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.

Statewide shutdowns of on-premise consumption at bars and restaurants have been announced in Illinois, Ohio, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Restaurants in these states can still sell food for takeout or delivery.

As the coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 spreads across the U.S., beer companies are adjusting their businesses for a reality in which being social is discouraged. Many companies are bracing for a downturn in on-premise business, including brewery taprooms.

The craft brewery where the brut IPA trend started in 2018 shuttered with little warning over the weekend. San Francisco brewpub Social Kitchen and Brewery announced it would close its doors last weekend, citing lease issues.

The parent company of Brizzy Seltzer Cocktails has filed a lawsuit against Molson Coors Beverage Company in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that the second largest U.S. beer manufacturer’s Vizzy Hard Seltzer name “is nearly identical to Brizzy in sight, sound and appearance” and infringes upon its trademark.

The 14,000 sq. ft. Samuel Adams Taproom has been a couple of years in the offing, located about 20 yards from the statue of the beer brand’s namesake, a Founding Father and revolutionary. Historic ground, indeed, but also a bit of a cursed location for previous tenants.

Pabst Brewing Company is launching a line of craft beers, as the craft segment has matured and sales of craft offerings have slowed to low single-digit growth. The Los Angeles-headquartered maker of Pabst Blue Ribbon announced today the launch of Captain Pabst, a standalone craft beer brand outside of the PBR family, and the launch of its flagship offering, Seabird IPA, in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Openings & Closings: Green Flash’s Nebraska brewpub is closed; Fort Point plans to renovate and rebrand its Black Sands pub; Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers to take over the former Fate Brewing space; and more closures in Portland, Oregon.

Lompoc Brewing, one of Portland’s oldest craft brewers, announced it will close next week after 23 years in business. “For me, it just felt like this is the right time, and time to back away from the craft brewing scene,” owner Jerry Fechter told Brewbound. Meanwhile, Heineken N.V.-owned Lagunitas Brewing has closed its Portland, Oregon-based… Read more »

Victory Brewing announced today plans to open an innovation brewery and taproom — the Downingtown-based craft brewery’s fourth in Pennsylvania — next year in Philadelphia.

Salem’s Notch Brewing is coming to Boston. The German- and Czech-inspired session beer maker announced today plans to open a second brewery, taproom and beer garden next summer in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood at the historic Charles River Speedway Headquarters.

The New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) issued a revised special ruling earlier this week aimed at limiting the number of annual events breweries can host in their taprooms. Under the ruling issued Tuesday, the ABC said the state’s craft breweries can hold up to 25 “special events,” 25 “social affairs,” and 52 “private parties” annually inside their taprooms. Additionally, breweries are now allowed to sell their beer at 12 events a year outside of their taprooms.