Two beverage industry titans are teaming up to enter the $1 billion ready-to-drink premium bottled tea segment. On Thursday, Starbucks and Anheuser-Busch InBev announced a partnership to manufacture and distribute a ready-to-drink bottled tea under the Starbucks-owned Teavana brand, which Starbucks acquired in 2012 for $620 million. The product is slated to launch in the first half of 2017.
With the U.S. Department of Justice on the verge of green-lighting Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed $106 billion takeover of SABMiller, according to Bloomberg, Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease has penned a New York Times opinion piece about the potential repercussions of the “MegaBrew” merger. In his op-ed, Pease expressed concerns about A-B InBev’s ability to “stifle consumer choice” and “choke off America’s beer renaissance,” by restricting access to market.
California’s Napa Smith Brewery has announced a two-pronged expansion plan that will include the construction of a new multi-million dollar production facility in Vallejo, Calif. as well as the addition of shared brewing capacity at Turtle Anarchy Brewing in Nashville, Tenn. In a press release, the company, which expects to produce just 6,000 barrels of beer in 2016, called itself the “smallest independent bicoastal operation in North America.
In this week’s edition of press clips: Sodastream Launches Homemade Beer System; Boston’s Night Shift Brewing to Expand; Alltech Brewing Eyes Expansion in Mexico, Asia; Majority of U.S. House Supports Beer Tax Reform; Wynne Odell Elected to BA Board
One the verge of an important Memorial Day weekend for beer sales, a number of the country’s top-selling brands aren’t on shelves at two of the country’s largest retailers. According to new information from Quri, a San Francisco-based retail intelligence company providing insight into merchandising conditions at major U.S. retailers, many of the country’s largest brands are out of stock at Walmart and Target.
Sales of craft beer are officially slowing, according to new data from market research firm IRI Worldwide, but a closer look shows an important distinction: the biggest brewers and their craft brands are the ones facing the slowdown. While category-wide beer volume sales remain flat across IRI’s measured multi-outlet and convenience channels (MULC — which comprise grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser, Walmart and military stores), up just 0.7 percent through May 15, growth in the craft beer category, which was growing double-digits at this time last year, has slowed considerably.
In this edition of the BevNET Podcast, Chris Furnari, the editor of Brewbound, joins us to discuss his takeaways from the massive, 14,000-attendee Craft Brewers Conference and Brew Expo America, including some of the factors that are enabling massive growth in the craft beer category.
Twisted Pine Brewing Company is getting out of the distribution business. The company today announced plans to cease off-site sales and instead focus on being a leading Colorado brewpub. Restricting the brand’s availability almost exclusively to the Twisted Pine Ale House, the 21-year old Boulder-based brewery has already started parting ways with wholesalers outside of Colorado and will ultimately limit any off-site sales to a few select retailers within its home state.
Officials from the United States Department of Justice are investigating Anheuser-Busch InBev over a controversial incentive plan aimed at rewarding beer wholesalers who focus on selling products from the world’s largest beer maker, according to the Reuters news agency. At the crux of the DOJ probe are anticompetitive concerns over A-B InBev’s Voluntary Anheuser-Busch Incentive For Performance (VAIP) program.
Ballast Point today confirmed plans to purchase a massive 259,000 sq. ft. building in Botetourt County, Virginia, where it will build its first East Coast production facility. According to a press release from the office of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the company plans to spend $48 million to build the new outpost.
Summit Brewing today announced it has hired former J.J. Taylor Minnesota president Mike Bamonti as its new chief sales officer. Prior to joining Summit, Bamonti served as J.J. Taylor’s general manager for 12 years and helped oversee that company’s acquisitions of Day Distributing Co. in 2015 and Chisago Lakes Distributing in 2012.
Another West Coast brewery is set to break ground in Virginia. The mid-Atlantic state has become an in-vogue region for fast-growing craft breweries, with Deschutes, Stone and Green Flash all turning to Virginia to open their East Coast manufacturing arms. And Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced last week that another is on the way. Visiting Boston on an economic development mission, he toasted New England companies and made it clear that an announcement naming the brewery is in the offing.
Ohio Lawmakers Vote to Eliminate ABV Limits on Beer; Dutch Brewer Bavaria to Acquire Belgium’s Palm Brewery; Double Mountain to Open New PDX Taproom; Saltwater Brewery Introduces Edible 6-Pack Rings
During a state of the industry address earlier this month at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia, Brewers Association director Paul Gatza said something that should have caused every brewery owner in the room to pause. “A rising tide does not float all boats anymore,” he said. So what’s keeping craft brewers up at night as they look out at volatile and rapidly evolving craft beer landscape? Watch the video above to hear what was on the mind of some CBC attendees.
