SweetWater Brewing is the latest craft brewery to expand into Pennsylvania, announcing plans to extend its footprint into Pittsburgh in the first week of June with Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale.

Deschutes Brewery is reportedly scouting Asheville, N.C. as a potential location to build out its east coast brewing facility and distribution center. According to the Citizen Times, representatives from Deschutes had visited Asheville in December and company president Michael LaLonde told the website they have a second trip planned for late May.

Pelican Brewing has announced plans to open a new brewpub in Cannon Beach, Ore., which, when complete, will be the third facility the company operates in the state. Construction on the brewpub, which will include a small brewhouse and restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating, is scheduled to begin this fall. The company anticipates a public opening next spring.

Victory Brewing has announced plans to expand distribution of its beers to Arkansas next month, with statewide retail availability expected by mid-June. Per a partnership with Arkansas Craft Distributors, Victory’s seasonal Summer Love Ale will be available on draft in the state beginning May 11.

To the purists, the idea of debasing a perfectly good beer with fruit juice seemed blasphemous. It was only after the doubters tasted the product, an unfiltered wheat beer made with grapefruit juice, that Harpoon Brewery was able to quell the skepticism within the company. That done, it had in its possession what would go… Read more »

Laurelwood Brewing, a certified organic brewery out of Portland, Ore., will begin exporting its beers in Canada next month.

After three years of fighting to repeal Florida’s long held ban on the half-gallon jugs, craft brewers will soon be able to sell 64 oz. refillable growlers. State lawmakers passed a bill to legalize the container on Friday. Senate Bill 186 passed out of the House unanimously and awaits Gov. Rick Scott’s signature. It legalizes 64-oz. growlers filled at the point of sale. The bill also clarifies a controversial “tourism exemption” that had enabled craft brewers to operate in a legal gray areas as both retailers and producers.

Befitting the reputation it has built for using diverse and exotic ingredients in the brewing process, Dogfish Head has shown over the years that, as a company, it has eclectic taste in music as well. Spearheaded by founder and self-proclaimed music geek Sam Calagione, the company has made its fandom known through collaborations with the likes of Pearl Jam, the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis’ estate and, most recently, a Dogfish-sponsored live performance by hip-hop icon Tone Loc during this year’s Craft Brewers Conference.

A Minnesota bar located near the Wisconsin border is under investigation for illegally selling beers from New Glarus Brewing without a license, per a report from the Green Bay Press Gazette. According to a search warrant filed in Hennepin County, an employee of Maple Tavern had allegedly been making trips across state lines to buy kegs of Spotted Cow, a popular beer from the company, to be brought back and re-sold in Minnesota.

The Scottish brewing outfit BrewDog operates branded beer bars all over the world, ships beer to more than 50 countries, and even has its own American television show. Despite their success, company co-founders (and hosts of the popular “Brew Dogs” show) James Watt and Martin Dickie will tell you that they are representative not of esteemed entrepreneurs that came before them, but rather the brash youth that constantly seeks disruption. They’re punks.

Victory Brewing today announced the opening of its second brewpub in the Philadelphia area, a 7-barrel brewery and restaurant that seats 220 in more than 8,000 sq. ft. of space. Dubbed Victory at Magnolia, the brewpub in Kennett Square, Pa. will serve a rotating lineup of both site-specific and signature Victory beers brewed on-premise.

In fashion true to the collaborative reputation of the craft beer industry, two Boston-area beer companies are working together to jointly expand their operations. A new deal between Cambridge Brewing Co. (Cambridge, Mass.) and Mystic Brewery (Chelsea, Mass.) will see equipment trade hands in exchange for production assistance.

Two recently released independent economic studies highlight craft’s growth in two very different markets: New York and Oregon. Both reports, commissioned by each state’s respective guilds, offer a bicoastal perspective on the economic impact of craft beer. While the two markets ostensibly share little in common (east coast versus west coast; industrial versus bucolic; the Yankees versus who needs a baseball team?), it seems craft beer is one thing the two states can bond over.

Oregon State University announced it will build a new research brewery thanks to a six-figure donation from Gambrinus chief Carlos Alvarez. Alvarez, the CEO and chairman of the Gambrinus Company – which owns BridgePort Brewing, Spoetzl Brewery, Trumer Brewery, and Tappeto Volante – has gifted the school with $1 million to build the brewery in the university’s Wiegand Hall Pilot Plant Facility.