Twenty by ’20 no doubt has a nice ring to it. In these parts, those figures are self-explanatory. In case you’ve had your head buried in the mash for a while, the mirroring numbers refer to the goal, as oft repeated by the Brewers Association, for craft to own 20 percent of the overall beer market by the year 2020. At last week’s Brewbound Session, Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas implored the industry, to think about the future, as he does, in terms of barrels.
Delta Airlines has added seven craft beer offerings to its in-flight drink menu. Effective now, Delta customers can enjoy offerings from Ballast Point, Blue Point, Brooklyn Brewery, Lagunitas, Newburyport Brewing, Stone, SweetWater, as well as Boston Beer.
In an effort to recognize the business initiatives of brewers across the U.S., Brewbound announced the first-ever recipients of the Brewbound Awards at its full-day conference held on Dec. 4 in San Diego, Calif.
Beer wholesalers in Idaho are asking the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau to clarify a law enabling small brewers to operate as both producers and retailers with multiple locations. As written, Idaho law permits breweries that produce fewer than 30,000 barrels per year to manage retail fronts and brewpubs.
With an expansion into nine new states, the Craft Brew Alliance-owned Kona Brewing brand will be sold nationwide in early 2015. In a press statement, the company said it plans to enter Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia next January.
Ninkasi Brewing has expanded distribution throughout Colorado, tapping C.R. Goodman Companies for statewide coverage. The brewery, headquartered in Eugene, Ore., will launch in the market today with offerings including Total Domination IPA, Believer Double Red, and Oatis Oatmeal Stout.
Founders Brewing has received an additional boost from the state of Michigan to help expand its production facility, this time in the form of a $250,000 performance-based grant. According to MiBiz.com, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation approved the grant last week to assist the brewery in its effort to build out a $40.4 million expansion.
We’re less than 24 hours away from a sold out winter edition of the Brewbound Session, being held on Dec. 4 at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego, and we’ve still got some final program notes to announce. Grab a beer – this one is jam-packed with updates.
Craft Brew Alliance today announced it has signed a letter of intent to form a strategic partnership with Appalachian Mountain Brewery, a publicly traded craft brewery based in Boone, North Carolina. Although specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, CBA told Brewbound the two companies will explore ways to “drive business growth and shareholder value through sharing resources in key strategic areas.”
Maui | Stone Craft Beverages, the Hawaiian distribution arm jointly owned by Stone Brewing and Maui Brewing, has built out its portfolio and is now selling 21 craft brands throughout the island of Maui, the company announced today. The company, which launched in February, sells a curated lineup of beers and ciders from California, Hawaii, Colorado and Oregon, refrigerated “through every link of the distribution chain.”
Acclaimed San Diego brewer Tomme Arthur is launching yet another brand of unique craft beers. Already lauded for his popular Port Brewing and Lost Abbey offerings, Arthur and his team plan to launch a third distinct line products in 2015 under the ‘Hop Concept Brewing’ moniker.
What sets J.J. Taylor Distributing apart from other wholesalers is what president and general manager Jay Martin calls “the three P’s.” “It’s our people, it’s our portfolio, and it’s our planning process,” he says, while conceding “I guess you could say some of that sounds cliché-ish.” Perhaps, but it’s helping the Florida distributor move beer in a growing, albeit underdeveloped market.
Brewbound is pleased to invite all Brewbound Session attendees to the official Brewbound Session welcome reception on Wednesday Dec. 3, the evening before Brewbound’s bi-annual business conference at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego. Sponsored by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Moss Adams LLP, this year’s welcome reception will be hosted at Modern Times Beer, located at 3725 Greenwood St., San Diego, Calif.
Perhaps the most startling fact from the Wall Street Journal’s recent report on the state of Budweiser is that, by Anheuser-Busch InBev’s own admission, nearly half — 44 percent — of 21- to 27-year-old drinkers have never even tried the beer. To bring young drinkers back to the brand, A-B InBev, the article adds, plans to trot out some “distinctly un-Budlike” marketing in the next year to appeal to the highly sought after millennial demographic.
