The California distribution shuffle now includes New Belgium. The Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery notified six primarily Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in Southern California and eight Chicago area Molson Coors wholesalers of plans to terminate their distribution contracts without cause.
The Boston Beer Company has hired marketing executive Don Lane as its new vice president of the Truly Hard Seltzer brand. Boston Beer is investing $85 million to quadruple production at its nearly 90-year-old Cincinnati production brewery, according to a press release.
Consumers have ventured to on-premise establishments to eat at more than twice the rate they do for just drinks, a Nielsen CGA survey found. In the two weeks leading up to July 19, 41% of respondents had gone out for a meal. Meanwhile, just 16% had been out for only drinks, according to a July 22 report from Nielsen CGA, the on-premise arm of the market research firm.
Deep Ellum Brewing Company founder John Reardon has filed a lawsuit against the CANarchy Holding Corporation — and its private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners — alleging that the craft brewery rollup has failed to make several payments related to the 2018 acquisition of the Dallas craft brewery.
Revolver Brewing co-founders Rhett Keisler and Grant Wood are stepping down from their roles leading the Granbury, Texas-based craft brewery, according to an announcement from Molson Coors Brewing Company, which acquired the brewery in 2016.
Oregon Brewers Guild co-executive director Tony Roberts will step down from the position at the end of the month, leaving Christina LaRue as the guild’s sole director. State guilds, trade groups that advocate on behalf of craft breweries to lawmakers and work to boost consumer bases, have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their revenues come from large scale, in-person events, which have been canceled, and member dues, the bulk of which come from craft breweries, who are also suffering financially.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) ruled on Friday that the 51% calculation of gross receipts should only include the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption. As such, to-go sales of alcoholic beverages, as well as distributed volume to retailers and wholesalers should not be included in the calculation of gross receipts to determine which establishments should shutter for on-site consumption.
Even amid persistent out-of-stock issues, Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer helped drive the company’s depletions (sales to retailers) growth to 46% in Q2. Boston Beer founder Jim Koch conceded Thursday that those inventory issues will last for the rest of the summer.
Boston Beer Company reported second-quarter depletions (sales-to-retailers) growth of 46% and shipments (sales-to-wholesalers) growth of 39.8% during the second quarter of 2020, according to financial results shared after the end of trading today.
Odell Brewing continues to expand its beyond beer offerings with Allkind Hard Kombucha, which will launch this fall. Last year, the Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery rolled out the OBC Wine Project, a collection of canned wines.
Nearly six months after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the beer industry, leaders from the three major beer industry trade organizations will return to discuss how the industry is meeting the challenges presented by the novel coronavirus, efforts to provide brewers with relief, the industry’s legislative priorities, and much more.
An 805 line extension is coming soon to California. Firestone Walker will start a 60-day test of 805 Cerveza — its first line extension of flagship 805 blonde ale — in early August in three California counties.
On this week’s Brewbound Frontlines, Danelle Kosmal, VP of Beverage Alcohol Practice at Nielsen, analyzes hard seltzer sales trends during the coronavirus pandemic, and leaders from Press Premium Alcohol Seltzer, Nauti Hard Seltzer and Bubs Hard Seltzer discuss how their regional and national brands are competing in the fast-growing segment.