Portland, Oregon’s Breakside Brewery is growing once again and will add a third brewpub location in 2016, the company announced Monday. Slated to occupy 5,000 sq. ft. of space in Portland’s “Slabtown district,” located in the Northwest part of town, Breakside said the new location would open next summer.
Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project, the beloved Boston-area craft beer company owned by Dann and Martha Paquette and known for its popular Jack D’Or saison, will officially close next month, the pair announced in a blog post. “After seven years it’s time to draw the curtains and head off to a new adventure,” they wrote.
New Belgium Brewing today announced it would begin distributing in New Jersey next March, opening the new territory alongside previously scheduled rollouts in Hawaii and West Virginia.
Brace yourselves. More hard soda is on the way. The country’s two biggest hard root beer producers — Pabst Brewing and Boston Beer Company — have simultaneously announced the national rollout of more soda-inspired ales, albeit with very different marketing messages.
Three years after launching in Arizona, Los Angeles-based Fireman’s Brew has announced a new Arizona distribution partnership with six MillerCoors distributors: Crescent Crown Distributing, Canyon Distributing, Finley Distributing, III Counties/Southern Distributing, Nackard Distributing, and Northland Distributing. Crescent Crown Distributing, which purchased the rights to the brand from Alliance Beverage Distributing, will take on the majority of the Arizona distribution.
Constellation Brands will borrow $400 million to help finance the $1 billion purchase of San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing, the company said in a statement. The cross-category beverage alcohol producer has tapped a banking syndicate that includes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P Morgan Securities, Rabo Securities, Wells Fargo Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Scotia Capital, Barclays Capital and BBVA Securities.
Sweetwater Brewing is on the move in Alabama again, this time transitioning away from Supreme Beverage, a MillerCoors wholesaler in the Northern part of the state, and into the Anheuser-Busch network. The Atlanta-based craft brewery said it has instead signed contracts with four new A-B wholesalers — Turner Beverage, Greene Beverage, Valley Budweiser and Shoals Distributing — for coverage north of Birmingham.
We’re exactly two weeks away from the 2015 Winter Brewbound Session, happening on Thursday, Dec. 3 in San Diego, and the final agenda is now available for viewing. As always, we’ve packed the program with presentations, panel discussions and conversations with experts from all corners of the craft industry.
In an effort to improve the labeling requirements of certain gluten-free products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed new rules on the designation for producers of fermented, distilled or hydrolyzed foods, including beer. The proposed compliance stipulations build on a 2013 ruling that defined the term “gluten-free” for voluntary use in labeling.
New Belgium Brewing is getting in on the gluten-free beer game and plans to introduce a pair of “gluten-reduced” offerings in January. Using an enzyme to break down gluten proteins, New Belgium’s new products boast the familiar “crafted to remove gluten” language on their labels. In a press statement, the company said both of its new “Glütiny” beers meet the FDA standard for “gluten-free” of 20 parts per million.
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced that Mark Hegedus, the president of New York-based craft beer outfit Blue Point Brewing, will depart the organization at the end of the month. Hegedus has accepted a position with North American Breweries (NAB) and will take over as the president and general manager of Magic Hat Brewing in December.
It took some time, but Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) has officially entered the craft beer business, today announcing the $1 billion acquisition of San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits. It’s a blockbuster transaction — the largest ever in craft — and represents an astonishing $3,500 per barrel multiple, as Ballast Point is expected to produce 290,000 barrels in 2015.
Constellation Brands is officially entering the craft beer category, and in a big way. The Corona and Modelo maker today announced it would acquire San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing for a whopping $1 Billion. “The purchase price values the acquisition multiple of the projected calendar 2016 Ballast Point EBITDA in the mid-to-high teens range,” Constellation said in a press statement.
Liquidity options are plentiful for owners of craft breweries: strategic sale, private equity, management buyout, family transfer, leveraged recapitalization. Which path should you take? Harpoon, New Belgium, Odell, Left Hand and many others walked a different path. These breweries chose to implement an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). ESOPs can be a great exit strategy for craft brewers. Outlined below are the top five reasons why craft brewers should consider an ESOP.
