This latest episode of Taste Radio features an in-depth interview with Joth Ricci, a CPG veteran who cut his teeth in the beer business during the early 2000s as the general manager of Columbia Distributing. During his 17-year career in the beverage space, Ricci has served as the CEO of Jones Soda, a managing partner of First Beverage Group and the president of Stumptown Coffee Roasters. He recently took over as the president and CEO of Adelsheim Vineyard, an Oregon-based winery.
San Diego’s Modern Times Beer Company is heading north to Beervana. The southern California craft brewery today announced plans to takeover what will soon be the former Commons Brewery location in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.
Following a proprietary review of the craft beer segment, and its own positioning within it, Constellation Brands has re-launched a number of its Ballast Point offerings with a new look in an attempt to “tell its story more effectively” to consumers. In an interview with Brewbound, Constellation CMO Jim Sabia and Marty Birkel, the president of the organization’s craft and specialty division, said an initiative to better understand consumer-purchasing behavior provided the company with some key takeaways that helped shape its overall craft strategy moving forward.
Starting Friday, Georgia breweries will officially be allowed to sell beer directly to consumers, ending a contentious, decade-plus-long dispute between the state’s beer manufacturers and wholesalers.
BrewDog today announced a profit-sharing plan that will see the Scottish craft beer company give 20 percent of its annual earnings to employees and charities as part of a new “Unicorn Fund.” Under the plan, 10 percent of profits will be donated to 20 different charities. The other 10 percent will be evenly distributed across its entire workforce, which today stands at more than 1,100 employees.
Michigan’s Atwater Brewery has realigned its distribution network in its home state, moving the brand from Kalamazoo-based Imperial Beverage into the M1 Network of 10 MillerCoors wholesalers. In a conversation with Brewbound, Atwater owner Mark Rieth said Imperial Beverage had sold the brand across approximately 70 percent of the state since 2011.
In our latest edition of People Moves: Caitlin Braam, the president of Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing, will depart the organization at the end of the month. Constellation Brands also confirmed that Dave Mills, chief sales officer of the company’s Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits brand, will depart the organization at the end of August.
It’s been about 18 months since Southern Tier Brewing Company and Victory Brewing combined operations under the family-office backed Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) and today, the two breweries announced plans to open a jointly run innovation brewery and taproom in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Earlier this month, online alcohol marketplace Drizly promised to share regular insights gleaned from thousands of daily transactions that occur on the company’s e-commerce platform. Drizly’s first significant finding, and one that should be of interest to U.S. craft brewery owners, is that millennial consumers — at least those using its booze-to-your-door delivery app – have been steadily shifting their dollars toward macro brews and corporately owned craft brands since 2015.
In a move that that will triple Heritage Brewing Company’s capacity, the company today said it would spend $8.9 million to build a 35,000 sq. ft. production facility and brewpub in Manassas, Virginia.
Beer makers aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of a craft beer slowdown. Yakima, Washington-based hop broker 47 Hops LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said last week.
