The craft deals keep coming, this time north of the border. Labatt Breweries of Canada, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, today announced it has acquired Toronto’s Mill Street Brewery. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Constellation Brands is making its first foray into craft, this week introducing a new line of beers made in partnership with celebrity chef Rick Bayless and inspired by traditional Mexican ingredients. Operating under the identity “Tocayo,” which loosely translated means “of the same name,” Constellation’s first product, Tocayo Hominy White Ale, is a Belgian-style witbier brewed with hominy, a white corn popular in Central American and Mexican cuisine.
Recently reborn as an “aggressively laid-back” beer company, Stony Creek Brewery is living up to the tagline by quietly scaling production to more than 10,000 barrels during its first 12 months since taking up residence in a newly constructed Branford, Conn. brewing facility. Originally formed in 2010 by Manny Rodriguez and Peggy Crowley, the wife of former Dichello Distributors co-owner Ed Crowley, Stony Creek first launched as a contract-produced craft brand focused on beers named after regional area codes.
SABMiller, the world’s second-largest beer company, this morning rejected a third takeover bid, worth $104 billion, from the larger Anheuser-Busch InBev saying that the offer “substantially undervalues” the company. After a meeting, SABMiller’s 16-member board, excluding three directors nominated by U.S. tobacco company Altria Group Inc., its largest shareholder, formally considered and rejected A-B InBev’s third proposal of 42.15 pounds per share in cash (USD $64.49)
Otter Creek Brewing yesterday broke ground on an expansion that will more than triple its annual production capacity, ultimately making it Vermont’s largest brewery by volume.
Hopheads rejoice: Alpine Beer Company’s acclaimed double IPA, Pure Hoppiness, is getting ready to make its national debut next month. It’s the first significant move for an Alpine brand that last November was acquired by Green Flash.
After aggressively adding more than 350 craft beer clients in 18 months, Crown Beverage Packaging — a leading supplier of aluminum cans for beverage manufacturers — is now struggling to keep up with demand from the very customers it sought, and is considering altering the ways it services craft customers. Over the last week, Crown began informing a number of craft breweries that it would no longer be able to fill orders of printed aluminum cans, Brewbound has learned.
In synchronized efforts to promote brand variety and independence, Alaskan Brewing is shaking up a portion of its wholesale network on the West Coast.
Always do your homework. That’s the advice Castle Island Brewing founder Adam Romanow had for other entrepreneurs during this week’s Brew Talks meetup, held inside of his aforementioned and soon-to-launch Boston-area brewery.
The New York Times last month published a short documentary about D.G. Yuengling & Son, shining a spotlight on fifth generation owner Dick Yuengling and his four daughters who are in line to take over the company when Dick, in his own words, drops dead.
It’s official. New Belgium Brewing will finally open the doors to its Asheville, N.C. brewing facility next February. Brewing in Asheville will commence “later this fall,” and tours of the facility will begin in March, the company said on its website. The opening of a second production brewery also coincides with the company’s 25th anniversary, a celebration for which is scheduled on August 27.
Jordan Brownwood sees a bright future in San Diego’s young but nascent hop growing industry. With more than 100 breweries already operational in town, Brownwood, who earlier this year co-founded Nopalito Farm & Hopyard near Escondido, Calif., believes that he and other small suppliers have a clear market, with some local breweries relying more and more on local suppliers.
After officially announcing its intent to takeover London-based SABMiller earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch InBev has been working to secure financing for the proposed merger of the world’s two largest beer companies. An offer could come as early as this week, reports The Sunday Times.
Massachusetts craft brewers are once again asking state officials to reform a 44-year-old state franchise law that governs the relationships between suppliers and distributors. On Tuesday, hundreds of industry stakeholders turned out for a hearing at the State House to hear comments from both wholesalers and brewers over a bill that would dramatically loosen franchise law restrictions, allowing smaller brewers more freedom to switch distributors.
