In an effort to combat poverty in its community, Creature Comforts Brewing Company founded the Get Comfortable campaign, a multi-tiered approach to raise money and awareness for non-profit organizations that serve Athens-Clarke County’s most vulnerable citizens.
Former Founders Brewing Company diversity and inclusion director Graci Harkema discussed her experiences navigating the fallout from a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based craft brewery, and she shared insights on how the craft beer industry can diversify its talent pool as well as its consumer base last month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica.
Brewbound readers in 2019 gravitated to stories about major craft brewery mergers and acquisitions, hard seltzer launches and reformulations, lawsuits and distribution disputes and brewery closures. The announcement of the $300 million merger between Boston Beer Company and Dogfish Head set the stage for a busy year of M&A activity, as many craft brewers began to form partnerships to weather a more tumultuous competitive marketplace.
Employees at Anchor Brewing ratified a three-year contract with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 6 earlier this month, a first for the San Francisco-based brewery. D.C. Brau raised $614,335 from 12 investors during a recent equity raise, according to a December 19 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Columbus, Indiana-based 450 North Brewing Company has posted an apology on its social media accounts for selling its Slushy line of beers with the incorrect alcohol by volume.
Co-founders of three breweries in Brewbound’s 2019 class of Rising Stars discussed their companies’ growth strategies and management techniques during a panel earlier this month at the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica. The panel featured Adam Robbings, co-founder and brewmaster of Seattle-based Reuben’s Brews; Jeff Heck, co-founder and CEO of Atlanta’s Monday Night Brewing; and Ryan Krill, co-founder and CEO of Cape May Brewing in Cape May, New Jersey.
Fresh Fest co-founder Day Bracey shared how the first U.S. beer festival of black-owned craft breweries came together during a conversation earlier this month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica. Fresh Fest offers black beer drinkers an experience that’s rare in an industry whose producers and consumers are mostly white men.
Heineken USA (HUSA) is giving away 1,000 31-packs of its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0, as part of a campaign to win beer-drinking occasions during “Dry January.”
Mergers and acquisitions in the craft beer industry have evolved from a peak period of large corporate brewery buyouts to craft-on-craft deals and multi-brand craft roll ups, Cascadia Capital managing director Nicole Nugent Fry discussed during her presentation earlier this month at the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica.
Flavored malt beverages have delivered more dollar sale growth in the off-premise retail channel than any other segment in the beer category in 2019, according to market research firm IRI. Innovation leaders from Molson Coors, Deschutes Brewery and beer-driven on-premise chain Taco Mac discussed the shifting beer category during the Brewbound Live business conference.
Off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzers are on pace to hit $1.5 billion by the end of 2019, Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice team shared earlier this month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica. Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice team members Danelle Kosmal and Caitlyn Battaglia shared that hard seltzers now account for 5% of all beer category dollars.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Sycamore Brewing added distribution to Virginia this month, vice president of sales Archie Gleason told Brewbound. Night Shift Brewing will begin distribution to New Hampshire in 2020, according to a Facebook post from Amoskeag Beverages.
Lost Abbey co-founder and chief operating officer Tomme Arthur announced plans to launch a new line of canned sour beers called Tiny Bubbles, which he called his company’s “authentic alternative,” in his opening address earlier this month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica.
Federal excise tax (FET) relief for makers of beer, wine and spirits is locked in place through the end of 2020. President Donald Trump today signed into law a tax extender package that includes the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA), which passed both chambers of Congress this week.
Coronado Brewing Company announced Thursday the appointment of James Murray as the San Diego craft brewery’s next CEO. Meanwhile, Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered Monday Night Brewing has hired Jill Matherson as its director of people and culture.
