Don’t hold your breath waiting for the next IPA, because there won’t be one. Not in the near future anyway, according to Bart Watson, staff economist for the Brewers Association. The style has just grown at too rapid a clip to be replicated: in just seven years, the IPA has gone from accounting for less than 8 percent of all craft volume to more than 27 percent, according to Watson, citing IRI scan data.
We’re just 48 hours away from Brew Talks PDX, being held on Wednesday Aug. 19 at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., and it’s finally time to reveal this month’s featured speakers. Rogue Ales president Brett Joyce, Columbia Distributing president Mark Walen and Rob Maletis, the owner and president of Maletis Beverage, will join Brewbound assistant editor Dave Eisenberg in a conversation about the dynamic Portland beer scene. CBA’s senior manager of emerging business, Karmen Olson, will also discuss how the company approaches partnerships with smaller breweries.
Appalachian Mountain Brewery (AMB) has extended its strategic partnership with Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), entering into an alternating proprietorship agreement that will include increased production of the North Carolina-based company’s core beers at the larger company’s east coast brewery. In an earnings release, AMB said it is “excited to be able to increase capacity significantly by leveraging excess capacity that CBA has in Portsmouth, N.H.”
Continuing its exploration of the craft alcoholic beverage sector, Alltech, a global biotech nutrition company, is investing $13 million in the construction of a new 27,972 sq. ft.brewery and distillery in downtown Pikeville, Ky. Having broken ground on the project earlier this summer, the company expects Dueling Barrels Brewing & Distilling Co. to be open in 2016.
Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking of the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. is out and, not surprisingly, several craft breweries made the cut. Nine craft breweries appeared on this year’s list, which is ranked according to percentage revenue growth over a four-year period.
Sierra Nevada just eliminated any hope you may have had of accomplishing anything remotely productive today.
To keep up with growing demand for its products on the Mainland, Maui Brewing has made a number of wholesale moves in California and Nevada. The company yesterday announced expanded distribution along California’s central coast, signing with four new distributors for coverage throughout Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo. Maui has signed agreements with Chrissa Imports, Central Coast Distributing, Delta Pacific Beverage and Pipeline Beverage.
A toxic spill that colored the Animas River a muddy, polluted shade of yellow last week could potentially hurt the beer tourism business in Durango, Colo.
Deschutes Brewery has signed agreements with three new beer wholesalers in Michigan, the company announced today. The brewery, based in Bend, Ore., has inked deals with Alliance Beverage in Western Michigan, Fabiano Brothers in Central Michigan, and Daniel L Jacob & Co. for coverage in “Ann Arbor South.”
Texas’ Del Papa Distributing today announced the creation of a new craft and specialty division to better capitalize on the “explosion” of craft beer. In a statement, Del Papa said its own steady increase of craft volume – trending at 25 percent over the past four years – was the impetus for the creation 2-Row Distributing, which will launch selling national and local craft brands alike.
Famed beer historian, critic, and author, Fred Eckhardt, who was known by many as “the dean of American beer writers,” died Monday morning at age 89 at a hospital in Portland, Ore.
After 25 years at the helm of New Belgium Brewing, co-founder Kim Jordan will step down as CEO and transition into a new role as executive chair of the brewery’s Board of Directors, the company announced today. Current president and chief operations officer Christine Perich, who began her career at New Belgium in 2000 and has also previously served as the company’s chief financial officer, has been named CEO. She will take over on October 9, the company said.
Left Hand Brewing has signed a new distribution agreement with Wirtz Beverage for coverage throughout Nevada. An official launch is planned for August 28, the distributor announced in a statement today.
In June, as reported by Brewbound, Kentucky passed a law that forced both Rhinegeist Brewery, a small beer company from Ohio, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, to sell off distributorships it owned in the state. Using that case a starting point, the Center for Public Integrity this week ran an illuminating piece highlighting the lobbying power established distributors have displayed, in Kentucky and beyond, in driving such legislative efforts.
