The Brewers Association (BA) announced a sponsorship deal earlier this week to feature a Buffalo Wild Wings branded pop-up sports bar on the floor of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), its marquee tasting and judging event held annually in Denver. The partnership with the chicken wing chain, which was acquired last November by Arby’s for $2.9 billion, is the second major sponsorship deal for the late September festival. In early June, the BA announced that Pernod Ricard-owned Jameson would build a barrel-aged beer garden on the festival floor.
Wilmington, North Carolina-based Ironclad Brewery has established a venture capital business unit in order to invest its profits into other startups. Speaking to Brewbound, CEO Ted Coughlin said Ironclad will make investments in the beer space as well as other sectors with significant growth potential. He added that Ironclad will invest its profits — which he estimates will average about $200,000 annually — in about eight startup companies a year.
In this edition of People Moves: Joe Menetre, the former vice president of sales at New Belgium Brewing Company, has joined Fort Collins-based Suerte Tequila. Meanwhile, Constellation Brands has appointed former DHL executive Ricardo Bartra as its chief technology officer, and Sun King Brewing president Bob Whitt will step back from his day-to-day responsibilities at the end of July.
Midway through 2018, off-premise volume sales of craft beer across a variety of large-scale retail stores are up just 1.7 percent, according to market research firm IRI Worldwide. While craft beer dollar sales at grocery, club, drug, dollar, mass merchandiser and convenience stores were just shy of $2 billion through June 17, up 2.9 percent year-to-date, the most recent trends point to a slowdown as brewing companies head into an important summer season.
Upstart Texas beer maker Hop & Sting Brewing Company has purchased the assets and brands of Grapevine Craft Brewery from owner Glen Harrod. Financial terms of the deal — which did not include the building and land — were not disclosed, but Hop & Sting co-owner Brian Burton told Brewbound that “it was something just barely within our budget.”
After more than two years of construction, noted gypsy brewer Grimm Artisanal Ales will open its first brick-and-mortar brewery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday, June 30.
More than two months after reworking plans for a second brewing facility in Virginia, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery today announced it has finally closed on a long-anticipated $3.2 million deal to acquire 49 acres of land in Roanoke.
Constellation Brands reported its first-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings today, which were highlighted by 8.9 percent growth in beer depletions (sales-to-retailers) and an 8.6 percent increase in shipments compared to the three-month period in 2017. Although beer was a major focus of today’s call, Sands spent a great deal of time discussing and answering questions about Constellation Brands’ $191 million investment into Canadian cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corporation.
Ride-sharing service Lyft announced today a partnership with the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. It’s just the latest in an ongoing effort by the San Francisco-headquartered, on-demand transportation company to focus on getting patrons to and from brewery taprooms by forming partnerships with state guilds across the country.
First Beverage Ventures, the private equity arm of beverage advisory and investment firm First Beverage Group, today announced its investment in Colorado-based distiller Laws Whiskey House, making it the second spirits brand to join the FBG portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In the latest edition of Press Clips: Beer rationing begins in Europe; trademark infringement fights continue; Beavertown feels the fallout from selling a minority stake to Heineken; and more.
U.S. consumers looking to catch a buzz without the booze will soon be able to purchase an assortment of beer-centric products thanks to a pair of ventures aiming to disrupt the current alcohol market with cannabis-infused beverages.
After years of fighting for the right to sell to-go beer, manufacturing breweries in Texas now have allies on both sides of aisle. Texas Democrats and Republicans both included language in their respective party platforms supporting the legalization of off-premise sales privileges for the state’s production breweries as well as changes to the three-tier system of alcohol distribution.
