New York-based private equity firm Verus Investment Partners has sold the 156-year-old Pittsburgh Brewing Company to an undisclosed buyer. Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

After growing two percent in 2017, Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective – a consortium of beer companies formed by Oskar Blues and Fireman Capital Partners following investments in Cigar City Brewing, Perrin Brewing and Utah Brewers Cooperative – has brought in a pair of C-level executives to “develop necessary and scalable infrastructure” within the organization.

BeerBoard, the management platform behind digital menu displays at on-premise retailers such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Tilted Kilt and World of Beer, recently reviewed data from more than 50,000 draft lines and found that craft beer share grew by two percent in 2017.

North American Breweries this week announced that Kris Sirchio, who has served as CEO since 2013, would step down. Adrian Lachowski, the general manager of Florida Ice and Farm Co.’s (FIFCO) Central American beer and FMB business, will take over as CEO in early February, the company said via a press release.

For the second time in as many years, Pabst Brewing Company will undergo a major round of layoffs, today announcing that it has eliminated a total of 70 positions from the company. The cuts — which impacted employees across all areas of the organization, including sales, marketing, operations and administration — are being made to help the company reduce its cost basis by 15 percent.

Chris Gallant, the co-founder of New York-based Bronx Brewery, will step down this year as his family prepares for a move to California, the company announced today. Gallant, who launched the company in 2011 with head brewer, Damian Brown, will maintain an ownership stake in the business and a seat on the company’s board. However, he will no longer be active in its day-to-day operations.

Boston Beer Company has named Caitlin Braam, who departed Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing as president last August, as a “brand strategist” for its Angry Orchard Hard Cider line. “Cider is my passion and this is an incredible opportunity for me to help grow awareness of the cider industry overall, as well as have a bigger impact within the cider community,” Braam told Brewbound.

Brown Distributing, a Florida-based beer wholesaler that sells a variety of domestic, imported and craft beers throughout the state, will sell certain parts of its distribution business in western Florida, Brewbound has learned. The company, which lists beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic products from about 75 suppliers on its website, began informing craft brewery owners throughout the country of its decision to reassign the distribution rights to some brands on Tuesday night.

Beer industry veteran Chris McJunkin, who most recently served as the chief revenue officer for BrewDog USA, will take an equity position in Atlanta’s Scofflaw Brewing when he officially joins the company at the end of the first quarter.

Former First Beverage Group director JB Shireman has joined Arlington Capital, the Alabama-based investment bank announced today. Shireman, who departed First Beverage at the end of 2017, will serve as a director with Arlington and “further bolster” the firm’s craft beverage advisory business, a press release noted.

Ten months after Pabst Brewing Company terminated agreements with three Washington wholesalers, an arbitrator has determined that Columbia Distributing — which was awarded the distribution rights to several Pabst brands last February — owes a combined $21.2 million to The Odom Corporation, Craig Stein Beverage, and Marine View Beverage.

Two years after selling her startup to Anheuser-Busch InBev, Meg Gill, the co-founder of Los Angeles-based Golden Road Brewing, can’t imagine life without the support of the world’s largest beer company. “There’s a lot of complexities involved with a big partner, but it’s been an amazing journey for us,” she recently told BevNET’s Taste Radio podcast.

Last month, San Diego’s Novo Brazil Brewing was named the winner of Startup Brewery Challenge 9, held during the Brewbound Session conference in Santa Monica, California. But the business pitch competition – which gives entrepreneurs four minutes to showcase their brands for a chance to win $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Portland, Oregon – also featured four other emerging brands.

A task force formed earlier this year to examine Massachusetts’ decades-old alcohol laws has unveiled a lengthy report that offers 37 recommendations to “improve the operations” of the state’s Alcohol Beverages Control Commission (ABCC). The suggestions — which the task force made after reviewing laws in other states and meeting with ABCC officials, alcohol industry members and consumers — include modernizing franchise laws, increasing excise taxes and clarifying pay-to-play rules.