In this week’s edition of Last Call: In-state sales are on the rise in Michigan; Baderbrau is set for an August auction; another round of brewery closures hit in Colorado, California and Georgia; and more beer industry news.
Want to know what a craft beer drinker looks like in America? According to Nielsen, a weekly craft drinker is predominantly male, ages 21-34, and makes between $75,000 and $99,000 annually. Although that’s the profile of a frequent craft drinker, opportunities exist to reach a more diverse group of consumers, according to the research firm, which today shared the results of its fourth annual Craft Beer Insights Panel (CIP) survey, conducted by Harris Poll and commissioned by the Brewers Association (BA).
While many of the country’s largest and most established craft breweries struggle to grow sales in 2018, at least one longtime player is bucking category-wide trends. Delaware’s Dogfish Head, which launched in 1995 and was ranked by industry trade group the Brewers Association as the 12th largest U.S. craft brewery in 2017, is on pace to grow about 8 percent this year, brewery co-founder and CEO Sam Calagione told Brewbound.
A growing number of Boston-area beer companies have turned to pop-up beer gardens in an effort to engage consumers during the summer months. Despite an array of outdoor options for drinkers to grab a beer on a hot summer day, Boston-area craft brewery Night Shift still sees opportunity to expose local consumers to its brands.
Boston Beer Company chief marketing officer Jon Potter will depart the country’s second-largest craft brewery at the end of the month, the company disclosed in an SEC filing issued yesterday. Potter, who joined the beer, cider and flavored malt beverage producer in August 2016, is credited with engineering the company’s “Fill Your Glass” advertising campaign that debuted during last year’s Major League Baseball World Series.
Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective has finalized its second deal in as many months, today announcing the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Three Weavers Brewing Company. Specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Three Weavers co-founder Lynne Weaver described the deal with the Fireman Capital-backed brewery rollup as a “strategic partnership” that would put her company in a better position to “weather any possible economic storms.”
Oklahoma City-based COOP Ale Works today announced a $20 million project to revitalize the 23rd Street National Guard Armory and transform the vacated 87,000 sq. ft. space into a manufacturing brewery, restaurant, event space and boutique hotel. Following a 9-month request-for-proposal process, the state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services awarded COOP the 80-year-old art deco building, which was once headquarters for the 45th Division Infantry but was shuttered in 2010.
As Colorado-headquartered Avery Brewing prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next month, internally the company has restructured its sales team and added several new departments. Speaking to Brewbound, Avery national sales and marketing director Brian “BK” Krueger said “less than 10 percent” of the company’s sales and marketing workforce was impacted, and that net job loss totaled two field sales positions.
Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing has inked another local partnership, this time with Denver Arts & Venues, the city agency responsible for operating the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre. As part of a 3-year deal, the Fort Collins-headquartered New Belgium will become “the official craft brewer of Red Rocks Amphitheatre,” and have an increased presence at the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Performing Arts Complex and the Bellco Theatre.
As the majority of beer business stakeholders continue to examine what impact recreational cannabis could have on the industry, one alcohol trade association has officially come out in support of legalizing the psychedelic drug. The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), A Washington, D.C. trade group that works to advance the interests of distributors and brokers of wine and spirits, yesterday announced “an official policy position in favor of a state’s right to establish a legal, well-regulated, adult-use cannabis marketplace.”
In this week’s Last Call: A look at California beer production; Sen. Schumer backs permanent excise tax cuts; TTB accepts $20,000 offer in compromise from Cigar City; and more beer industry news.
Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) is making good on its promise to innovate in products other than beer, namely low- or no-alcohol drinks. The publicly traded Portland, Oregon-based craft beer company — which makes and markets the Kona Brewing, Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Omission and Square Mile Cider brands, and has partnerships with Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Wynwood Brewing, and Cisco Brewers – has launched what it has dubbed the “pH Experiment.”
Brewbound, a leading trade publication covering the beer industry, today announced the first group of speakers that will take the stage during its two-day November business conference, called Brewbound Live. Joining the event – which takes place on November 27th and 28th in Santa Monica, California, and brings stakeholders from all three tiers of the brewing industry together to discuss trends, challenges and the future of beer – is a star-studded group of industry experts who will share insights and strategies for moving the category forward.
If you’re in the beer industry, you’ve probably heard the name Rhonda Kallman. Credited with helping launch Boston Beer Company alongside Jim Koch in 1984, Kallman has experienced a lifetime’s worth of entrepreneurial successes and failures – and she’s lived to tell the tale. In the latest episode of Taste Radio, Kallman tells her story and discusses the defining moments of her personal and professional journey.
