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Anyone looking for an answer to when craft’s current era of compounding hurdles and declines will come to an end received a reality check Wednesday during Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson’s state of the industry address, held at the start of Day 2 of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Indianapolis.
Around 10,000 industry members are expected to make the trip to Indianapolis for the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (April 28 to May 1). The gathering takes place against a backdrop of growing headwinds for craft breweries and an overhaul of CBC’s host organization, the Brewers Association.
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) has consistently charged independent retailers as much as 12% to 67% more than national and regional chains for the same products, according to newly unsealed redactions in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) price discrimination case against the distributor.
Black is Beautiful, a collaborative initiative started by Weathered Souls Brewing to fight police brutality and other injustices against people of color, has raised $2.2 million, according to a Facebook post by the San Antonio-basec craft brewery.
A nationwide truck driver shortage is causing headaches for several industries, including the beer industry. The U.S. pool of truck drivers with commercial drivers licenses (CDL) is 50,000-60,000 workers short of where it should be.
Efforts to equalize the tax rate for ready-to-drink canned cocktails with beer in New Jersey have picked up steam in recent weeks.
The positive velocity trends in on-premise retailers have carried over through the latest analysis from market research firm CGA.
Of the 121 regional craft beer companies beyond the top 50 — those that produce more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually and sell the majority of their volume through distribution — 67 recorded volume declines in 2020. That ratio — 55% — is a marked improvement over the 72% of top 50 craft breweries that posted volume declines.
The president of Mexico announced an agreement with Constellation Brands last week to build a new brewery in the southeastern part of the country, according to Reuters.
Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson explored why draft beer sales have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels in his latest members’ only analysis.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed a new business relief package Wednesday, which includes the implementation of a 10 p.m. curfew on off-premise alcohol sales; alcohol to-go sales and delivery will no longer be allowed in Massachusetts after the Commonwealth’s state of emergency ends June 15.
The U.S. beer industry’s economic output has increased by $4 billion since 2018, which is equivalent to 1.6% of the U.S. gross domestic product, according to the “Beer Serves America” report — a biennial study commissioned by the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
In a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic robbed alcoholic beverage producers of on-premise occasions for the majority of 2020, and forced consumer purchasing to shift to off-premise retailers and e-commerce, 36 of the top 50 Brewers Association-defined craft brewing companies recorded volume declines, according to data published in the May/June edition of the New Brewer magazine. Those numbers were not unexpected given last year’s challenges.
The Sheehan family civil lawsuit continues to play out in Massachusetts’ Suffolk Superior Court. In the latest development, the defendants, Gerald “Jerry” and Maureen Sheehan, along with several of the family businesses, have asked the court to dismiss all counts against them, according to a February 18 filing that hit the docket last week.
Sparkling hard tea and canned cocktail company Loverboy has filed a civil suit against Night Shift Distributing (NSD), citing fraud and breach of contract, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on May 7.
The BA is accepting grant applications on a rolling basis through November 1. The trade group’s Philanthropy and Outreach Subcommittee — a newly formed division of the organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee — will consider applications each month.
As allegations of sexual harassment, assault and other workplace hostilities continue to come to light on social media, the Brewers Association (BA) announced Wednesday several initiatives to combat the seemingly pervasive toxicity in the craft beer industry.
