Craft Beer

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.”

Ready-to-drink cocktails (RTDs) remain one of the hottest segments in bev-alc, seemingly avoiding the quick rise and fall of the former new kid in town, hard seltzer (for now). Even the previously formidable flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment is starting to see the impact of consumers moving away to the more premium, typically spirits-based offerings.

Aslin Beer Co., the country’s third-largest taproom brewer by volume, and Torch & Crown Brewing have merged to form the Driven Collective. The platform will combine Alexandria, Virginia-headquartered Aslin’s production capacity and Torch & Crown’s distribution arm in New York City to “unlock smarter growth, fuel creativity and prove that craft still has room to run,” according to a press release.

New Belgium Brewing is investing $20 million in Bell’s Brewery’s Kalamazoo production facility and Eccentric Cafe taproom, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reported.

Charlie Sheen is the latest celebrity wading into the non-alcoholic beer business. The Hollywood star has teamed up with Barrel One Collective’s Harpoon Brewery and “innovation brand shop” The Silent Group to create Wild AF Brewing.