Craft Beer

The latest joining of craft brewing forces occurred in Bend, Oregon last week, with the creation of the Oregon Beverage Collective (OBC).

Check out news items initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter February 9-11, including headlines from the Brewers Association, Colorado and New Belgium.

The beverage-alcohol landscape has “radically” changed over the last decade, but small and independent producers – both in beer and hard cider – are primed to take advantage, Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson shared at CiderCon last week in Providence, Rhode Island.

If December’s trends reversed craft beer’s fortunes in the off-premise, January’s easier comps added a strong tailwind. Craft continued to outpace the overall beer segment in the convenience channel, with dollar sales up 5.4% and volume, measured in case sales, up 0.4% year-to-date (YTD) through January 25, according to market research firm Circana.

Major domestics and regional craft brands are on the shopping lists of New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks fans ahead of the teams’ Super Bowl LX showdown Sunday, according to consumer research firm Numerator.

Kirin-owned New Belgium Brewing has reorganized its business administration teams, resulting in the elimination of some roles, a spokesperson confirmed to Brewbound. The employees whose jobs were cut amount to fewer than 1% of the company’s overall workforce.

Monster Brewing is selling off the equipment assets of Deep Ellum Brewing (Dallas, Texas) at auction, after shuttering the brewery’s taproom and shifting production of the brand’s beers to other facilities last year. In other auction news, Trillium Brewing’s outdoor bathrooms have got to go. The Boston brewery is auctioning off the bathrooms from its former beer garden.

Now-shuttered Iron Hill Brewery’s fate continues to play out piecemeal in bankruptcy court, as the buyer of half of the brewpub’s locations has resold them along with its intellectual property, among other steps taken to liquidate its assets.

Minneapolis has dominated national headlines for weeks as area residents protest the Department of Homeland Security’s heightened crackdown on Minnesota’s large immigrant population. Tensions have intensified as agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have killed two American citizens in shootings that have been recorded by observers. Local businesses such as Insight Brewing have taken… Read more »

Modern Times Beer and Ashland Hard Seltzer parent company Wings & Arrow has named Wes Van De Vort as CEO.

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).