It’s been nearly one year since we last invited a guest to contribute to the Brewbound Voices column, but we’re excited to pick things back up with a three-part series on branding considerations for three types of beer companies: bootstrapped breweries-in-planning, well-funded startups and firmly-established players who are looking to rebrand.

Portland, Oregon’s Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider has completed a multi-faceted financing round led by hometown firm, Hawthorne Capital, the company announced Friday. As part of the transaction, Hawthorne Capital will acquire an undisclosed stake in the five-year-old company and receive seats on the board, founder Nat West told Brewbound.

Another day, another craft beer recall. Real Ale Brewing Co. announced Tuesday that it was issuing a “precautionary recall” of 11,000 cases — about 800 barrels — of two of its year-round brands due to a potential glass defect.

After raising more than $3 million in growth capital from a group of private investors earlier this year, Fort Point Beer Company has embarked on its next round of fundraising.

Times are tough for the country’s second-largest craft beer maker. In its third-quarter earnings, released after the market closed on Thursday, Boston Beer Company reported 14 percent revenue declines and 12 percent shipment declines, compared to the same period last year.

Taking place at the Jack’s Abby brewery (100 Clinton Street, Framingham, MA. 01702), the Brew Talks event will bring together New England brewers, distributors and other industry professionals for a night of open, honest discussion on the craft beer marketplace. The evening’s feature panel discussion will examine the current alcohol laws in Massachusetts and look at a variety of legislative issues, including franchise law reform, licensing clarification efforts, pay-to-play concerns and even marijuana legalization initiatives.

After 13 years at one of the country’s highest-profile craft breweries, Dogfish Head CEO Nick Benz will depart the organization at the end of the year, the company announced today. Brewery founder and chairman Sam Calagione will takeover as CEO following Benz’s departure.

Terrapin Beer Co. is planning to open a microbrewery and restaurant at The Battery Atlanta, adjacent to SunTrust Park, the new home of the Atlanta Braves.

Revolution Brewing yesterday issued a recall of more than 10,000 barrels of beer packaged between Aug. 3 and Oct. 11 due to off-flavors that developed in six of the company’s more popular products. In an interview with Brewbound, brewery founder Josh Deth speculated that a majority of the recalled product had already been consumed, but said that the company would likely be forced to remove at least 3,000 barrels of beer from distributor warehouses and retailer shelves. If that’s the case, Revolution could miss out on about $1 million worth of sales to wholesalers and the company will also incur charges to destroy the damaged product.

For the first time in eight years, Harpoon Brewery has expanded its distribution footprint. The Boston-based craft brewery announced Monday a pair of deals to put its beer into Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In the same week that Anheuser-Busch InBev finalized its takeover of SABMiller, the world’s biggest beer company also announced the purchase of two major U.S. homebrew ingredient and supply companies.

We’re less than two months away from our next Brewbound Session, and the team is excited announce its initial lineup of speakers for the December 1 event. The Brewbound Session, a full-day business conference for serious brewery professionals, will gather more than 200 attendees to discuss important industry issues and exchange ideas while learning strategies for success in the most competitive sector of the alcohol beverage category.

Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller are officially drinking buddies. On Monday, A-B InBev closed the year-long merger saga, acquiring its one-time rival for $100 billion.

Citing slower growth and an increasingly more competitive craft beer landscape, San Diego’s Stone Brewing Company today laid off more than 50 employees as part of what it termed a “restructuring.” Cutbacks extended across the entire organization, Brewbound has learned, including personnel in sales, marketing, media, administration, and production. In a statement, new Stone CEO Dominic Engels, who joined the company on September 6, blamed the downsizing on “recent declines in domestic growth for the category and for Stone.”