Florida’s Office of the Attorney General has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that calls into question the constitutionality of the state’s long held and controversial ban on 64 oz. growlers. Currently, 32 and 128 oz. growlers are legal in the state, but 64 oz. packages, which are most commonly used for sales of take-home draft beer, are prohibited, something that many argue is harmful to the burgeoning craft beer industry.
It’s hardly news that craft beer is incredibly popular among the millennial demographic. But it can be hard to market to them armed with that information alone. As such, the bulk of Thursday’s “Power Hour” conference call, hosted by the Brewers Association, was spent further dissecting this demographic, specifically highlighting the untapped potential there is in the Hispanic population of young drinkers.
Brewbound is pleased to announce that video playback from Brew Talks Connecticut is now available. The business and networking meetup, which took place at Two Roads Brewing on Tuesday, Nov. 18, featured two engaging conversations with Connecticut-based beer industry experts.
Whoops, file this one in the retraction column. Apparently the Russians aren’t actually buying Pabst Brewing Company. In September, it was widely reported that Russia’s Oasis Beverage was teaming up with TSG Consumer Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, and beverage entrepreneur Eugene Kashper to buy the Pabst brand from C. Dean Metropoulos for upwards of $750 million.
In light of disappointing third quarter earnings results, Anheuser-Busch InBev has laid off an undisclosed number of U.S. employees, according to Market Watch. The cuts include salaried positions in a number of divisions, the report adds, from marketing, procurement, sales, and brewery operations. While the specific number of layoffs is unknown, one person close to the matter estimated it could be in the hundreds.
During last week’s Beer Marketer’s Insights conference in New York City, a pair of top-10 craft brewery founders took the stage to discuss category growth, brewery expansion plans and category trends, among other top-of-mind issues. Deschutes Brewery founder Gary Fish and Brooklyn Brewery founder Steve Hindy joined the conversation, moderated by Beer Marketer’s Insights president Benj Steinman.
The Coca-Cola Company today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Reyes Holdings, granting the wholesaler the distribution rights for Coke products in the Chicago area. In today’s statement, Coke confirmed that Reyes, via its newly established “Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution L.L.C.” arm, would “dedicate all of the company’s sales and distribution activities on servicing the Coca-Cola brands.”
When Two Roads Brewing was negotiating the acquisition of its facility in Stratford, Conn., the company didn’t have a dollar to its name. On top of that, the brewery had already ordered the equipment to fill out the space it now inhabits. Though the company had an anchor investor, founder Brad Hittle said it was up to him and his team to offer personal guarantees on everything they needed, something he admits was dumb now with the benefit of hindsight.
Ohio legislators are making a last minute push behind a bill that, if passed, would nearly double the legal ABV limit for beer sold in the state, according to WCPO Cincinnati. As written, House Bill 391 would allow for the sale of beer that clocks in at 21 percent ABV in the state, up from the currently imposed cap of 12 percent.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s recent acquisition of 10 Barrel Brewing may have been just the next step in the beer behemoth’s effort to augment its foothold in the craft side of the business, but the path won’t be completely clear until it resolves issues within the acquisition’s existing distribution network. In many markets, the 10 Barrel brand is already sold through A-B InBev wholesalers. But in areas like Boise, Idaho (Hayden Beverage Co.), Pendleton, Ore.
Brewbound is pleased to announce that Green Flash Brewing co-founders Lisa and Mike Hinkley will speak at the upcoming Brewbound Session, being held in San Diego on Thursday, Dec. 4. In a conversation with Brewbound editor Chris Furnari, the Hinkley’s will discuss Green Flash’s national distribution strategy and explain the impetus for expanding the company’s brewing operations to the east coast.
The Craft New York Act, which will officially take effect in 29 days, will ease licensing requirements and reduce fees for New York-based craft brewers, winemakers, cider producers and distillers that are looking to increase production. Additionally, the new law will enable manufacturers to conduct on-premise tastings with less stringent food requirements.
Regulators in Massachusetts are investigating whether brewers and distributors in the state are offering up cash and other incentives to retailers in exchange for guaranteed product placement, an illegal practice known in the beer industry as ‘pay-to-play.’ As reported this morning by The Boston Globe, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) has issued subpoenas to a number of businesses in the state.
It was Halloween, and Bear Republic CEO Richard Norgrove was flying to Boston to deliver grim news to Atlantic Imports, the company’s distributor in the Massachusetts market: he was going to stop shipping beer to the Bay State, its fifth largest market, beginning Jan. 1, 2015. It was no trick, though: the California drought is taking its toll on the top-50 craft brewer, forcing it to pull distribution.
