Base Camp Brewing Owner Arrested; Arrogant Bastard Gets Canned; Craft’s Private Equity Deals Profiled by Forbes; Hillary Clinton Visits Pearl Street; BrewDog Begins Distilling

Truly Spiked & Sparkling, a new hard seltzer label produced by craft beer maker Boston Beer Company, has hit liquor store shelves. The company, best known for its Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, Twisted Tea and Coney Island brands, is expected to make a formal product announcement next Tuesday. Rollouts in 15 additional states — New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, Colorado, New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas and Maryland — are also planned or underway, according to the brand’s Facebook page.

Sun King Brewery president and co-founder Omar Robinson will sell a portion of his stake in the business when he retires next month. Simultaneously, Sun King will also turn over minority interest to incoming president Robert Whitt, who will “buy a portion of Omar’s stock over the next few years,” co-founder Clay Robinson told Brewbound. Oregon’s Cascade Brewing, meanwhile, has appointed Tim Larrance as its new vice president of sales and marketing.

Pabst Brewing Company yesterday announced an expanded partnership with C&C Group plc to distribute and sell Pabst brands throughout the UK and Ireland. Per the agreement, C&C will act as the “exclusive distributor” of several Pabst brands, including its flagship offering, Pabst Blue Ribbon, as well as labels like Lone Star, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee and Ballantine IPA.

Columbia Distributing, one of the country’s largest beverage wholesalers with operations in Oregon, Washington and California, yesterday announced that CEO Gregg Christiansen would retire in 2018. “I’ve had a great run,” Christiansen said in a press announcement. “I’ve been fortunate to work in this industry for over 30 years. I’ve worked with very talented people and helped build many excellent brands. Most importantly, I’ve had fun doing it.”

Boston Beer Company, the country’s second-largest craft beer producer, recently helped Carnival, the world’s largest cruise ship operator, build a floating microbrewery on-board its new Carnival Vista vessel. In a press statement, Carnival said it worked with Alchemy & Science, Boston Beer’s wholly-owned subsidiary incubator, to launch version 2.0 of its Key West-inspired bar, the Red Frog Pub, which will now also feature a small brewery.

U.S. craft brewers are now shipping nearly half a million barrels of beer around the world, according to the latest Brewers Association (BA) estimates. In a press release, the BA — which represents the interests of small and independent U.S. craft brewers — said American craft beer exports grew 16.3 percent in 2015, to more than 446,000 barrels and a retail value of about $116 million.

Three sustainability-minded craft brewers from Colorado joined last week’s Brew Talks meetup, held at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo., to share methods for scaling an eco-friendly brewery with more than 100 industry professionals. New Belgium’s director of sustainability Jenn Vervier, along with Upslope Brewing’s director of brewing operations, Dany Pages, and Taylor Kranz, a brewer with Fort Collins Brewery, explained how their companies have prioritized environmental sustainability over profits as they’ve grown.

Stone Brewing Co. is nearly national and the San Diego-based craft beer maker said it plans to be distributing in all 50 states before the end of 2016. It will move one step closer today, as it rolls out throughout Arkansas, its 42nd state. Michigan’s Bell’s Brewery, meanwhile, said it will continue its 2016 distribution expansion in May with forays into Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.

A trio of Colorado’s most recognizable beer industry leaders joined Tuesday’s Brew Talks meetup, hosted at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo., to discuss the state of their industry. Odell Brewing co-founder Wynne Odell joined Left Hand Brewing co-founder Eric Wallace and New Belgium CEO Christine Perich to address a myriad of issues impacting the U.S. craft landscape, including mergers & acquisitions, the influx of capital in craft, increasing competition and ongoing distribution challenges.

Full Sail Brewing has updated its look. The Oregon-based craft brewery this week unveiled a new logo and refreshed artwork for several of its core brands. Focusing on natural elements and landmarks surrounding the brewery, the rebrand was intended to emphasize Full Sail’s connection to nature and to modernize the company’s image in a market flooded with thousands of craft beer options.

Deschutes Brewery will continue distributing in the St. Louis area, albeit with a new wholesaler, the Oregon-based beer maker announced today. The company has signed an agreement with Major Brands, the largest Missouri-owned distributor of wine, beer, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages.

Rotation nation is alive and well. Popular craft-centric chain Yard House, which operates 63 restaurants across the U.S. and boasts an average of 130 tap handles per location, this week announced plans to evolve its beer program by adding nearly 1,600 new draft offerings. Beginning March 28, The California-based on-premise retailer, which recently completed its annual “beer review,” said it would tap an average of 20 to 30 new beers per restaurant.

Total craft growth slowed in 2015 as U.S. craft brewers grew volumes by 13 percent and retail dollars by 16 percent last year, according to new data compiled by trade group The Brewers Association (BA). In its annual report on industry-wide growth, the BA said more than 4,250 small and independent U.S. brewers collectively produced about 24.5 million barrels of beer in 2015.