A Florida company claiming to have acquired the majority interest in a World of Beer franchise in Key West has sued the chain’s parent company, alleging it reneged on its initial approval of the deal months after the fact. According to the suit, filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Alfa Professional HR Services, Inc. bought 60 percent of Craft Culture Key West, LLC, the franchisee of World of Beer’s Key West outpost in January.
Brewbound San Diego ‘14 – a one-day conference focused on the business of craft beer – will be held on December 4th in San Diego at the Paradise Point Resort. You can save $100 by signing up now with the early registration discount.
Having made inroads in New England earlier this year with launches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, D.G. Yuengling Brewery is taking another step toward filling out its footprint in the region by expanding distribution to Connecticut. According to The Courant, the Pottsville, Pa.-based brewery’s beers will be available at bars and restaurants in the Constitution State on September 22 with packaged offerings to follow shortly thereafter on October 6.
Concerns over public safety could block the tap lines Chainline Brewing is trying to open up in Kirkland, Wash. Worried citizens fear the new brewery slated to open in a shared commerce complex would pose a threat to public safety and lead to the overcrowding of an already busy parking lot.
It was a “very good” second quarter, according to Craft Brew Alliance, the makers of Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona, Omission and Square Mile Cider. During an earnings call on Thursday, CEO Andy Thomas described the quarter as one that would “go down as a record for CBA.”
There’s still more than a month left in summer but already, pumpkin beer patches are growing on store shelves. The rollout started early this year: New York’s Southern Tier Brewing bottled its popular Pumking offering on May 28 and the first cases of it appeared at a Pennsylvania retail store on June 30.
Last week, Notch Brewing founder Chris Lohring thought that he’d finally found a location where he could build his company’s first production facility. Lohring, who launched Notch as a contract craft brand in 2010, had already visited a dozen properties in Salem, Mass., a coastal town located about 40 minutes north of Boston.
Richmond, Va. is reported to be one of the final contending cities vying for Stone Brewing Co.’s first facility east of the Mississippi River, and the City Council is putting in time off the clock to make sure it doesn’t get skipped over. Though it typically takes August off, the council called a “special meeting” yesterday with regards to permits for publicly owned land proximate to the James River, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Hopunion and Yakima Chief, two of the country’s largest hop suppliers, have announced a merger that will combine both worldwide operations under a single parent company. According to an Aug. 1 press statement, the new entity, Yakima Chief-Hopunion LLC (YCH), has acquired the equity and assets of both companies and related entities.
Having just celebrated its first anniversary in May, Saint Archer Brewing Co. is proving there’s still room to grow in a crowded San Diego craft beer market. The company today announced it’s in the midst of an expansion that will increase production by 45 percent monthly.
Research and consulting firm Technomic today released a new study detailing a few on-premise insights for craft brewers and cider makers. The research project tracked growth for craft beer in restaurants and bars and aimed to clarify several misconceptions about consumers’ purchasing behavior.
Last Friday, the craft brewer invited several members of the media on a hard tour of its new “Funkatorium,” a 9,000 sq. ft. facility dedicated to sour beer production. The new location, which is scheduled to open to the public in September, will allow the company to quadruple the size of its sour beer program.
Around this time last year, New Belgium co-founder Kim Jordan was laying out her company’s expansion timeline. The plan, Jordan said, was to sell beer in all 50 U.S. states by 2018. Fast-forward 12 months and the company is already announcing plans to expand into its 38th state, Kentucky.
It seems no corner of America can go for too long without a new craft brewery finding it a suitable place to do business. Mississippi’s Golden Triangle (That’s Columbus, Starkville, and West Point, if’n you’re not a native) is no different. The Dispatch touts SweetGum Brewing Co.’s Standby Red Ale as the Triangle’s “first homegrown beer.”
