Befitting the reputation it has built for using diverse and exotic ingredients in the brewing process, Dogfish Head has shown over the years that, as a company, it has eclectic taste in music as well. Spearheaded by founder and self-proclaimed music geek Sam Calagione, the company has made its fandom known through collaborations with the likes of Pearl Jam, the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis’ estate and, most recently, a Dogfish-sponsored live performance by hip-hop icon Tone Loc during this year’s Craft Brewers Conference.
Boston Beer Company, which produces and markets the Angry Orchard line of hard ciders, today officially announced it acquired a 60-acre orchard located in upstate Montgomery, New York. The company also plans to build a new innovation cidery and taproom, a space that will be used primarily for experimentation and consumer education.
A Minnesota bar located near the Wisconsin border is under investigation for illegally selling beers from New Glarus Brewing without a license, per a report from the Green Bay Press Gazette. According to a search warrant filed in Hennepin County, an employee of Maple Tavern had allegedly been making trips across state lines to buy kegs of Spotted Cow, a popular beer from the company, to be brought back and re-sold in Minnesota.
Craft Brew Alliance is doubling down on brewery expansions. The company today announced it would spend $15 million to build a new 100,000-barrel brewery in Hawaii. A list of potential locations is being reviewed and CBA said it expects the facility to be fully operational by 2017.
The Scottish brewing outfit BrewDog operates branded beer bars all over the world, ships beer to more than 50 countries, and even has its own American television show. Despite their success, company co-founders (and hosts of the popular “Brew Dogs” show) James Watt and Martin Dickie will tell you that they are representative not of esteemed entrepreneurs that came before them, but rather the brash youth that constantly seeks disruption. They’re punks.
New Belgium Brewing is pushing farther east. The Colorado-based craft brewery today announced it would expand distribution to Pennsylvania, signing agreements with a mixed group of Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors wholesalers alike. “Pennsylvania has been on the horizon for a while now and we are thrilled to secure our distributing partners and hit the ground running this fall,” New Belgium Brewing’s East Coast Division Sales Director, Rich Rush said in a press statement.
We’re pleased to announce that video playback from last week’s special edition of Brew Talks at the 2015 Craft Brewers Conference is now available for video playback. A capacity crowd of more than 200 brewers, distributors, investors and other beer industry professionals joined the talk, held at 10 Barrel Brewing’s brand new brewpub in Portland, Ore. on Thursday, April 16.
Victory Brewing today announced the opening of its second brewpub in the Philadelphia area, a 7-barrel brewery and restaurant that seats 220 in more than 8,000 sq. ft. of space. Dubbed Victory at Magnolia, the brewpub in Kennett Square, Pa. will serve a rotating lineup of both site-specific and signature Victory beers brewed on-premise.
In fashion true to the collaborative reputation of the craft beer industry, two Boston-area beer companies are working together to jointly expand their operations. A new deal between Cambridge Brewing Co. (Cambridge, Mass.) and Mystic Brewery (Chelsea, Mass.) will see equipment trade hands in exchange for production assistance.
Two recently released independent economic studies highlight craft’s growth in two very different markets: New York and Oregon. Both reports, commissioned by each state’s respective guilds, offer a bicoastal perspective on the economic impact of craft beer. While the two markets ostensibly share little in common (east coast versus west coast; industrial versus bucolic; the Yankees versus who needs a baseball team?), it seems craft beer is one thing the two states can bond over.
Another day, another deal. New York’s The Bronx Brewery today announced it has sold a minority interest to Tenth Avenue Holdings (TAH), a family office based in New York City that will provide guidance and funding to the small 6,000-barrel brewing operation.
Oregon State University announced it will build a new research brewery thanks to a six-figure donation from Gambrinus chief Carlos Alvarez. Alvarez, the CEO and chairman of the Gambrinus Company – which owns BridgePort Brewing, Spoetzl Brewery, Trumer Brewery, and Tappeto Volante – has gifted the school with $1 million to build the brewery in the university’s Wiegand Hall Pilot Plant Facility.
When we initially booked our special CBC edition of Brew Talks at 10 Barrel Brewing’s Portland brewpub, we wanted to start the afternoon with a dialogue between Joe Bisacca and Dick Cantwell, two of the three founding partners at Elysian Brewing. The goal was simple: have a conversation about succession planning and the circumstances that led Elysian to explore a sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev.
One of the biggest issues facing the craft brewing industry as it continues to evolve is that of franchise laws, the rules that contractually bind manufacturers to their wholesaler partners. Across the country, brewers are trying to find more latitude in how they bring beer to market.
