Craft Beer

At its simplest translation, the Hawaiian word aloha means both hello and goodbye – opposites in English.

In a similar vein, the idea of market retrenchment in craft beer can sometimes indicate a brewery in decline. But for Kihei, Hawaii-based Maui Brewing, it’s the opposite. The brewery is preparing to slice its mainland footprint in half because the growth in western states far outweighs any possible upside in other markets.

Low-ABV IPA maker Dad Strength is poised to disrupt the beer category, according to recent investor and Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec.

To open a conversation about craft beer in 2025, Boston Beer founder and CEO Jim Koch and Dogfish Head co-founder Sam Calagione went back about 15 years to revisit a beer they collaborated on nearly a decade before they joined their companies.

THC seltzers, local sports partnerships and growing Boulevard’s new No. 1 brand are among the highlights of Duvel USA’s 2026 distribution convention, featuring skits mimicking popular movies and TV shows. The big news coming out of the meeting is Boulevard’s addition of THC-infused seltzers under its Quirk line.

The Brewers Association (BA) awarded 347 medals to 273 breweries and cideries Saturday during the trade group’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver.

When nearly everyone is in decline, success has to be measured by whomever has the smallest losses. And those winners within beverage-alcohol are the companies with the most focused portfolios, according to Bump Williams Consulting’s (BWC) latest monthly report.

Nearly two weeks after closing its restaurants indefinitely, brewpub chain Iron Hill Brewery has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Beer is in the midst of “a fun crisis,” New Belgium Brewing CMO Rebecca Dye Yonushonis declared during the company’s distributor convention in Fort Collins last week.

A pair of Iowa craft breweries are formalizing their existing partnership. Waterloo-based SingleSpeed Brewing is acquiring the intellectual property of Coralville-based Backpocket Brewing and its sibling brand Peace Tree Brewing.

Two Texas locations of Voodoo Brewery, a mostly franchise-owned brewpub chain, closed last week, bringing the chain’s number of shuttered locations to five in 2025.

As thousands of beers – and eventually, people to drink them – make their way to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), it feels apt to check in with the craft scene on the ground. In a year where once-thriving brewpub chains and decades-old craft stalwarts have or are preparing to go under, what’s the state of things in one of craft’s most important cities on the eve of one of its most important weeks?

The sharks were biting on low-ABV on the season premiere of ABC’s Shark Tank. Dad Strength, the maker of 2.9% ABV IPAs, generated interest from four of the show’s investors.

An auction of the production equipment at Smuttynose Brewery’s Hampton, New Hampshire facility is set to open October 8, according to a New Mill Capital listing.

Mid-Atlantic brewpub chain Iron Hill Brewery abruptly closed its 16 remaining locations overnight, weeks after it shuttered three in a move that a spokesperson at the time said was “to position Iron Hill for long-term success.”