Irish cider company C&C Group plc., owner of the Vermont Hard Cider Company, today announced that it will end its 2-year-old U.S. marketing and distribution agreement with Pabst Brewing on April 1. In a letter to distributors and retailers, Vermont Hard Cider — whose brands include Woodchuck, Gumption, and Wyder’s, among others — said the two companies mutually agreed to terminate the strategic partnership forged in December 2015.
In today’s Legislative Update: Wisconsin Senate committee asks for more study of the “alcohol czar” proposal; Denizens owner picked as Maryland gubernatorial candidate’s running mate; the Virginia House and Senate pass at-rest provisions; and more.
Newly Appointed Boston Beer Company CEO Dave Burwick will earn a base salary of $750,000 and take home a hefty $1.6 million signing bonus, according to an SEC filing. Burwick, already a member of Boston Beer’s board of directors since 2005, was announced as the company’s new CEO on Wednesday. He is expected to replace outgoing CEO Martin Roper, who has been with the company for more than 17 years, on April 2, according to the filing.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Plans for Three Floyds’ brewery expansion are revealed; Pretty Things founders resurface in England; Hanson Spirits acquires Carneros Brewing’s production facility and taproom; Deschutes and Bluejacket announce can packaging releases; and more.
After a yearlong search, Boston Beer Company has named its next CEO. On Wednesday night, the company revealed that Dave Burwick, the CEO of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc., would depart the Bay Area-based specialty coffee maker for the producer of Samuel Adams — a pioneering U.S. craft beer brand that in recent years has struggled to grow as thousands of new offerings have flooded the market.
Despite continued negative domestic volume trends for its flagship light lager brands, Molson Coors’ worldwide sales increased 0.2 percent to more than $11 billion in 2017, according to company earnings released today.
Constellation Brands today announced that CEO Rob Sands has relinquished his role as “president,” appointing current chief operating officer Bill Newlands to the position. Sands will continue to serve as CEO, a press release noted.
Just four hours into the launch of its new “Z series” automated brewing appliance, Seattle-based PicoBrew has already pre-sold more than $1 million worth of equipment. The company, which was founded in 2010 by former Microsoft executives Bill and Jim Mitchell, today announced the launch of what it is calling the “first professional-grade, all-grain brewing appliance line.”
In this week’s Legislative Update: Maryland lawmakers propose a bill to reduce the amount of beer small brewers can sell in their taprooms; Virginia lawmakers grant Deschutes an exception to operate its Roanoke tasting room; and more.
Stone Brewing also released a nearly five-minute-long video of Koch, who began promoting the so-called “scrap” in a series of cryptic tweets last week, making his case. In the video, Koch explains that “Big Beer” companies such as MillerCoors, faced with dwindling sales of their core domestic lager brands, embarked on a multi-year spree of craft brewery acquisitions in an attempt to offset declines.
Following a year of flat sales at off-premise retail in 2017, U.S. beer dollar sales increased 3 percent through the first four weeks of 2018, according to retail data provider IRI Worldwide. IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm that tracks category-wide sales trends at off-premise retailers, reported total U.S. dollar sales of about $2.2 billion through January 28 in its multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) universe of stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military).
Despite calls from legislative leaders to reform Massachusetts’ controversial beer franchise laws, a state legislative committee failed to advance a trio of competing reform bills offered by brewers and wholesalers by the February 7 deadline. Now, those measures will go back to the House and Senate, setting back more than year of reform efforts.
After more than 14 years with Heineken, Nuno Teles is departing the company to become president of Diageo North America’s beer division. Teles, who has served as Heineken USA’s chief marketing officer since 2014, will take over the Diageo role from Todd Day on March 1 and report to Diageo North America president Deirdre Mahlan.
The slowdown in craft beer category growth has undermined an investment and created tension between the founder of a prominent Texas brewery and his newest partner. After initially agreeing to purchase a majority interest in fast-growing, Dallas-based Deep Ellum Brewing, Storied Craft Breweries, an upstart growth capital group, paid penalties to back out of the full investment, saying it has altered its strategy in light of slowing craft growth trends.
