Two more popular craft breweries have announced that their taprooms will be hibernating this winter as colder weather makes outdoor service infeasible, and COVID-19 cases continue to rise nationwide. Chicago-headquartered Revolution Brewing and Canton, Massachusetts-based Trillium Brewing both said this week that they will be temporarily shuttering their locations for on-premise service through the winter.

Dexter, Michigan-based Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales has opened a new cafe and brewery in East Lansing, Michigan, the company’s ninth location. Uinta Brewing’s new pub at Salt Lake City International Airport marks its first offsite expansion since opening in 1993. Brooklyn, New York-headquartered Other Half Brewing opened its third brewery and taproom in Washington, D.C., last week.

Craft brewers’ sales improved during the third quarter of 2020, but are still far off from where they were in 2019, according to a new analysis by Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson. Combining several datasets tracking on-premise sales, Watson found that Q3 sales fell 22% below baseline, a marked improvement over Q2’s 45% below baseline.

Tourists and a pandemic don’t mix. Salem, Massachusetts-based Notch Brewing announced Wednesday that it would close its biergarten for on-site service beginning Friday through November 1, as its hometown faces a deluge of tourists in the lead up to Halloween.

Surly Brewing management and workers attempting to organize a union at the Minneapolis-based craft brewery have reached an agreement on a union election after several weeks of negotiations, Unite Here Local 17 announced Thursday.

New Belgium Brewing is planning to take over the former Little Creatures taproom in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood by early 2021, according to Eater San Francisco.

Both Sierra Nevada and New Glarus will keep their taprooms and tour operations shuttered until the end of the year at the earliest.

New Jersey restaurants are permitted to resume indoor dining at 25% capacity beginning today, Gov. Phil Murphy announced earlier this week. Last week, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation forcing the closure of drinking establishments for on-premise service in six counties as the state combats a spike in cases of COVID-19.

After some tense weeks of picketing and negotiating, Philadelphia-based Dock Street Brewing announced it would change its service model so that front-of-house employees at its West Philadelphia location would be paid regular hourly wages, rather than relying on tips.

On this week’s Brewbound Frontlines, Fresh Fest co-founder Day Bracey joins to discuss the upcoming beer festival showcasing Black-owned breweries, and industry professionals share taproom staff management best practices.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) ruled on Friday that the 51% calculation of gross receipts should only include the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption. As such, to-go sales of alcoholic beverages, as well as distributed volume to retailers and wholesalers should not be included in the calculation of gross receipts to determine which establishments should shutter for on-site consumption.

As it planned for eventual reopenings of its 11 own-premise locations, craft beverage rollup Artisanal Brewing Ventures surveyed consumers in April and found they wanted more than just the basics to combat the spread of COVID-19 inside taprooms. So, ABV is going a step farther and adding needlepoint bipolar ionization (NPBI) technology to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at its nine indoor locations by the end of June.

Flying Dog Brewery will keep its brewery taproom shuttered until at least June 2021, when the company will “evaluate the possibility of reopening,” the company announced in a press release. The company cited a need to focus on producing its core offerings, as well as support for its retail accounts.

With mandated shutdowns of bars, restaurants and taprooms in more than 20 states and voluntary closures in many others, the novel coronavirus has forced craft brewers to get creative in getting their beer to consumers.