In an effort to help small breweries comply with new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) menu labeling requirements and avoid costly nutritional testing, the Brewers Association has developed a beer nutrient database that reflects the average nutritional value of more than 40 popular craft styles. The database, available to members on the trade organization’s website, allows brewers to determine calories and carbohydrates using accurate gravity measurements and a digital calculator developed by the BA and the Scandinavian School of Brewing.
Dogfish Head will expand distribution to Missouri in April, the company announced today. The Delaware-based craft brewery has inked agreements with five beer wholesalers — Summit Distributing, Heart of America, Grellner Distributing, Central States Beverage and Fechtel Beverage — for statewide coverage.
Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced that Andy Goeler, the current vice president of marketing for the company’s craft and import focused “High End” division, would take over as the new vice president of Bud Light, the largest beer brand in the U.S. He replaces current Bud Light VP Alex Lambrecht. In an interview with Brewbound, Marcel Marcondes, A-B InBev’s VP of marketing in the U.S., said Lambrecht would help oversee Goeler’s transition into the role of Bud Light VP and remain with the company in a yet-to-be-named position.
A new Silicon Valley-based alcohol distribution company is hoping to disrupt the three-tier system by offering small-batch beer, wine and spirits producers a more cost-effective route to market and contracts void of strict franchise provisions. Calling itself a “web-based distribution platform,” Liberation Distribution helps alcohol beverage makers secure placements at on- and off-premise retail locations, promises to accept lower margins, and guarantees that it will not enforce franchise laws that would ordinarily lock producers into nearly unbreakable lifetime contracts.
Founders Brewing is on its way to becoming the next nationally distributed craft beer brand. The Michigan-based craft brewery yesterday announced plans to enter Mississippi, its 45th state, via five beer wholesalers: Capitol City Beverages, Clark Beverage Group, F.E.B. Distributing, Magnolia Beverage and Stokes Distributing.
After announcing plans to indefinitely cease brewing, packaging and taproom operations on March 10, San Francisco’s Speakeasy Ales & Lagers has once again resumed production, according to an update posted to the company’s website and social media accounts. A court-ordered receiver — identified by a source familiar with Speakeasy’s financial situation as Jigsaw Advisors — was appointed to run the failing brewery on March 13 after the company neglected to make payments to Union Bank, its primary creditor, and other vendors.
One day after reporting portfolio-wide shipment declines of 6 percent for 2016, Craft Brew Alliance executives held a call with investors and analysts to explain the company’s performance and provide their outlook on an industry in the midst of “revolutionary change.” “I won’t mince words,” Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas said at the beginning of the call. “It’s messy out there.”
After delaying its official 2016 earnings release by nearly three weeks, Craft Brew Alliance today issued fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results, reporting a portfolio-wide shipment decline of 6 percent despite continued growth for the company’s Kona Brewing brand. Kona shipments increased 13 percent in 2016 while depletions grew 17 percent, but significant declines across the Widmer and Redhook brands resulted in overall “flat” depletion trends in 2016.
Heavy Seas Beer today announced that industry veteran Dan Kopman, who co-founded the Saint Louis Brewery, makers of Schlafly Beer, will takeover as the Baltimore brewery’s new CEO on May 1.
The Brewers Association today released its annual rankings of the top 50 U.S. beer companies based on 2016 sales volumes. Official production data, as tabulated by the BA, won’t be released until April, but here’s how the country’s largest beer companies stacked up in 2016
After producing 91,000 barrels in 2016, Narragansett Beer is setting its sights on the six-figure mark. Just three weeks removed from brewing its first batch of beer at the newly opened Rhode Island contract outfit Isle Brewers Guild, which Narragansett owns a partial stake in, sales of the venerable company’s flagship Lager brand are already up 17 percent through the first two months of 2017 and the company is poised for a year of 20 percent growth, CEO Mark Hellendrung told Brewbound.
Founders Brewing is broadening its footprint once again, today announcing plans to enter Delaware in early May. The company has inked an agreement Standard Distributing Company for coverage throughout the state.
Longtime Uinta Brewing vice president of sales Steve Kuftinec will depart the Salt Lake City, Utah-based organization in June, the company announced today. In an interview with Brewbound, Kuftinec said he was leaving to launch a craft distillery, Highway 101 Spirits, which will be located in the San Diego region.
