Southern Tier Brewing is strengthening its executive roster. The company yesterday announced it hired Brendan Smith as its new vice president of sales and marketing. The move comes nearly two months after a recent capital infusion from private equity firm Ulysses Management LLC. Smith most recently held the role of senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Smithfield Foods, a global food processor with $13 billion in annual sales.

When the National Beer Wholesalers Association tapped Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill to speak at its annual conference this past summer, the network of distributors knew they were getting someone highly qualified to dole out wisdom on the topics of “leadership, decision-making, operating in uncertain environments and how to become the ‘best of the best.’” That’s how the network pitched his appearance in a July press release, anyway.

He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president. Now, 188 years after his death, Thomas Jefferson can add to his resume. According to a Times Dispatch report, economic developers in Virginia dug up (read: hired an actor to play) Thomas Jefferson to help sell Stone Brewing on the state when the company was still in search of a place to build a facility on the east coast.

Smuttynose Brewing yesterday announced it will begin distributing beer to Arizona per an agreement with Arizona Beer and Cider Company, a new wholesale outfit based in Phoenix. Though this is Summtynose’s first foray into Arizona, it’s not the first time the company has done business with the founders of Arizona Beer and Cider, Jim and Jason Ebel.

The Brewers Association (BA) is once again calling on its members to steer the organization’s response to the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial spent grains proposal in its most recently revised form. Hoping to inform additional comments, the BA is surveying its craft brewery members to find out how many process their spent grains before selling them to farmers for use as animal feed.

In an off-beat quest to upend Prohibition-era regulations that many brewers in the state decry as overly burdensome, the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild (GCBG) has launched a crowdfunding campaign in hopes of hiring a lobbyist to work on behalf of the state’s craft beer industry. The Guild has already tapped the services of Atlanta’s Thrash-Haliburton, a government affairs firm, but now plans to use the funds raised on Indiegogo to bring them on full-time.

Beginning early November, Fort Collins Brewery will ship its core lineup and select seasonal offerings throughout Arizona per an agreement with Young’s Market Company. Named after the northern Colorado town it was founded in, Fort Collins will round its distribution footprint out to 23 states with the launch.

Figueroa Mountain Brewing, one of California’s faster-growing, but relatively unknown, craft breweries, has announced a slew of expansion plans that include a new international presence, adding three new taprooms and turning over distribution rights to a local beer wholesaler. The company plans to start contract brewing in Germany within six months while it searches for a location to build its own facility in the Bavarian region of the country.

A Florida restaurant has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court claiming that the state’s ban on 64 oz. growlers is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. According to Sunshine State News, the suit aims to end the ban on half-gallon growlers, which has been a highly controversial issue in the state; currently, 32 oz. and 128 oz. growlers are legal, but the industry standard 64 oz. option is prohibited.

Pushing farther into the state of Pennsylvania, Port Brewing will expand its distribution throughout Pittsburgh, the company announced today. Per an agreement with Wilson-McGinley, the brewery, which is headquartered out of San Marcos, Calif., will begin selling core and seasonal products from its Port Brewing and Lost Abbey labels in the newly added market this year.

There’s a difference between being coastal and being on the coast. That’s a difference that Pelican Brewing has long exploited, as visitors to its beachside pub and brewery in Pacific City, Ore. can dig their toes in the sand, pint in hand, without straying from the premises. In a state that needs no help selling itself as a craft beer destination, Pelican’s immaculate location has for years given the company a leg to stand on that was uniquely its own.

You’d more likely come across a stone bust of Sam Calagione than one bearing the visage of Plato at World of Beer’s recently launched eponymous school. Well, you would if the school had a physical location, anyway. To build the “Ultimate Beer Quiz,” World of Beer tapped some of the biggest names in craft beer, asking them to help create a series of online quizzes aimed at educating beer consumers.

As part of its continued effort to realign its California distribution network, Knee Deep Brewing will now be sold by DBI Beverage of Sacramento throughout the region. “This is the final step in the reorganization of our distribution network in Northern California,” said Jerry Moore, Knee Deep CEO, in a news release.

Aiming to expedite its national expansion effort, Fireman’s Brew has released yet another private stock offering, this time an equity sale available to investors outside of California. Fireman’s Brew, which is based in Los Angeles, Calif., aims to sell more than 4.5 million shares of ‘Flash Seed Preferred stock,’ at $1.249 per share, through FlashFunders, an online equity-funding platform that connects early stage companies with investors across the globe.