Seven months after it launched its cider brand, Cidergeist, throughout Massachusetts, Cincinnati-based Rhinegeist Brewery this week said it would begin distributing its core beer offerings to the Bay State as well. And Bell’s Brewery today announced formal plans to expand distribution to Texas in 2017, inking agreements with 14 distributors throughout the state.
Beginning January, 1, 2017, Sierra Nevada will introduce two new core products: The first, Sidecar Orange Pale Ale, is a 5.3 percent pale ale brewed with oranges that the company hopes will generate interest from consumers craving a more fruit-forward drinking experience. A second product, Tropical Torpedo, will also look to capitalize on a growing shift toward citrus and tropical IPA variants.
In an effort to focus on the development of international Heineken brands, and their integration within the U.S. market, Heineken USA this month announced the creation of Five Points Trading Company. The new venture, aimed at “incubating a range of popular global beers in the U.S.,” will assume importer responsibilities for the Red Stripe, Tiger, Birra Moretti, Affligem, Murphy’s, Prestige, Sagres and Mort Subite brands.
MillerCoors yesterday announced plans to transition marketing responsibilities for its two largest craft brands — Blue Moon and Jacob Leinenkugel – away from its Tenth and Blake craft and import division. Tenth and Blake chief Scott Whitley explained the rationale behind the move in an email to distributors yesterday, noting the increased marketing demands needed to grow what he called “powerhouse” brands.
The Colorado beer distribution landscape is consolidating once again, this time with multi-state beer, wine and spirits wholesaler Breakthru Beverage broadening its reach in the state. The company today announced the acquisition of craft and import beer wholesaler C.R. Goodman. Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
One month after it announced a sale to MillerCoors, Texas’ Revolver Brewing has made its first official distribution transition to Dallas-based MillerCoors wholesaler, Andrews Distributing.
After completing an $8 million expansion earlier this year, Chicago’s Revolution Brewing is now equipped with 150,000 barrels of capacity. They’ll finish 2016 somewhere around 75,000 barrels or, expressed differently, about half of what it is capable of producing. And with new retail opportunities getting tougher to find in its home state, the company has begun looking elsewhere for growth. That’s why in June, the company quietly launched in Wisconsin with General Beverage. It’s also why it will enter New York City with Manhattan Beer in October.
The era of microbrewery consolidation is underway, and latest craft deal to cross the newswire is between a pair of small producers in Arizona. Fast-growing Huss Brewing Company, founded in South Tempe just three years ago by husband-and-wife team Jeff and Leah Huss, today announced its acquisition of the more established Papago Brewing Company, which was founded in 2001 in Scottsdale.
Forbidden Root founder Robert Finkel and 5 Rabbit Cervecería founder Andres Araya will discuss the state of innovation in craft brewing and their experiences operating highly-differentiated craft breweries. A second discussion with Donn Bichsel, Revolution Brewing’s director of sales and marketing, will examine current marketplace trends, increasing competition and struggles that mid-size craft regional brewers are facing as they look to scale their brands.
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced it would acquire fast-growing hard seltzer producer Boathouse Beverage LLC., which makes and markets the SpikedSeltzer brand. A final acquisition price was not disclosed, but Boathouse co-founders Nick Shields and Dave Holmes described the deal as a 100 percent equity purchase.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has struck another high-end deal, this time purchasing the 225-year-old Belgium-based Brouwerij Bosteels. American financial news and services website TheStreet.com, citing Belgian press reports, pegged the deal at $225 million.
The U.S. Department of Justice has officially closed its investigation into Anheuser-Busch InBev’s acquisition of Devils Backbone Brewing Company, according to a statement issued today by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Juan Arteaga. Citing conditions in a previously agreed upon settlement between A-B InBev and the DOJ — one that permits the world’s largest beer company to proceed with its acquisition of SABMiller — Arteaga said the “competitive implications of ABI’s acquisition of Devils Backbone are too uncertain at this time to warrant further investigation.”
Brooklyn Brewery today announced that longtime beer industry veteran Dave Duffy would join the company as the vice president of business development, a newly created position at the 29-year old company. Duffy — whom over the last 20 years has held various sales and marketing positions with Boston Beer Company, New Belgium Brewing and Great Divide, among other organizations — had most recently been working with First Beverage Group.
Denver’s Stem Ciders, which recently signed a distribution agreement with Breakthru Beverage for coverage throughout Colorado, has partnered with Fort Collins-based craft beer maker Odell Brewing for sales support across the state. Similar to a traditional broker relationship, the smaller Stem Ciders will gain access to Odell’s sales force as well as its inventory and customer relationship management (CRM) software programs in exchange for a fee.
