MillerCoors is staying in Chicago. In a note sent to employees yesterday, CEO Gavin Hattersley said the company would keep its name, and its headquarters in Chicago, after Molson Coors acquires the 58 percent stake in the joint venture with SABMiller it does not already own.
Atwater, together with Flemish Fox Brewery & Craftworks, a soon-to-launch beer company founded by Christine Celis of “Celis Beer” fame, jointly formed a new company and will collaboratively construct a 27,000 sq. ft. facility capable of producing upwards of 60,000 barrels per year. A yet-to-be-named joint entity will own the real estate and the brewery assets.
In the hub of North Carolina’s craft beer industry, one brewery is growing like a weed. Asheville-based Wicked Weed Brewing today announced it would build another production facility this summer, its fourth brewery space in as many years. Located on 17 acres in South Asheville, the new 57,000 sq. ft. facility will be entirely devoted to the production of sour, farmhouse, and wild-fermented beers — style categories that Wicked Weed has increasingly focused on in recent years.
Alabama lawmakers passed a bill late yesterday evening that, if signed into law, would grant limited direct-sales privileges to brewers in the state and clean up other other outdated alcohol industry regulations. Now en-route to governor Robert Bentley’s desk, Senate Bill 211, the companion draft of House Bill 176, would give small brewers in Alabama the right to sell up to 288 oz. of beer directly to consumers for off-premise consumption.
A trio of notable craft brewery founders and executives will join next week’s Brew Talks meetup, being hosted at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins on Tuesday, March 22. New Belgium CEO Christine Perich, Left Hand Brewing co-founder Eric Wallace and Odell Brewing co-founder Wynne Odell will join Brewbound editor Chris Furnari to discuss top-of-mind industry issues, including merger & acquisition activity, pay-to-play and wholesaler consolidation, among other topics.
Blue Moon is no longer artfully crafted. The 21-year old craft brand has ditched its old tagline for messaging aimed at “shifting the conversation” to include consumers’ creativity and to “recruit new consumers into craft.” The company has unveiled an entirely new look for the brand, as well as the new “something’s brewing” campaign.
Alabama Senate Reviewing Direct Sales Bill; Maine Brewpubs Denied Off-Premise Sales; Oklahoma Looks to Update Three-Tier System Laws; Missouri State Reps Consider Cold Beer Bill
Former Popchips CEO and the snack brand’s current co-chairman, Paul Davis, has joined Craft Brew Alliance’s board of directors, the beer company announced yesterday. Davis, whose resume includes running companies like Coinstar/Redbox, Kettle Foods and Barilla America, brings more than “three decades of consumer packaged goods experience” to the CBA board, the company said in a statement.
Cigar City, a leading independent brewery based in Tampa, Fla., has agreed to sell controlling interest to Boston-based private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners, which already owns majority stakes in Oskar Blues, Perrin Brewing and the Utah Brewers Cooperative outfit that includes the Wasatch and Squatters brands. Together, the five craft breweries make up what the firm calls United Craft Brews LLC., a holding company and special purpose fund set up specifically for craft brewery acquisitions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to close within the next 90 days.
The pay-to-play saga continues in Massachusetts. 10 days after agreeing to pay a $2.6 million fine for violating state laws that prohibit unfair trade practices and illegal pay-to-play activities, the Craft Beer Guild of Massachusetts, which also does business as Craft Brewers Guild, has filed a complaint with the state’s Suffolk County Superior Court.
Georgia Lawmaker Sponsors Resolution to Study Liquor Laws; Oil Giant Sunoco to Open New York Malt House; Milwaukee Brewing to open new brewery on old Pabst Campus; New Beer Gardens for Cleveland Indians; Deschutes’ East Coast Announcement Expected Soon
In an effort to fill demand, Tree House will build a sizeable new brewery capable of eventually producing more than 125,000 barrels per year. In a blog posted to the company’s website on Tuesday, co-founder Nate Lanier detailed the company’s plans to build a 45,000 sq. ft. brewing facility in Charlton, Mass. Complete with a 50-barrel brewhouse and fermentation tanks as large as 240 barrels, the new brewery will initially be capable of producing 30,000 barrels annually, a significant increase from the 11,000 barrels Tree House will make in 2016.
Add West Virginia to Bell’s growing U.S footprint. One day after revealing its Mississippi distributors, the Michigan-based craft beer maker today announced it has signed agreements with a trio of Anheuser-Busch wholesalers throughout West Virginia. Proud Eagle, Mountain Eagle and Northern Eagle will begin selling the Bell’s brand throughout by mid-July, the brewery said in a statement.
Craft Brew Alliance will break ground on its new 100,000-barrel Kona Brewing facility on Friday, commemorating the event with a traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony and the limited-release of “First Rock Pale Ale.”
