Big Beer

Boston Beer Company has reformulated yet another of its top offerings. The company announced today the reformulation of its Samuel Adams Cold Snap spring seasonal release. The recipe tweak follows changes made last year to the formulas for Samuel Adams Summer Ale and every Truly Hard Seltzer flavor.

Molson Coors Beverage Company announced plans to cease production at its facility in Irwindale, California, by September 2020. The second largest U.S. beer manufacturer also announced an agreement with Pabst Brewing Co., giving the Los Angeles-headquartered beer company the option to purchase the Irwindale facility for $150 million.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: A New York bill would double the state’s excise tax; the Indiana cold beer sales effort will resume; U.S. cider trade group changes name; Silver Eagle distributes 1 million cases of Karbach beer in Houston; C Squared moves; and Backlash exits taproom.

Heineken USA (HUSA) is giving away 1,000 31-packs of its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0, as part of a campaign to win beer-drinking occasions during “Dry January.”

Alabama’s Straight to Ale and Druid City Brewing merge. Truly Hard Seltzer will be offered on American Airlines flights. Kombucha brewer Local Roots acquires Latitude 33’s production facility. Anheuser-Busch InBev returns as official beer sponsor of the NHL and launches larger partnership with the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

Samantha Roth left her post as director of corporate communications for Anheuser-Busch InBev in November to become the vice president of communications for the National Football League. North Coast Brewing has hired longtime wine executive Jeffrey Ottoboni as its next CEO.

Canadian Cannabis company Canopy Growth Corporation announced today the appointment of David Klein as CEO, effective January 14, 2020. Meanwhile, Constellation Brands has named Garth Hankinson as Klein’s replacement.

Four years after paying $1 billion for Ballast Point Brewing Company, Constellation Brands today threw in the towel on its big craft bet, announcing an agreement to sell the San Diego craft beer brand along with “a number of its associated production facilities and brewpubs” to Kings & Convicts, a little-known Chicagoland craft brewing company.

Former Boston Beer CMO joins Courvoisier. Jester King head brewer departs to start new brewing project in Chicago. Lawson’s Finest Liquids hires first marketing director.

White Claw maker Mark Anthony Brands plans to spend $385 million — $135 million more than the previously projected $250 million — to build production facilities in New Jersey and at a still-undisclosed location in the western United States, founder and CEO Anthony von Mandl shared during the Beer Insights Seminar conference in New York on Monday.

Molson Coors announced today it has taken a minority ownership stake in California-based beverage incubator L.A. Libations, a move that gives the beer conglomerate access to a broad portfolio of brands as it moves to expand its play in non-alcoholic categories. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

BrewDog launches a third funding round in the U.S. HUB offers mug club memberships to drinkers of closed Portland breweries. Santa Rosa’s Shady Oak Barrel House faces backlash for beer name.

In what was promised as not “a routine earnings call,” Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas expressed enthusiasm for his company’s proposed sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev, which already owns 31.2% of the company.

A day after announcing Anheuser-Busch will acquire the remaining stake in Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), the Portland, Oregon-headquartered craft beer company reported modest depletions growth in its third-quarter earnings report, boosted by sales of its Kona Brewing brand. Portfolio-wide CBA depletions (sales-to-retailers) increased 2%, driven by Kona Brewing’s depletions growth of 7%. “CBA’s third quarter… Read more »