In this week’s Last Call: Stone Brewing files an injunction against MillerCoors and terminates its sponsorship deal with NOFX; the New York state Liquor Authority fines Boston Beer for unregistered products; Good City Brewing announces plans for second brewery near Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena; and more news.
Following months of turmoil, Green Flash Brewing Company has identified its next chief executive. The San Diego-based craft brewery, which was sold to a new investor group last month, today named former Anheuser-Busch executive Michael Taylor as its new CEO.
Yazoo Brewing Company plans to break ground in mid-June on its new, six acre, 30,000 sq. ft. destination brewery in the Madison neighborhood of northeast Nashville. In a conversation with Brewbound last month, Yazoo founder Linus Hall said he is targeting a spring 2019 opening for the new facility. He added that a development group is under contract to purchase the land where Yazoo’s current facility, in Nashville’s The Gulch neighborhood, is located.
In this edition of People Moves: Avery Brewing’s COO resigns, and the Boulder, Colorado-based craft brewery lays off six workers; Wormtown Brewery names a new general sales manager; Heineken USA forms an new sales operations team; and more industry personnel moves.
Less than one year after Coronado Brewing acquired a majority stake in nearby Monkey Paw Brewing, the San Diego-based regional craft beer producer today put the smaller outfit up for sale. The decision to sell its interest in the business comes about one month after Monkey Paw founder Scot Blair — an outspoken figure in the San Diego craft beer scene who also owns the popular Hamilton’s Tavern and South Park Brewing Company ventures — filed a lawsuit against Monkey Paw for breach of contract.
Taprooms and direct-to-consumer sales were hot topics during this year’s Craft Brewers Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Two seminars — “Building Your Brand Through the Tasting Room” and “Defense and Promotion of Tasting Rooms” — focused on the phenomenon that has agitated some retailers and wholesalers, but the topic bled into other conversations throughout the week.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: A New York distributor was fined $4.3 million in a bottle return scam; TTB says no to controlled substances in beer; Owens-Illinois announces plans to close its Atlanta facility;
For the second consecutive year, production at half of the craft beer industry’s top 50 companies didn’t grow, according to new data released by trade group the Brewers Association. The organization, which published 2017 production figures for thousands of U.S. breweries in the latest issue of ‘The New Brewer,’ noted that 24 of the top 50 BA-defined regional craft brewing companies — those producing between 15,000 and six million barrels of beer annually — either declined or remained flat in 2017.
Stone Brewing co-founder and executive chairman Greg Koch is moving beyond beer with the launch of with Nutista, an artisanal, stone-ground nut butter line. Joining him, and running the day-to-day operations, are co-founders Tristen Cross and John Huber. Nutista produces three core flavors — an original that’s a blend of nut varieties, a banana nut butter and a maple nut butter — but Koch’s influence is more apparent in other sub-lines. The brand recently released a Totalitarian Imperial Russian Stout Nut butter as well as a Tangerine Express IPA Nut butter, both of which are inspired by popular Stone beers.
After about six months as CEO, David Pillsbury is leaving Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective — Oskar Blues’ and Fireman Capital Partners’ consortium of beer companies formed following investments in Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing and Utah Brewers Cooperative — according to a press release.
Earlier this month, nearly 14,000 beer industry professionals traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, hosted by trade group the Brewers Association. The BA used the gathering to further draw a line between the companies it represents — small and independent U.S. breweries — and those brands owned by larger, international beer conglomerates.
During its annual staff summit earlier this week, Great Lakes Brewing Co. owners Pat and Dan Conway announced that the company would be starting an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), giving workers a minority stake in the company.
In the latest Legislative Update: Vermont approves franchise law reform; Kansas legalizes contract brewing; Colorado sets guidelines for full-strength beer sales in grocery and convenience stores; and more news from the states.
Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer of Constellation Brands’ beer division, has been promoted to a newly created role of executive vice president and CMO of the New York-based alcohol company. In a press release, Constellation Brands said Sabia, who joined the organization in 2007 as the vice president of the spirits division, would oversee all aspects of marketing across the company’s beer, wine, and liquor portfolios.
