New Belgium today announced the promotion of current chief financial and chief operations officer, Christine Perich, to the position of president. Perich, who joined the company as CFO in 2004, has overseen all facets of operations since 2009. She was instrumental in guiding the company through its second employee stock ownership program transaction in 2012.
MillerCoors announced Tuesday that longtime Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing president, Jake Leinenkugel, 62, will retire at the end of the year. His brother, Dick Leinenkugel, will take over as president of the company, which is part of MillerCoors’ craft and import division, Tenth and Blake.
Boulevard Brewing has announced plans to expand distribution throughout Florida per an agreement with Brown Distributing, an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler. Boulevard beers will be available to the market beginning early October, according to a statement issued by the company, growing its total distribution footprint to 28 states and the District of Columbia.
The Brewers Association (BA) announced this morning that it has promoted Bob Pease, a 21-year veteran of trade group, from COO to CEO. The promotion, per a statement from the BA, “formalizes much of the responsibility that Pease has already progressively adopted,” since taking over as COO in 2010.
In a lawsuit filed in Milwaukee County Circuit court, beer giant MillerCoors has accused two former marketing executives of embezzling more than $10 million over the last 13 years. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MillerCoors alleges that David Colletti and Paul Edwards conspired with a dozen people and 15 companies to file invoices for undelivered services in which the individuals would split the pay.
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.
