Gonna open this weekend’s newsletter with an invitation to the Brewers Association to join me for a pint in NYC (you’re buying – uhh, Justin insists), as the BA just published a report that asserts that the price of a pint on-premise has tracked below the rate of inflation for the past 3 years. It also cites an average pint price of $6.85 as of the end of 2023. So, come to NYC and let’s have a couple of craft pints to toast to that – just make sure you bring more than $20.

Long-time Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bob Pease will retire on June 30, 2025, after 32 years at the trade organization representing small and independent craft brewers, Pease and the BA announced last week.

Some say there’s no such thing as bad publicity … but I feel rather confident in saying this wasn’t a July 4 holiday product placement spend from Coors.

The number of craft beer drinkers who are drinking less craft beer than they were a year ago has surpassed the number of those who are drinking more for the first time since the Brewers Association (BA) started asking this question in its annual poll in 2015.

Following a long July 4 holiday weekend, the Brewbound team shares how they celebrated Independence Day.

Molson Coors-owned Leinenkugel’s is making its flagship Summer Shandy a year-round offering. Leinenkugel’s president Tony Bugher and John Leinenkugel discuss why the move represents the company getting out of its own way, how big the brand is for its business and how they plan to support the brand in the colder months.

The Brewbound team catches up on the latest news, including Allagash’s first foray into non-alcoholic adult beverages with Hop Water. Justin, Jess and Zoe discuss why this seems on brand for the Portland, Maine-based craft brewery, and why it may be a better entrypoint than NA beer.

While it’s nice to be the official beer of a sports league … it’s apparently another thing to supply beer for player celebrations. I mean, we’re not made of money, folks. So alas, the only visibility that MICH ULTRA had in the CELTICS locker room celebration after winning the NBA Finals was … some signage in the background, as players celebrated with MILLER LITE, CORONA, HIGH NOON and even Boston’s own JACK’S ABBY.

Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat breaks down the pros and cons of a potential sale of Boston Beer Company. Sarwat also examines potential suitors, Wall Street’s view of potential deals and why Boston Beer continues to be in conversations around M&A.

Tuesday’s edition of the Brewbound Newsletter features the Brewers Association’s review of onsite brewery sales data in Q1; Reyes-owned DET’s acquisition of 1.6M cases in TN; Brooklyn Brewery naming a new VP of sales; an analysis of Constellation Brands’ consumer demographics; Bart Watson’s breakdown of ‘wild’ hop acreage cuts; and Jon Stewart’s visit to an Asbury Park brewery.

Beer, it’s what’s for Father’s Day. Or at least it is compared to spirits and wine, as 76% of folks planning to buy bev-alc for the big day this weekend will buy beer, according to market research firm Numerator. Wine and spirits weren’t even close at 36% each, and both got a real stern look from Dad when they were mentioned at the dinner table last night 😬.

A Round With J.C. Hill of Alvarado Street; Athletic Purchases Former Ballast Point Facility; Circana: A-B Declines Decelerate Thru Late May; Beer Tops List of Bev-Alc Father’s Day Buys; Hulk Hogan Launches Real American Lager; Podcast: Burial Beer’s Doug Reiser.

Burial Beer Company’s Doug Reiser discusses the culmination of a three-year project to open a rooftop wine bar for the company’s Visuals wine brand in Asheville, North Carolina.

So I think we’ve been looking in the wrong direction all of this time for #innovation – Utah’s Dylan McDonnell has the right idea. He brewed a beer using a recipe from a 3,000 year old Egyptian papyrus, which oddly enough also had “Next year will be the Year of the Craft Lager” written on it, and yeast cultured from a jar that dates back to the 9th century B.C.