California’s Mendocino Brewing Co. and New York’s Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. have shuttered, impacting the operations of several other small companies who also produced beer at those facilities. The shutdown comes as the Indian government moves to extradite billionaire Vijay Mallya, who owns the two breweries, from London on fraud and money laundering charges in excess of $1 billion.
For the second time in as many years, Pabst Brewing Company will undergo a major round of layoffs, today announcing that it has eliminated a total of 70 positions from the company. The cuts — which impacted employees across all areas of the organization, including sales, marketing, operations and administration — are being made to help the company reduce its cost basis by 15 percent.
New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing, citing overleveraging of investments and missed growth projections amidst increased competition from fellow craft brewers, is scheduled to be sold March 9 at a bank auction.
Chris Gallant, the co-founder of New York-based Bronx Brewery, will step down this year as his family prepares for a move to California, the company announced today. Gallant, who launched the company in 2011 with head brewer, Damian Brown, will maintain an ownership stake in the business and a seat on the company’s board. However, he will no longer be active in its day-to-day operations.
U.S. beer volume sales were roughly flat in 2017, according to retail data provider IRI Worldwide. The market research firm, which tracks category-wide sales trends at off-premise retailers, reported that total U.S. beer dollar sales topped $34 billion in the firm’s multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) universe of stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military).
Facing increased competition from more than 6,000 U.S. craft breweries, Green Flash Brewing today announced plans to pull distribution from 33 states in a move that will also include a 15 percent reduction of its workforce.
Boston Beer Company has named Caitlin Braam, who departed Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing as president last August, as a “brand strategist” for its Angry Orchard Hard Cider line. “Cider is my passion and this is an incredible opportunity for me to help grow awareness of the cider industry overall, as well as have a bigger impact within the cider community,” Braam told Brewbound.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Lyft collaborates on a Chicago beer release; Molson Coors acquires a U.K. cider maker; Modern Times begins production in Oregon; Crazy Mountain vacates its Edwards taproom; and more news.
Twenty-five years after Greg Kelly started Red Brick Brewing Company — then known as Atlanta Brewing Company — the company is looking re-establish its position in metro Atlanta by revamping its portfolio to include new core products and more taproom exclusive beers.
Just five months after selling to Constellation Brands, Funky Buddha Brewery is seeing the benefits of its new partnership. The South Florida craft brewery will take advantage of brewing and canning capacity at Ballast Point, another Constellation-owned company, and launch its product in cans for the first time.
Brown Distributing, a Florida-based beer wholesaler that sells a variety of domestic, imported and craft beers throughout the state, will sell certain parts of its distribution business in western Florida, Brewbound has learned. The company, which lists beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic products from about 75 suppliers on its website, began informing craft brewery owners throughout the country of its decision to reassign the distribution rights to some brands on Tuesday night.
Beer industry veteran Chris McJunkin, who most recently served as the chief revenue officer for BrewDog USA, will take an equity position in Atlanta’s Scofflaw Brewing when he officially joins the company at the end of the first quarter.
After a year-long search, Dogfish Head has hired marketing veteran George Pastrana as the brewery’s new president and COO.
Three days after sales of recreational cannabis began in California, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo calling for a stricter enforcement of federal marijuana laws and, in the process, rescinded Obama-era Department of Justice protections for legal cannabis that was included in the 2013 Cole Memorandum. Brewbound polled beer industry professionals from all three tiers, and most suggested that legalized recreational marijuana would have little impact on beer sales.
