How do you stand out from the 94 different beer companies fighting for attention in San Diego’s crowded craft scene? You reach for the hard stuff. Living up to its unofficial “we make what we like to drink” motto, this month Ballast Point will introduce four new, ready-to-drink canned cocktails that feature the company’s distilled spirits, including Three Sheets Rum, Fugu Vodka and Old Grove Gin.
The Cicerone Certification Program, the world’s top certification program for beer servers and other industry professionals yesterday announced the creation of a new advanced level course for those looking to further their knowledge on beer flavors, styles and service.
After connecting with nearly 200 beer industry professionals at our Brew Talks CBC event earlier this year, we knew we had to get back to Portland, Ore. for another evening of business discussion and networking. That’s why we’re so excited to announce our return to the City of Roses on August 19 for round 2 of Brew Talks, this time hosted by Widmer Brothers Brewing at the home of the Portland Timbers — Providence Park.
The prominent Pacific Northwest beverage wholesaler Columbia Distributing will expand into California with the acquisition of Mesa Beverage Co., the company announced Friday. Columbia, which, although based in Portland, Ore. is owned by San Francisco family office The Meritage Group, said it would purchase all assets of the 4-million case Santa Rosa, Calif. wholesale
David Logsdon, a lifelong beer industry entrepreneur and the founder of Oregon’s Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, has agreed to sell a significant stake in his brewery to three new partners, Brewbound has learned. Reached by phone, Logsdon said that he and the company’s five additional partners have verbally agreed to a deal that would reshape the company’s current ownership structure.
Jim Koch, founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, told the Wall Street Journal that he would “likely be the last American owner” of the brewery that produces the iconic Samuel Adams lineup.
Boston Beer Company today reported second quarter net revenues of $252.2 million, indicative of a 9 percent increase over the same time period last year. Depletions grew as well, up 6 percent and 7 percent from comparable 13- and 26-week periods in 2014.
Staring at IRI’s latest spreadsheet isn’t exactly the most exhilarating way to spend a Thursday afternoon, but it can reveal some pretty interesting nuggets. Take this one, about Not Your Father’s Root Beer (NYFRB): The brand that everyone seems to be talking about, nonstop, is now the 11th best-selling “craft” product in IRI’s multi-outlet and convenience store (MULC) universe (which includes grocery, drug, Wal-Mart, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military stores).
Deschutes Brewery has named Veronica Vega, who started her career with the company in 2006 as a tour guide, its new brewmaster. In the position, Vega will head up the brewery’s research and development initiatives, alongside fellow brewmaster Brian Faivre, who leads Deschutes’ technical brewing operations, the company said.
When your brewery has experienced double-digit growth for the last 17 consecutive years, you’re bound to field a few offers. So it should come as no surprise, then, that the world’s largest brewery recently tried to arrange a formal sit down with one of craft’s most revered “indie” brewery owners: Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione.
As Night Shift Brewing continues to carve out its own niche in the Greater Boston craft beer scene, the brewery is spending much of its fourth year in operation expanding capacity and beautifying its facility.
It took more than eight months, but Dogfish Head has finally found its new vice president of sales. The company today announced that Todd Bollig, who most recently spent 16 years with Constellation Brands, will fill the long-vacant position left behind by Adam Lambert, who departed the company last November to pursue a new opportunity with New Holland Brewing.
Yet another established craft brewery is setting up shop in Denver’s flourishing River North neighborhood. This time, it’s Great Divide, which is scheduled to officially open its ‘Barrel Bar,’ a 30 to 40-person taproom with patio space for a 100 more along the South Platte River, on July 31. But that’s just the start of the project.
The U.S. beer industry contributed $253 billion to the American economy and supported 1.75 million jobs in 2014, according to the latest “Beer Serves America” report, jointly commissioned by the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Findings from the study, which is released every two years, will be presented to Hill staffers, policy makers and members of the press during a Congressional briefing later this afternoon.
