Hoping to provide knowledgeable support for the volunteers that keep the beer flowing at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the Brewers Association (BA) has announced the return of its ‘Beer Geeks’ program. Consisting of 100 homebrew club members and other so-called ‘beer geeks,’ the program, which was introduced last year, aims to provide volunteers with access to “core brewery and brand information” about the beers they’re pouring.
Just days after Brew Hub officially opened the doors to its Lakeland, Fla. facility, the “partner brewing” venture today announced its next location: St. Louis, Mo. The company plans to begin construction on a $20 million, 200,000-barrel craft brewery in Chesterfield, Mo. later this year.
Having just moved into a new facility earlier this summer after brewing at capacity for four years, Smuttynose Brewing has announced plans to expand distribution to Texas. The Hampton, N.H.-based brewery today announced it has inked a wholesale agreement with Ben E. Keith Beverages, which will distribute Smuttynose brands throughout Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, with rollout events slated for this week.
Making its biggest geographic leap to date, San Francisco’s Almanac Beer has announced plans to expand distribution to New York. Per a new partnership with S.K.I. Beer, Almanac’s lineup of beers will be available throughout the state’s five boroughs and on Long Island both on draft and in bottles beginning September 14.
Boston Beer is going vertical in the U.S. cider category. The company, which produces and markets the Angry Orchard line of hard ciders, has agreed to purchase a 60-acre orchard in upstate Montgomery, New York. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Using U.S. Census data from 2010, the Brewers Association (BA) believes that more Americans than ever before now live near breweries. BA economist Bart Watson reports that 52.9 million Americans, or 17.1 percent of the population, live in a ZIP code tabulation area with a brewery. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP code tabulation areas are “generalized areal representations of United States Postal Service (USPS) ZIP code service areas.”
Let’s talk numbers again, shall we? IRI’s principal of Beverage Alcohol Clients Insights, Dan Wandel, joined last week’s Power Hour webcast hosted by the Brewers Association’s and shared a ton of positive trends for craft brewers.
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill that makes it illegal to deface the name of a manufacturer as it appears on a metal keg without written consent, a measure designed to combat theft. While already illegal to recycle kegs bearing a manufacturer’s name without written permission, ethically dubious, albeit green-minded opportunists circumvented the law by destroying any given keg’s insignia.
Brewbound is hitting the road once again, taking its traveling Brew Talks event series to Chicago for a meetup with beer industry professionals at the brand new Lagunitas Brewery taproom on Sept. 23. Brew Talks Chicago will offer attendees two unique discussions on the marketing and distribution strategies of successful craft brands.
After residents of Crested Butte vocalized anger at what they felt was a pittance offering of $250,000, Anheuser-Busch will now double the amount of money it’s spending to temporarily take over the town as part of a marketing stunt, according to the Denver Post.
In addition to broadening its distribution footprint, Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing is now expanding its political reach. Last month, the Fort Collins-based brewery filed paperwork to create its own national political action committee (PAC), a move that company spokesman Bryan Simpson said will enable New Belgium to strengthen its voice at both the state and national levels.
Victory Brewing today announced plans to expand its presence in the mid-atlantic region as the company looks to open a new brewpub in Leesburg, Va. It’s the company’s fourth such establishment, but the first outside of its home state of Pennsylvania. Located inside a 110,560 sq. ft. mixed-used development belonging to the private equity real estate firm L4 Capital Partners, the brewpub, which will span three floors, will open in the second quarter of 2016.
Coors Distributing Company president Scott Whitley has been tapped as the new CEO of MillerCoors’ craft and import division, Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the company announced last week.
Rubbing the guts of a Cascade hop off his nose, Andy Goeler is in awe of the 1,500 acres of hops under trellis that surround him, resting at the foot of northern Idaho’s Selkirk Mountain Range. He’s gushing poetic adjectives, verbally painting a picture that needs no help painting itself. After a career spanning three decades at Anheuser-Busch, Goeler is now two years into his tenure as CEO of Goose Island Beer.
