Shares of Boston Beer Co., the nation’s largest craft brewery, were trading down by as much as 18 percent this morning in light of yesterday’s earnings report that showed slower depletion growth in the fourth quarter of 2014, a comedown from the torrid pace it had maintained the two quarters prior.
F.X. Matt Brewing, more commonly known as Saranac, is getting set to debut a new marketing campaign across multiple platforms, including television, a still relatively untapped medium for craft brewers. Dubbed “Pour Your Soul Into It,” the campaign was developed to better relay the company’s history and its own position in the craft beer landscape, which Saranac president Fred Matt said has been unfairly disputed by some consumers.
Indiana’s largest beer wholesaler is reportedly distributing more than just suds. Monarch Beverage has been accused of illegally channeling campaign contributions to influential state lawmakers through a lesser-known company, Vision Concepts. The complaint was filed by a group of smaller distributors who argue that Monarch flouted Indiana’s campaign contribution laws by donating more money than is legal.
Ninkasi Brewing is expanding its distribution footprint once again, this time to Utah. The Oregon-based brewery has inked a deal with General Distributing Company of Salt Lake City for coverage throughout the state, it announced Thursday. Beginning this week, Ninkasi beers will be available throughout Utah in both 12 oz. and 22 oz. bottles.
Green Flash Brewing has announced plans for the national rollout of Cellar 3, a series of rare, barrel-aged beers produced in its newly minted second facility of the same name. Located in Poway, Calif., Cellar 3 provides the company with 12,000 sq. ft. of additional room to expand its barrel-aging program and experiment with wild yeast, two endeavors the company’s Mira Mesa facility lacked adequate space for.
Would a Colorado craft brewery ever sell to “big beer?” That’s the question Eric Gorski of the Denver Post posed over the weekend, surveying Colorado brewery owners for their reactions to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s recent craft acquisitions. “There’s a Colorado-sized hole on the growing map of U.S. craft breweries now in the hands of corporate owners,” he wrote. Gorski checked in with a few of the state’s top craft players to get a sense of who might be interested in selling.
One of the world’s preeminent nomad brewers is getting ready to settle down. Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the Danish beer maker who travels the world producing labels under the Mikkeller brand, has forged a “creative partnership” with San Diego’s AleSmith Brewing that will include an old brewing facility AleSmith had been planning vacate this summer.
Beyond the quality of the liquid inside the bottle, strong packaging and labeling, the eye-catching face of a brand, is becoming paramount as a means of standing out on shelves tasked with propping up more and more craft SKUs than ever before. Or, as Ian McLean, founder and creative director of McLean Design and a BevNET FBU (Food and Beverage University) instructor, said, “If you’re not seen, you don’t exist.”
Uinta Brewing today announced expanded distribution throughout Kansas, signing an agreement with the Kansas Craft Alliance, a statewide network of 13 Anheuser-Busch wholesalers. The brewery, headquartered in Salt Lake City, will begin shipping core Uinta offerings like Hop Nosh IPA and Cutthroat Pale Ale to Kansas this week.
After a near three-year legal battle, a federal judge has ruled that the founder of a prominent craft beer distributorship in Kentucky owes her cousin, who helped build the business, more than $1 million from the sale of the company. According to a report from Cincinnati.com, U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman ruled that Mary Kenney improperly sold the business, Beer House Distributors, to L. Knife & Son in 2011 without first consulting Charles Sisson, her cousin and the company’s only other shareholder.
As both a wink at the past and a nod to the future, Avery Brewing will release “Tectum et Elix” this year which, translated, means “Roofs and Drains.” For 22 years, the brewery has operated out of a disjointed 18,000 sq. ft. facility in a Boulder, Colo. alleyway that lacks proper brewing amenities and has made scaling production nearly impossible.
Having reached the 50,000-barrel threshold in just its fourth year of operation, Chicago’s Revolution Brewing is preparing to dig deeper in its home market by expanding its production facility and tripling capacity. Backed by bank and small business loans, the brewery has announced plans to install a 120-barrel brewhouse and several 800-barrel fermenters this summer — boosting capacity to 300,000 barrels — as the company expands into a neighboring space in its current building.
Atwater Brewery has some major expansion plans on tap, as the company is building out its staff at its Detroit headquarters while ramping up to build two new facilities in other parts of the country. According to ModeledMedia.com, Atwater is still planning to build a brewery in Austin, Texas, a $15 million project that was first announced last February.
A proposed bill aimed at easing regulations on Arizona breweries earned an early victory on Monday when it passed out of a Senate committee. Senate Bill (SB) 1030, dubbed the “Arizona Beer Bill”, passed in the Senate Commerce Committee Monday with a 6-2 vote. The proposal? Allow Arizona brewers to maintain their additional brewing, restaurant and retail locations once production volumes exceed 40,000 barrels.
