Distribution

In this week’s edition of Last Call: MillerCoors says the Trump tariffs will cost it $40 million; Magnolia founder Dave McLean leaves the company; Jester King takes on employee owners; brewery closures in Chicago, Washington and Virginia; and more news.

Less than a year after opening a $50 million U.S. production facility, Scottish craft beer makers BrewDog have embarked on a $10 million crowdfunding campaign to fund its U.S. expansion plans. BrewDog announced the campaign last week in a video in which founders James Watt and Martin Dickie drop stuffed cats from a helicopter on Wall Street in order to “openly mock the caricature of the Wall Street fat cat banker.”

At the urging of Constellation Brands, California’s Markstein Beverage Co. has sold the beer company’s distribution rights in northern San Diego County to Reyes Beverage Group for an undisclosed sum. In a memo to employees issued on Wednesday, Markstein Beverage president Travis Markstein announced that Constellation Brands had informed the San Marcos-based wholesaler in late April of plans to terminate their 23-year partnership.

Denver-based Tivoli Brewing has announced plans to shutter its 6-year-old distribution business over the course of the next 60 days.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: A New York distributor was fined $4.3 million in a bottle return scam; TTB says no to controlled substances in beer; Owens-Illinois announces plans to close its Atlanta facility;

After about six months as CEO, David Pillsbury is leaving Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective — Oskar Blues’ and Fireman Capital Partners’ consortium of beer companies formed following investments in Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing and Utah Brewers Cooperative — according to a press release.

Chicago-based e-commerce marketplace Provi today announced the completion of a $3.5 million funding round. Provi, which aggregates distributor inventories and serves as a one-stop shop for retailers to search and place alcohol orders, has now raised $5 million via two funding rounds with an investor list that includes Hyde Park Angels, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Ludlow Ventures, and Sandalphon Capital, among others.

A lawsuit brought by two North Carolina breweries that challenges the constitutionality of the state’s distribution laws is inching toward a trial. Last Thursday, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour denied the state’s motions to dismiss the case or send it to a three-judge panel. A trial date has not been set.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Shipyard Brewing looks to pivot in Portland; the TTB collects record offer for alleged trade practice violations; Molson Coors reports Q2 earnings; and more.

Leaders from the beer industry’s three largest trade associations are vowing once again to unite brewers and distributors in an effort to return the category to growth. Speaking to a group of nearly 700 U.S. beer distributors attending the annual National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) legislative conference on Monday in Washington, D.C., Beer Institute CEO Jim McGreevy called on industry members to work together to curb volume losses.

Starting this summer, Bell’s Brewery will begin selling beer throughout New England and New Jersey, expanding its footprint to 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico in the process. The Michigan-based craft brewery will partner with 11 beer distributors across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Allagash begins canning; a Louisiana lawmaker yanks a bill to allow younger adults access to alcohol; and more.

In this edition of Press Clips: BrewDog revenues increase 55 percent in 2017; a federal judge rules against brewery to-go sales in Texas; two A-B High End craft breweries release Yankees and Nationals branded beers; and much more.