Less than a year after it was sold to a private equity firm, Minnesota-based Cold Spring Brewing Company is now on the buy side of a deal. Brynwood Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm with existing investments in a variety of food and beverage companies, yesterday announced that Cold Spring Brewing had purchased Carolina Beverage Group.

Firestone Walker has 805. New Belgium has Dayblazer. Founders has Solid Gold. Boston Beer has Sam ’76 and Sierra Nevada has BFD (Beer For Drinking). The common thread linking each of those brands? They’re all less than 5 percent ABV and marketed to consumers as “drinkable,” “crushable,” “light,” or “easygoing.”

During the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), held earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee, Brewers Association (BA) leaders dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to advocating for the increased adoption of its independent craft brewer seal.

Ninkasi Brewing co-founder Nikos Ridge is back at the helm as CEO of the Eugene, Oregon-based craft brewery after just one year away from the position. In a press release issued last Friday, the company said Cheryl Collins, who took over as CEO of the company last May, would step down from the post on June 18.

After releasing its first quarter earnings results on Wednesday, which were marked by a 4 percent decline in depletions, Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas addressed the “relative turmoil within the marketplace” during a call with investors and analysts. “The trends are consistent and increasingly clear,” he said. “Consumers are changing how, where, and with what they socialize. And the impacts on our industry continued to be profound.”

With more than 6,300 breweries competing for consumer mindshare in today’s crowded beer environment, standing out is a “constant battle.” That’s how Neal Stewart, vice president of marketing for Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, described the difficulty of differentiating a craft brand in 2018 during last week’s Brew Talks meetup, held during the annual Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) today reported its first quarter 2018 earnings, which were highlighted by a 9 percent increase in shipments, to 167,000 barrels, on soft comps from a year ago. In a press release, the company – which makes and markets the Kona, Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Omission, and Square Mile Cider brands – said net sales increased 7 percent, to $47.5 million, while gross profit increased 19 percent, to $15.1 million, during the quarter.

Pete Coors, the chairman of Molson Coors’ board of directors, didn’t appreciate some of the comments that were made about large brewing companies during last week’s Craft Brewers Conference. The annual event — which was hosted by the Brewers Association (BA) and drew nearly 14,000 attendees from across the beer industry to Nashville, Tennessee, for a week of learning and socializing – began with a familiar refrain: “Big beer” is bad.

Anheuser-Busch is making yet another sustainability-minded investment. The world’s largest beer company today announced plans to purchase upwards of 800 hydrogen-electric powered semi-trucks from Nikola Motor Company.

PicoBrew co-founder Bill Mitchell doesn’t want to sell you a device that can produce the best beer you’ll ever drink. He just wants to give homebrewers a chance to “exactly replicate” what some of the country’s top breweries are already commercially selling.

A pair of raw ingredients suppliers backed by the same private equity fund has joined forces in an effort to offer craft breweries easier access to hops and malt. Michigan’s Hop Head Farms and Milwaukee’s Proximity Malt, which are both a part of Ceres Partners’ “Food & Agriculture Opportunity Fund,” today announced a joint marketing agreement aimed at better serving the craft brewing industry’s ever-growing long tail of more than 6,300 companies.

Bell’s Brewery co-owner Laura Bell will “step away” as CEO of the Michigan-based craft beer company, she wrote in a letter to distributors yesterday. Citing her desire to “explore other passions and interests,” Bell said she would relinquish the position on May 18. She was appointed CEO on February 3, 2017.

The Brewers Association (BA) is doubling down on its efforts to help small breweries distinguish their brands from those owned by larger beer companies such as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. The non-profit trade association, which represents the interests of small and “independent” breweries producing fewer than 6 million barrels of beer annually, yesterday launched a website for retailers to download a variety of point-of-sale materials that feature the group’s “independent craft brewer seal.”

Fast-growing Massachusetts-based Night Shift Brewing will open a second brewery and taproom on the first floor of the building that houses the Converse World Headquarters, Brewbound has learned. Located at One Lovejoy Wharf, the new location will include a 10-barrel brewing system and have the capacity to produce upwards of 2,500 barrels, co-founder Michael Oxton told Brewbound.