Anyone looking for an answer to when craft’s current era of compounding hurdles and declines will come to an end received a reality check Wednesday during Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson’s state of the industry address, held at the start of Day 2 of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Indianapolis.
Around 10,000 industry members are expected to make the trip to Indianapolis for the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (April 28 to May 1). The gathering takes place against a backdrop of growing headwinds for craft breweries and an overhaul of CBC’s host organization, the Brewers Association.
Craft’s rolling four-week losses improved to start 2025, according to the most recent report from market research firm Circana. The segment’s off-premise dollar sales declined -3.1% and volume, measured in case sales, declined -4.6% in the four-week period ending January 26 (L4W) at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C). That marked an improvement over the prior four-week period (through December 29, 2024), when craft dollars declined -5.1% and volume declined -6.5%.
After 25 years at the Colorado Convention Center, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) will move outdoors, festival host the Brewers Association (BA) announced Tuesday.
Convenience store retailers offered an optimistic outlook on 2026 beverage sales in Goldman Sachs’ Q4 Beverage Bytes retailer survey, which represents roughly 28% of the c-store channel (around 42,000 retail locations).
A pair of Nashville breweries are linking up. Jackalope Brewing has struck a deal to acquire Black Abbey Brewing. Under Jackalope’s stewardship, “Black Abbey’s distinct brewing identity and well-loved beers” will live on, according to the announcement.
A craft beverage platform is taking shape in San Diego. Latitude Brewing, the umbrella that includes Latitude 33 and Thorn Brewing, has acquired the House of Mason brand platform (Mason Aleworks, Eppig Brewing, Second Chance Beer Co., Castellum Ciders, Old Harbor Distilling and Swell Soda).
How can craft brewers expect to win away games if they’re not winning at home? That’s the sports analogy pFriem Family Brewers co-founder and CEO Rudy Kellner used to describe the Hood River, Oregon-based brewery’s strategy when it comes to expanding its distribution footprint.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth’s take on intoxicating hemp; non-alc Bero receives private equity investment; Otherlands Beer shares tariff impact; taproom closures; people moves; and more.
It may be time for beer to finally address its pricing issues. That was one of the main takeaways from Day 1 of the Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit Sunday, hosted by Beer Business Daily and Wine & Spirits Business Daily in Coronado, California.
A former Rogue Ales & Spirits employee has filed a lawsuit against the now-shuttered craft brewery’s parent company, Oregon Brewing, for allegedly violating the WARN Act.
After three years, Leinenkugel’s will once again be led by someone with the Leinenkugel surname. Leinenkugel’s president Tony Bugher is stepping down from his leadership role, passing the baton to his cousin, Katie Leinenkugel
In the post-pandemic era of off-premise reliance, total beverage consumer habits and inflated costs of goods, craft brands have had to reevaluate their business strategies and band together to help return the segment to growth.
The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling (MJF) has awarded scholarships to seven bev-alc industry members, making up the 10th cohort of awardees from the nonprofit group.
December sales reversed trends in different directions – mostly positive – among the top 30 craft brands tracked by market research firm Circana. While overall craft sales were squarely in the red in the multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C) and grocery channel last month, the segment eked out growth in the convenience channel in both dollar sales (+3.7%) and volume (+1.8%) for the four-week period (L4W) ending December 28.
Monday Night Brewing (MNB) co-founder and CEO Jeff Heck has stepped down from his c-suite role, passing the baton to fellow co-founder Joel Iverson, he announced on LinkedIn this week.