On-Premise and At-The-Brewery Trends

In this week’s Last Call: Canada lifts its tariff on U.S. aluminum cans; farmers and brewers downplay climate change’s effect on beer production and pricing; the Brewers Association lands Iron Maiden’s singer as CBC keynote speaker; and more news from the week.

The former leaders of Saint Archer Brewing Company are back in the booze business after raising nearly $4 million to launch three separate beer, wine and distribution ventures. Anchored under Ocotillo Holdings LLC, the first of the three businesses — Scout Distribution, a craft-focused beer and wine wholesaler — officially launched Wednesday in San Diego. Led by Saint Archer co-founder Josh Landan, ex-VP Jeff Hansson and ex-market manager Anthony Levas, Scout Distribution will act as both a boutique wholesaler and a marketing consultancy.

Nearly 30 months after first announcing plans to build a new production facility in Sonoma County, Russian River Brewing Company will open its nearly $50 million, 85,000 sq. ft. brewery, taproom and restaurant on Thursday, October 11.

The faster beer companies embrace segments that are connecting with consumers, the quicker the overall industry can return to growth, Mike’s Hard Lemonade president Phil Rosse told thousands of wholesalers during the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) annual convention in San Diego. “I think that’s what’s ultimately going to give the industry its best chance to get back to growth,” Rosse said during a panel that also featured D.G. Yuengling & Sons Inc. COO Dave Casinelli and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery co-founder Sam Calagione.

As the U.S. brewing industry inches closer to a record 7,000 craft beer companies in operation, hundreds of distressed breweries are expected to close in 2019 and many of those failed enterprises will turn to asset auctions as a way to pay off debt. Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson told Brewbound during a live-streamed interview at last week’s California Craft Brewers Association Summit that he anticipates as many as 300 brewery closures by the end of 2018. According to Watson, he expects the gap between openings and closings to shrink over time, and there could be as many as 500 closures in the next couple of years. The increasing number of brewery closures has also meant an uptick in business for auction houses.

Nearly two years after publicly declaring an interest in opening a farmhouse brewery in Connecticut, popular Massachusetts craft beer maker Trillium Brewing Company has purchased a farm in North Stonington, about two hours outside of Boston. In a blog post, JC and Esther Tetreault, the husband-and-wife team that co-founded Trillium in 2013, said they bought the farm in order to fulfill their dream of opening a farm brewery near where they were married in the pastoral region of Connecticut.

Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch will be the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary titled “The Beer Jesus of America,” which chronicles the construction and opening of the company’s Berlin brewery. Stone spokeswoman Lizzie Younkin confirmed the project, but said the film was made independently of the beer company.

Midway through 2018, Lagunitas Brewing Company is the only top five U.S. craft beer brand gaining dollar share, according to CEO Maria Stipp. Speaking to Brewbound, Stipp shared the company’s results through the first half of 2018, noting that Lagunitas ranks fourth in dollar share (up 4 percent) and sixth in volume (up 5 percent) through July 14, according to data from market research firm Nielsen.

Following the signing of a law allowing Illinois breweries to immediately begin selling beer and cider from outside beer companies in their taprooms, several Chicago restaurant and craft beer bar owners expressed concern that new regulations create additional competition for their businesses. However, a couple of Chicago brewery owners told Brewbound that they don’t anticipate major changes in the way they run their taproom businesses.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: The Nevada Attorney General investigates MillerCoors; Stone seeks an injunction in its Keystone case; Almanac’s co-founder departs the company; and more news from the week.

The owners of two Texas craft beer companies are encouraging the state’s wholesalers to work with them on modernizing alcoholic beverage laws that bar manufacturing breweries from selling beer to go. During a Brew Talks panel discussion, held last week in conjunction with the National Beer Wholesalers Association Next Generation conference in Austin, Texas, Hops & Grain founder Josh Hare, who also chairs the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, argued that the “marriage” between suppliers and wholesalers should work more like a partnership and less like “a parent-child relationship.”

Eight months after ceasing operations, the brewing equipment inside New York’s Olde Saratoga Brewing Co. is slated to be sold at an August 28 auction. Meanwhile, Olde Saratoga’s sister brewery, Ukiah, California-based Mendocino Brewing Co., which also closed its doors in January, has reportedly found a new owner.

A bill signed into law last weekend by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will allow the state’s breweries to purchase and sell guest beer and cider in their taprooms. Under House Bill 4897, the state will allow licensed Class 1 breweries (producing up to 30,000 barrels annually) and Class 2 breweries (making up to 120,000 barrels a year) to purchase beer and cider from either a wholesaler or a self-distributing brewery.

After being forced to abandon plans for a seasonal beer garden near downtown Boston, Castle Island Brewing today announced it would open a pop-up on Constitution Wharf in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. The new 6,000 sq. ft. space — located in a parking lot overlooking Boston Harbor — is situated across from the USS Constitution and slated to open Sunday, August 5.