The team at 3 Tier Beverages breaks down hot trends in bev-alc heading into the summer selling season on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast.

Nearly two months after the sale of its distribution business and future taproom rights, Great Divide Brewing is shuttering its Denver locations.

Total bev-alc dollar sales declined -2% both year-over-year (YoY) and week-over-week (WoW) in Circana-tracked off-premise channels through May 18, according to the market research firm’s latest weekly report.

Nearly three-fifths of Brewers Association (BA) defined regional craft breweries (57.02%) beyond the top 50 recorded production volume declines in 2024, according to annual data shared by the trade association in the May/June issue of the New Brewer magazine.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) has revealed its new energy drink line Phorm Energy, as the beer giant seeks to make its presence felt in a category that has become increasingly important, and unstable, to beer distributors in recent years. Using the tagline “We do the Work,” Phorm Energy aims to deliver “energy, hydration and focus” through a zero-sugar, four-SKU line of 16 oz cans in four flavors.

Highland Brewing founder Oscar P. Wong, known as the “Godfather of Asheville Craft Beer,” has died at age 84, the Asheville craft brewery shared today.

🍻 Big Beer Craft Production -4%; New Belgium Overtakes A-B; 📈 28 of Top 50 Craft Breweries Record Volume Growth; 🎙️ Bonus Pod: NB2A’s Kevin Asato; Yonder’s Caitlin Braam; 🗣️ ‘Big Alcohol has to Change with Them; 💰 A Look at Middle Tier M&A

This week’s beer goes out to Norm himself, George Wendt, which is both an easy choice this week, and one that’s well-deserved … as beer sadly loses another icon from the ’80s.

Volume at craft breweries outside of the Brewers Association’s (BA) definition of small and independent declined 4% on a comparable basis, to 6.752 million barrels, in 2024, the trade group reported in the May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

In a special bonus edition of the Brewbound Podcast, National Black Brewers Association (NB2A) executive director Kevin Asato explains how obstacles have mounted for the trade group’s members as diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have come under fire. Plus, Yonder Cider founder Caitlin Braam explains how experimenting with events at her brand’s taproom has broadened her hard cider brand’s consumer base.

More than half of the Brewers Association’s (BA) top 50 craft breweries recorded year-over-year (YoY) production volume gains in 2024, in a positive shift from 2023 trends, according to annual production data shared by the trade group today.

Six of the 10 largest Brewers Association-defined (BA) craft breweries recorded volume declines in 2024, according to data from the trade group’s May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

Texas is close to enacting a total ban on THC and THCA hemp products, as a law outlawing manufacturing, sales and possession heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for final approval.

Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 11) once again brought a welcome boost to the on-premise earlier this month, becoming the “most valuable” Sunday so far this year, according to CGA, the on-premise arm of NIQ.