Distribution

Drizly has closed on a $50 million Series C funding round, the Boston-headquartered alcohol e-commerce and delivery platform announced today.

The liquor license of New York City’s oldest beer garden — The Beer Garden at Bohemian Hall in Astoria — has been suspended for violating the state’s COVID-19 guidelines. Meanwhile, Dollar sales of hard seltzers in off-premise retailers will soon surpass craft beer sales, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson reported recently, citing data from market research firm IRI.

The Breakthru Beverage Group has reached an agreement to sell its beer and cider portfolio in Illinois to Lakeshore Beverage. The deal is expected to close in October.

The Reyes Beverage Group announced plans today to merge operations of its Chicagoland wholesalers — Windy City Distributing and Chicago Beverage Systems — into one company by mid-October.

The clock seemed to expire last week on Massachusetts craft brewers’ hopes of finally achieving franchise law reform. After finally reaching a compromise with wholesalers after a decade of contentious negotiations, the measure (S. 2841) unanimously passed the Senate but couldn’t get out of the House Ways and Means Committee before the expiration of the legislative session last Friday.

Molson Coors Beverage Company has hired Jennifer Martinez as senior director of corporate affairs. Also, the Breakthru Beverage Group announced that it has acquired the Miller portfolio of brands in southern Nevada, giving the multi-state beer, wine and spirits wholesaler the full Molson Coors portfolio in the state.

Kalamazoo, Michigan-headquartered Bell’s Brewery will enter its 42nd state later this year, with the addition of distribution to Oklahoma. Bell’s, the seventh largest Brewers-Association-defined craft brewery, will be partnering with Republic National Distribution Company of Oklahoma.

The California distribution shuffle now includes New Belgium. The Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery notified six primarily Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in Southern California and eight Chicago area Molson Coors wholesalers of plans to terminate their distribution contracts without cause.

On Saturday, the Massachusetts Brewers Guild and the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts announced an agreement that would cover all but two of the state’s craft breweries.

The fallout of Constellation Brands’ forced sale of its distribution rights in California to the Reyes Beer Division is still being felt. Anheuser-Busch and Triangle Distributing owner Peter Heimark announced Thursday an agreement to exchange distribution rights in California, according to a joint press release shared by A-B.

After a successful trial run last month, Portland, Maine-headquartered Allagash Brewing announced this week that it will permanently expand distribution of its offerings to Wisconsin. Stratford, Connecticut-headquartered Two Roads Brewing announced Wednesday that it has expanded distribution of its products to Minnesota.

Seattle-based Fremont Brewing reopened its beer garden on Sunday after a temporary closure following an employee testing positive for COVID-19. Six weeks after calling off its Philadelphia expansion, Everett, Massachusetts-based Night Shift Brewing may add another taproom location in Natick, Massachusetts, in early 2021, according to the Natick Report.