Distribution

Less than a year after entering an exclusive distribution agreement with PepsiCo that was touted as a blockbuster deal at the time, Bang Energy announced today it has terminated the relationship.

Three months after Breakthru Beverage Group agreed to sell its beer and cider portfolio in Illinois, Odell Brewing Company announced new distribution partners in the state. The building that houses 81Bay Brewing in Tampa, Florida, may have a date with a wrecking ball, as a developer has filed plans with the city to redevelop the property, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The Brewers Association announced last week the winners of five available seats on its board of directors. Orders of sparkling wine and champagne spiked on Saturday when news networks called the presidential election for former vice president Joe Biden, according to on-demand alcohol delivery marketplace Drizly.

We have a trade. The Reyes Beer Division today announced an agreement to swap brands in Virginia with Sheehan Family subsidiary Specialty Beverage of Virginia.

Craft beer lovers in Virginia will once again be able to buy beer from Bell’s Brewery. The Michigan craft brewery announced Wednesday that it will once again ship beer to the state, starting in about two weeks, after a nearly 21 month absence.

Diageo, the importer of Guinness and Harp, has struck an agreement to move its brands from Watsonville-based Couch Distributing and South San Francisco-based Matagrano, Inc. to the Reyes Beer Division in California.

Breakthru Beverage is getting out of the beer business in Wisconsin. “We are in the process of exiting the beer category in Wisconsin as part of Breakthru’s larger efforts to better manage our portfolio strategy,” Kevin Roberts, Breakthru EVP of supplier relations, said in a statement.

This week’s edition of the Brewbound Podcast brings together industry experts to share their perspectives on what wholesaler consolidation means for smaller craft breweries and if there’s an end in sight to the disruptions.

Founders of three of Massachusetts’ oldest craft breweries shared insights and advice for the next generation of Bay State craft brewers during the virtual Mass Brewers Guild conference earlier this month. “Expect to work your ass off,” said Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer.

As athletic consumers look to cut sugars and artificial ingredients from their sports drink intake, BioSteel Sports Nutrition is aiming to compete head-on with category leaders via a new all natural, zero-sugar, RTD Tetra Pak line launching this month.

The priorities for Brewery Ommegang in 2021 look a lot different than the Belgian-inspired beers for which the Cooperstown, New York-based craft brewery is most known. Those priorities include the Neon family of IPAs, a nationwide relaunch of Idyll Days Pilsner and an old favorite in a new package, Three Philosophers cans.

The three-tier distribution system is “under attack from all sides” and wholesalers should work to strengthen franchise laws that lock suppliers into nearly unbreakable contracts with their distributor partners. That was one of the messages from Patrick Blach, the incoming chairman of the National Beer Wholesalers, during his introductory speech Tuesday at the trade group’s 83rd Annual Convention.

Bell’s Brewery’s portfolio will be excluded from the sale of Indianapolis-headquartered Monarch Beverages to the Reyes Beer Division, after the Comstock, Michigan-based regional craft brewer informed its distributors last year it would not allow its brands to be sold to certain successors.

The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) 83rd Annual Convention kicked off today with a celebration of beer wholesalers’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an outline of perceived threats to the three-tier distribution system.