Coinciding with plans to build out new production facilities in Texas and North Carolina, Atwater Brewery has shaken up its distribution network in each state and taken on new wholesaler partners. In North Carolina, the Detroit brewery has signed with Craft Central for distribution throughout central and western portions of the state. Previously, Freedom Beverage Co. has sold the Atwater brand. The brewery also recently partnered with Brown Distributing in Texas, ending its preexisting relationship there with Mayan Distributing.
Just in time for baseball’s Opening Day, the Kansas City Royals, in collaboration with Boulevard Brewing and Central States Beverage, have announced the opening a craft-centric beer bar featuring more than 75 craft beers. Appropriately dubbed Craft & Draft, Kauffman Stadium’s newest bar will pour offerings from Boulevard, Lagunitas Brewing, Founders Brewing and other local and well-established national craft players.
Angel City Brewery recently made its first foray outside of Southern California, partnering with Bonanza Beverage Company for distribution throughout Las Vegas, Nevada. Angel City beers, including Pilsner, Social IPA, and West Coast Wheat, are now available on draft and in 6-packs of bottles and cans throughout the city.
One Chicago retailer has opted not to sell SweetWater Brewing’s imperial stout known as “Happy Ending” over what its store manager called “sexist, borderline racist” label art, according to the Chicago Tribune. The label in question depicts a clear silhouette of a geisha and a box of tissues, an apparent allusion to the seedy practice of receiving sexual favors at massage parlors. According to the article, the Binny’s Beverage Depot in Lincoln Park sent back three cases of the beer, which is packaged in 22 oz. bottles. Lakeshore Beverage, SweetWater’s wholesaler in the area, told the Tribune that no other store declined to stock the beer.
Lagunitas Brewing will expand its distribution deeper into Pennsylvania this week after the nation’s sixth largest craft brewery signed with Ace Distributing. Beginning Thursday, Lagunitas beers will be available throughout York, Adams, Franklin, and Fulton counties, according to a press release from Ace. The brewery has existing relationships in the state with Frank Fuhrer Wholesale, BeerMart and Origlio Beverage, according to its website.
Heineken this morning announced a number of major organizational changes, restructuring its regional strategy and leadership teams in an apparent effort to cut costs. In a press statement, Heineken USA also revealed a key shift in the executive roster of its U.S. operations, highlighted by the departure of CEO Dolf van den Brink, who will transfer to the company’s Mexico division.
Southern California’s Golden Road Brewing has announced plans to expand distribution throughout Arizona next month, bringing its full line of beers to consumers outside its home state for the first time. The brewery has signed with Golden Eagles Distributors, which will sell the company’s core line and seasonal offerings to retailers for both on- and off-premise consumption. The rollout is scheduled for early May.
Traveler Beer, the three-year-old shandy/fruit beer line operated by Boston Beer’s Alchemy & Science subsidiary, debuted its first national ad this week, a 30-second spot dubbed “The Road to Refreshment.” Starring Traveler president Alan Newman (and his yellow spectacles), the ad coincides with the national launch of the brand, which Boston Beer president and CEO Martin Roper detailed earlier this year during a fourth quarter earnings call. “I’ve been fired by every company I’ve ever worked for,” says Newman at the start of the ad. “The only things I was ever good at were traveling and beer.”
Left Hand Brewing has announced plans to expand distribution to Southern California with a pair of L. Knife & Son wholesalers this spring. The brewery, which brews in Longmont, Colo., has inked deals with Craft Beer Guild Distributing of San Diego and Craft Beer Guild of Los Angeles for coverage throughout San Diego, Orange County, and greater Los Angeles, specifically in Ventura and Santa Barbara.
A four-alarm fire that tore through and reduced a massive Rhode Island property to a mess of charred support columns and twisted steel had the unintended result of revealing Narragansett Beer’s plans for a new brewery. The 93,000 sq. ft. property in Providence that was reportedly gutted by the blaze last Tuesday, it turns out, was to be the shared home of Isle Brewers Guild, an upstart contract brewing company, and Narragansett, which has been on the hunt for its own facility for the past decade.
North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing broke ground this morning on its third facility in the Asheville area, a 40,000 sq. ft. production brewery that’s expected to create 82 new jobs. Set on the western edge of town in a building the company purchased from the county, the facility will enable Wicked Weed to boost capacity by an additional 50,000 barrels.
Across the country, it seems like the craft beer industry is growing at a rate faster than the rules of the game can evolve. In a number of states, regulations dating back to Prohibition and beyond linger, and producers complain they are hindering the growth of an industry that’s booming elsewhere. To keep up, a number of lawmakers from all over the country are looking to rewrite the rules to foster growth and make their states more competitive, while some are working to make current laws even more restrictive.
West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill this weekend to ease a number of regulatory and financial burdens on the state’s craft brewers. Pending Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s signature, Senate Bill 273 will enable brewers to provide on-premise samples, ease limits on growler sales, and implement a gradual licensing fee system for brewers, eliminating the current flat rate.
A recent clarification to Pennsylvania law restricting the kinds of beer packages distributors can sell has industry stakeholders split on how it will impact marketplace competition. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board recently determined that beer distributors can sell 12-packs of beer, reversing Prohibition-era regulations that have long forced them to sell beer exclusively by the case or keg.
