After taking on “too much debt” to build an expansive East Coast brewery, San Diego’s Green Flash Brewing today announced that it would cease operations at its 58,000 sq. ft. Virginia Beach production facility and terminate 43 employees in the process. The Virginia Beach brewery, which cost approximately $20 million to build and is capable of being scaled to 100,000 barrels, is currently for sale as part of an online auction run by Heritage Global Partners. Additionally, Green Flash — which also owns the Alpine Beer Company brands — has secured capital from a new but undisclosed investor group.
Sporting venues around the country have been beefing up their craft beer programs in recent years and now Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, is teaming up with one of the city’s most well-known breweries. Chicago’s Revolution Brewing has inked a multi-year deal with the White Sox for increased exposure throughout the ballpark as part of what Donn Bichsel, the brewery’s director of sales, described as an opportunity the company couldn’t pass up.
Laurie Millotte is the founder of Outshinery, a product photography and video company that creates images and other visual marketing assets without physical products. Millotte has over 12 years of experience as a creative director and designer in the wine & food industries and, in her column for Brewbound Voices, she provides three easy hacks to help brewers on a budget master social media with visual storytelling.
In the latest edition of Press Clips: Yuengling adds Golden Pilsner to its year-round lineup; Pabst launches new legacy brand offerings; fire shutters Rogue’s San Francisco pub; and more.
The Brewers Association has officially recognized hazy New England-style IPAs as a bona fide beer style. In a press release, the trade group today announced changes to its “Beer Style Guidelines,” a reference for brewers and beer competition organizers that includes style descriptions and product specifications. Among the new styles of beer featured in the 2018 guidebook are three cloudier offerings – “Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale,” “Juicy or Hazy IPA” and “Juicy or Hazy Double IPA” — which over the years have become known as New England-style or Northeast IPAs.
In the latest Legislative Update: Maryland’s Reform on Tap Act dies in committee; the Massachusetts Senate revives franchise law reform bill; and more state news.
Despite initially reaching a verbal agreement to sell Smuttynose Brewing to a New Hampshire entrepreneur, Provident Bank has found another buyer for the distressed craft brewery. Runnymede Investments, a North Hampton-based venture capital and investment firm, has agreed to purchase the struggling brewery and restaurant for an undisclosed sum. The deal for Smuttynose comes exactly one week after the Portsmouth-area beer company was sold at a public auction to Provident Bank, its lead lender, for $8.25 million.
In his column for Brewbound Voices, Scott Birkner, the senior vice president and manager of the craft beverage lending division at United Community Bank, addresses 10 important questions brewers need to consider before working with a lender.
Fergal Murray spent 31 years as a master brewer for Diageo, perfecting one of the world’s most iconic beers — Guinness Irish Dry Stout – one batch at a time. During his stint as brewmaster, Murray not only honed his skills as a beer maker, but he also represented the Guinness brand worldwide at events and in numerous television, radio and print spots.
After announcing plans last summer to open a Brooklyn fermentation facility, the founder of Stillwater Artisanal is attempting to raise $1.8 million via a revenue-sharing crowdfunding campaign and an equity sale for a new side project. Slated to open inside a 6,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Greenpoint this fall, the offshoot, called Production, will serve as an “experimental fermentation facility,” bar, restaurant, event space and music venue, Stillwater founder Brian Strumke told Brewbound.
The Brewers Association today released its annual rankings of the top 50 U.S. beer companies based on 2017 sales volume estimates. Here’s how things shook out:
Concerns over potential price gouging are mounting after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Thursday to impose a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum. In a letter sent yesterday to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, four beverage trade groups — the Beer Institute (BI), Brewers Association (BA), Can Manufacturers Association (CMI) and American Beverage Association — cited “major concerns about how the 10 percent tariff could cause price-gouging within aluminum markets.”
After completing its annual “beer review,” popular craft beer restaurant chain Yard House said it will tap 427 new beer brands across its more than 70 U.S. locations beginning March 26. The California-based restaurant chain’s four-month assessment of its beer list concluded with it swapping out about 20 percent of the more than 9,800 tap handle placements.
A pair of Michigan-based MillerCoors distributors are consolidating their beer businesses. Kalamazoo-headquartered Imperial Beverage today announced that, after five months of negotiating, it had acquired Bayside Beverage, the beer division of Highland Park-based Great Lakes Wine & Spirits.
