursday. “We are the only people that are crazy enough to invest in a brewery in a pandemic.”

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 2020 global revenues declined 3.7%, to $46.8 billion, driven by the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in what was “undoubtedly a difficult year for our colleagues and our business,” CEO Carlos Brito said during a call with investors and analysts Thursday to discuss the company’s Q4 and full-year 2020 earnings. “While we… Read more »

Alva Mather and Nichole Shustack of McDermott, Will & Emery — a law firm with one of the country’s leading beverage alcohol practices — joined the Brewbound Podcast to break down all the pressing legal issues facing the beer industry in 2021.

For 2021, Brooklyn will lean on a slate of new offerings including Pulp Art Hazy IPA, the expanded Special Effects non-alcoholic line, and a line of hard seltzers, in addition to its flagship Brooklyn Lager and Summer Ale seasonal.

Drizly offered insights into sales of two of the online marketplace’s most popular beer category segments: IPAs and beyond beer, or “hard alternatives,” in the company’s parlance. Beverage packaging company Ardagh Group has proposed spinning off its can packaging operations into a new entity combined with Gores Holdings V, pending shareholder approval, according to a press release.

Former Wachusett Brewing Company president Christian McMahan has started The Hooch Lab, a consulting firm targeting higher-end brands in the beer, wine, spirits and ready-to-drink FMB space.