Distribution

Deschutes founder Gary Fish was up-front with wholesalers during the Bend, Oregon-headquartered craft brewery’s virtual distributor summit held earlier this week.

Some Florida bars and breweries that don’t serve food will be able to reopen for service at 50% capacity on Monday. Halsey Beshears, Florida’s secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, tweeted Thursday evening that Gov. Ron DeSantis had rescinded the executive order that forced them to close in June.

Fresh Squeezed IPA and Fresh Haze IPA, side-by-side on the shelf. Deschutes VP of sales and marketing Neal Stewart made the ask no fewer than 22 times on Wednesday during the Bend, Oregon-headquartered craft brewery’s distributor summit.

Atlantic — a Holliston, Massachusetts-based craft beer, wine and spirits importer and wholesaler — announced today the acquisition of the operations of Bayside Distributors, which is also based in Holliston. The transaction will add 400,000 cases and $10 million in additional revenue to Atlantic’s business. Atlantic currently distributes 1.5 million cases of product.

Craft brewers have availed themselves of several lifelines since the COVID-19 pandemic sent the beer industry into turmoil. They include the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, curbside beer-to-go sales and, in some cases, delivery to consumers’ homes.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is “remixing” its Bud Light Seltzer variety pack, adding three new flavors — Cranberry, Grapefruit and Pineapple — that will be featured in a second variety 12-pack with its Strawberry flavor. The new mixed packs are expected to be on store shelves nationwide by Monday, August 31.

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.