Anheuser-Busch InBev’s “Brewed the Hard Way” Super Bowl ad is still being given a hard time. Yesterday, Brewbound highlighted a few of the mixed reactions the ad received from brewers across the country. Since that article was published, however, a number of companies — including the country’s second largest beer maker, MillerCoors — have chimed with their own responses.
A Georgia lawmaker has filed a bill in the state Senate that aims to repeal a number of Prohibition-era regulations that brewers have said are overly burdensome and restrictive. As filed by State Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Smyrna), SB 63 would lift the limits currently imposed on the retail privileges of brewpubs and production breweries alike.
Golden Road is expanding its presence in Southern California. The Los Angeles-based craft brewery today announced plans to build a second brewery and restaurant in Anaheim, about 40 miles south of its current production facility.
Of all the made up beer recipes Anheuser-Busch InBev could have conjured up to poke fun at the craft beer movement as caricature in one of its three Super Bowl ads, it just had to be a “pumpkin peach ale” that the company greenlit.
If the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s (TTB) latest compliance survey is any gauge, about 22 percent of all malt-based beverages have an inaccurate alcohol content posted on their labels. As part of its annual random survey to discern how accurately manufacturers label their products, the TTB found the most common noncompliance issue among malt beverage producers involved understating the ABV of their products.
Left Hand Brewing today announced it has expanded its presence in New England with the L. Knife & Son Companies group of “Craft Beer Guild” distributors, entering five new states. Building upon a pre-existing relationship with an L. Knife group that currently sells the brand via its “Craft Brewers Guild of Boston” outfit in Massachusetts,offerings from the Colorado-based craft brewery will roll out Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire in the coming days.
Despite selling all of its beer within Michigan’s borders, Short’s Brewing grew production 51 percent in 2014, with three of its core products generating much of the surge through the company’s distribution channels. The brewery out of Bellaire closed out the year selling 34,443 barrels, it announced this week, up from 22,866 the year prior. According to one report from MLive.com, the growth was good enough to solidify the company’s spot as the state’s third largest brewery, past New Holland and behind Bell’s and Founders.
The United States Department of Agriculture has issued a special report detailing differences between craft and non-craft beer products and their impact on malt barley production. After analyzing average barley usage rates of U.S. craft breweries and examining growth trends across a range of industries, the USDA said it believes traditional forecasting methods have not provided the most precise estimates of domestic barley needs.
South Florida’s Cavalier Distributing has acquired the distribution rights to Bell’s Brewery from Reyes-owned Gold Coast Beverage Distributors, the brewery announced today. The Michigan brewery said it expects some “short term disruptions” in shipping, but the transition is complete, Cavalier take over delivery responsibilities in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties.
Since transferring 48 percent of its shares into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in July of last year, Harpoon Brewery has been minority owned by its employees. Now, according to co-founder and president Dan Kenary, the plan is for the brewing company to become fully employee-owned. During a recent speech in Vermont, where the Boston-based brewery operates a second facility, Kenary outlined the plan
Last Friday’s announcement that Anheuser-Busch InBev would acquire Seattle’s beloved Elysian Brewing caught many in the industry by surprise. How could a company that celebrated its independence with a beer carrying the tagline “corporate beer still sucks” — a name derived from as anti-as-they-come-band Nirvana — sell to the one company so many of its consumers refuse to support? That’s something that even its founder and brewer, Dick Cantwell, a stalwart member of the Brewers Association, is wondering.
For many small breweries, taprooms provide an imperative part of the business equation, inventing additional revenue streams while creating invaluable marketing opportunities. In fact, there has been an industry-wide recognition of that prospect, according to Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association, who argues that the manufacturer/taproom has even superseded the brewpub as a preferred business model.
In an effort to continue carving out coveted shelf space in an overcrowded craft beer segment, MillerCoors, via its Tenth and Blake craft and import division, will introduce a new year-round product: Blue Moon White IPA. It’s the first year-round product that Blue Moon Brewing Company has rolled out since 2012, when it introduced Farmhouse Red, a brand featured in the company’s “Expressionist Collection.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced it will purchase Elysian Brewing Company, in a deal that will include the Seattle-based company’s four brewpub locations. Official terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close this quarter
