Long-time Anheuser-Busch InBev marketing executive Andy Goeler will retire at the end of the year after a 43-year career with the world’s largest beer maker. Plus, leadership changes at Pabst, FIFCO USA, Orpheus and the Texas Craft Brewers Guild.
Pabst Brewing Company has tapped Anheuser-Busch InBev alum Paul Chibe to succeed Eugene Kashper as CEO. Kashper, who acquired Pabst with TSG Consumer Partners in 2014, will remain with the company as chairman of the board of directors.
Citing a “growing decline in” demand and sales, Pabst Brewing Company announced it is “temporarily pausing production” of the 125-year-old Olympia Beer brand.
2020 will see Captain Pabst’s final voyage. Pabst Brewing Company announced yesterday that the Captain Pabst Pilot House, its Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based brewery, taproom and event space, will permanently close on December 21.
The deal is finally done for Pabst Brewing Company to acquire the former Molson Coors production facility in Irwindale, California.
Pabst Brewing general manager and president Matt Bruhn said Pabst entered 2020 after a “tough but good” 2019, in which the company led the industry in price at a sub-premium level. He called it a “stabilizing year.” “We headed into 2020 in a really good position,” he said. “We built momentum in Q4 ’19, started to turn some of the trends around volumetrically, launched some cool innovation, had some winners in the back half of ’19. Quarter one 2020 was excellent.”
Pabst Brewing general manager and president Matt Bruhn believes mainstream beer is facing a “Kodak moment,” Just not in the traditional sense. “We’re at a Kodak moment where the consumer demand is upending the industry,” he explained. “Now if you only have the ability to produce mainstream beer, you’re going to get caught short.”
Molson Coors Beverage Company’s Irwindale, California, brewery will have a new owner by year’s end as Pabst Brewing Company has exercised its option to purchase the facility.
Molson Coors Beverage Company announced plans to cease production at its facility in Irwindale, California, by September 2020. The second largest U.S. beer manufacturer also announced an agreement with Pabst Brewing Co., giving the Los Angeles-headquartered beer company the option to purchase the Irwindale facility for $150 million.
Pabst Brewing Company today announced a long-term agreement to brew the majority of its production volume at City Brewing Company by December 2024. The Los Angeles-headquartered beer company’s agreement with City Brewing lasts until 2040. News of the new contract agreement comes one year after Pabst Brewing settled a lawsuit against MillerCoors over contract production of its brands.
After a month of arguments in a Milwaukee courtroom, Pabst Brewing Company and MillerCoors have settled a lawsuit that Pabst claimed could have put the 174-year-old beer company out of business. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
In an effort to attract a growing number of drinkers who are moderating alcohol consumption, several beer companies are looking toward non-alcoholic brews as a way to boost sales and court the 30 percent of U.S. adults who don’t imbibe. Among major producers, both Heineken and Pabst have recently announced plans to roll out non-alc offerings nationwide in the first quarter of 2019. There’s also an emerging group of startups focused exclusively on crafting alcohol-free libations.
