Midway through last year, Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) launched an innovation initiative aimed at testing the viability of, and consumer demand for, non-traditional alcoholic beverages that play on the fringes of the beer category. Today, the Portland-headquartered craft beer company – which owns the Kona, Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Omission, Square Mile, Cisco Brewers, Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Wynwood labels – announced that its so-called “pH Experiment” has become a standalone business unit.

After years of flirting with the idea of making a run at the White House, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper officially announced his bid for the presidency on Monday. The brewing industry will recognize Hickenlooper, 67, as the former geologist turned beer entrepreneur who co-founded Denver’s Wynkoop Brewing in 1988.

Boston’s Harpoon Brewery is latest craft brewery jumping into the hard seltzer space. The new product line, a collaborative effort with Worcester, Massachusetts’ Polar Beverages, is called Arctic Summer.

Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced the purchase of fast-growing Cutwater Spirits, a craft distilling venture that was originally born inside of Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits. Specific financial terms of the deal – A-B InBev’s first in the spirits space — were not disclosed.

As part of its ongoing quest to help foster a more inclusive brewing industry, the Brewers Association (BA) has launched a new grant program that will provide funding to “events that increase access and awareness of craft beer to new demographics.” Announced Wednesday, the grant program will include funding for beer festivals, beer and food pairing events, ethnic and cultural heritage festivals and film festivals, among others.

Add Bridgeport Brewing to a growing list of Portland, Oregon-based craft beer companies that has ceased brewing or taproom operations in recent months. In a Facebook post today, the craft beer brewery, which was purchased by Texas-based The Gambrinus Company in 1995, said it had ceased brewing operations as it prepares to close its brewpub on March 10.

Beer volume sales got off to a strong start during the first four weeks of 2019, growing 3.7 percent compared to last year, according to market research firm IRI. The Chicago-based retail data provider, which tracks sales at major off-premise retail chains, last week reported that year-to-date off-premise dollar sales for beer at multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) stores eclipsed $2.3 billion (+6.4 percent) during the period ending January 27.

Cannabiniers, the company behind the Two Roots line of CBD- and THC-infused non-alcoholic craft beers, is on the verge of becoming the next major craft brewery acquirer. On its quest to own 500,000 barrels of brewing capacity, the San Diego-based beverage, technology and brand management company has signed letters of intent to acquire four craft breweries, including a “top-20 privately held brewery based in California”

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) yesterday named Matt Gilbertson, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s North American vice president of M&A, treasury and corporate real estate, to its board of directors. As part of its minority ownership of CBA, A-B has the right to designate up to two individuals to serve on the company’s board.

Canada’s Collective Arts Brewing is venturing into the cannabis sector. The Hamilton, Ontario-based craft brewery, located about 50 miles from the New York border, has established a sister company called Collective Project Limited that will develop and sell cannabis-infused beverages.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, ranked by industry trade group the Brewers Association as the third largest U.S. craft brewery, today announced the purchase of San Francisco-based Sufferfest Beer Company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close in early April.

Massachusetts’ Mercury Brewing and Newburyport Brewing today announced a strategic partnership that will give the latter company access to brewing capacity, via a contract arrangement, as well as various sales, marketing, and administrative resources. Speaking to Brewbound, Rob Martin, owner of Mercury Brewing, which produces beers under the Ipswich Ale Brewery label, confirmed that his company had not taken an ownership stake in Newburyport.

Hundreds of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) employees returned to work on Monday, following a 35-day government shutdown the brought beer label approvals and other important alcohol beverage enforcement activities to a standstill.

Green Flash Brewing today unveiled a new logo, rebranded packages and a reformulated version of its West Coast IPA flagship. The move comes about eight months after the San Diego-based craft brewery named former Anheuser-Busch executive Michael Taylor as its new CEO, following months of financial turmoil and an eventual foreclosure sale to holding company WC IPA LLC.