The shifting brewing landscape permeated Brewbound’s most-read stories of 2024. From job changes to layoffs, acquisitions and consolidation to closures, the most-read stories captured the volatility of the market.
As we say goodbye to 2024, here’s a look back, in reverse order.
10. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre Launch Gin & Juice RTD
Nostalgia is a helluva drug and 1990s rap legends and business moguls Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg tapped into those feelings for the launch of Gin & Juice, a ready-to-drink canned cocktail bearing the name of the 1993 hit song.
Gin & Juice was the first release from a new “premium spirits company” led by the founders of On The Rocks cocktails – Patrick Halbert as CEO, Andrew Gill as chief strategy officer and Rocco Milano as executive vice president of sales. Among the investors are former record exec Jimmy Iovine, Main Street Advisors, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan and Boston Red Sox chair Tom Werner.
9. Cascade Brewing Shutters Following Death of Founder and Oregon Beer Godfather Art Larrance
The craft brewing industry lost a legend last year with the death of Art Larrance, the founder of Portland, Oregon-based Cascade Brewing.
Cascade ceased operations in the weeks after Larrance’s death from a heart attack on May 26, at age 80.
Larrance founded Cascade in 1998 and sold it to an investor group in April 2020, but the deal never closed, leaving Larrance with a controlling share in the business at the time of his death, his daughter, Alissa Larrance, told the Oregonian. The Larrance family was unaware its patriarch still owned the brewery, and the family’s trust was unable to sustain Cascade financially.
At Cascade, Larrance and brewmaster Ron Gansberg pioneered sour beers, which helped the brewery establish itself among a sea of West Coast IPAs. An early craft trailblazer, he also co-founded Portland Brewing in 1986 with Fred Bowman and Jim Goodwin, one year after helping to lobby for the creation of Oregon’s first brewpub license.
Larrance also created the Oregon Brewers Festival in 1988, which grew to become one of the country’s largest craft beer festivals.
8. Asahi to Acquire Wisconsin-Based Contract Producer Octopi Brewing
Japanese brewing giant Asahi struck a deal to acquire Waunakee, Wisconsin-based contract brewer Octopi Brewing in early January.
Octopi is one of the country’s largest craft-focused contract brewing companies by volume. The brewery was founded by Isaac Showaki, looking to fill a void in the market.
In Wisconsin, Asahi will produce Asahi Super Dry and Czech beer Kozel for the U.S., as well as other brands in its global portfolio for export to Canada, including Peroni Nastro Azzuro and Grolsch.
Asahi aims to reach 1 million hectoliters – more than 850,000 barrels – in production in the medium-term following its acquisition.
7. Report: Uber to Close Drizly E-Commerce Alcohol Delivery Platform
In early January, Uber announced plans to shut down Drizly in March, just three years after acquiring the alcohol e-commerce delivery platform for $1.1 billion.
Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s SVP of delivery, in a statement to Axios, said the company had decided to close Drizly in order to focus on its “core UberEats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything – from food to groceries to alcohol – on a single app.”
There were signs of trouble under Uber’s ownership, including company-wide layoffs and restructuring, a cybersecurity issue causing the Federal Trade Commission to propose an order against Drizly and CEO James Cory Rellas and additional scrutiny from the federal agency.
6. Sierra Nevada Appoints Ex-Beam Suntory Exec as New CEO
The year brought several leadership changes at top craft breweries, including Sierra Nevada.
Following the retirement of Jeff White, the Chico, California-headquartered craft brewery hired former spirits executive Pryce Greenow as its next CEO.
Greenow brought nearly two decades of beverage industry experience to Sierra Nevada, having most recently served as Beam Suntory’s president, international and global sales excellence officer from November 2017 to February 2023.
White had served as CEO since 2019 and was only the company’s second CEO in its 40-year history, succeeding Grossman.
5. Anheuser-Busch InBev to Sell Distributor Branches in Massachusetts and Ohio
Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) continued to reshuffle its wholly owned distributor branches, with the sale of branches Massachusetts and Ohio to independent A-B distributors in each state.
Martignetti-owned Quality Beverage acquired the Boston, Massachusetts-based branch, and Columbus Distributing acquired the Canton, Ohio-based branch.
A-B has engaged in a series of deals involving its wholly owned distribution branches in recent years, beginning with a flurry of activity in 2020.
4. New Jersey’s Forgotten Boardwalk to Close After Losing Lease
Brewery closures nationwide outpaced openings for the first time since the early 2000s. One issue that continually presented itself for craft breweries were landlord issues, including New Jersey’s Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing, which lost its lease.
Founder Jamie Queli announced the planned closure in January after a decade in business: “To all of our loyal customers, friends, family and supporters – we wish you a heartfelt thank you for being a part of the Forgotten Boardwalk story for the past 10 years. We have vigorously tried to sign a lease extension with our landlord to no avail as our next door neighbor has leased out the space from underneath us.
“We are extremely disappointed and quite frankly, appalled at the actions of both companies and their adamant refusals to negotiate with us.”
Entering 2025, the number of brewery closures are expected to tick up again, although the rate is still relatively low.
One of the most anticipated stories of the year is the Brewers Association’s (BA) release of the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. by volume.
The BA reported that 26 of the top 50 craft breweries recorded production volume declines in 2023, a slight decrease from the 29 that reported production declines in 2022. Twenty breweries recorded volume growth, while four were flat year-over-year (YoY).
Total volume for the top 50 increased +3% YoY, to more than 11.947 million barrels. The collective volume accounted for 51.5% share of total craft volume in 2023, increasing +1.79 points, from 49.3% in 2022. Last year marked the first time the top 50 share fell below 50% since at least 2018.
Total craft volume declined -1% to nearly 23.4 million barrels, the first craft decline in recent memory, with the exception of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Volume YTD is expected to decline more than -2% as second half scans pointed to weaker trends.
2. Tilray to Acquire 4 Craft Brands From Molson Coors
Tilray Brands struck again in 2024 with another scoop of craft breweries from a mainstream brewer.
This time, Molson Coors Beverage Company sold off four craft beer brands in its Tenth & Blake division to the global cannabis company, effectively ending Molson Coors’ craft business aside from Blue Moon and Leinenkugel’s.
As part of the $23 million transaction, Tilray added
- Hop Valley Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon;
- Terrapin Beer Co. in Athens, Georgia;
- Revolver Brewing in Granbury, Texas;
- And Atwater Brewery in Detroit, Michigan.
A year earlier, Tilray acquired eight brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev: Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point, Red Hook, Widmer Brothers, 10 Barrel, Square Mile Cider and Hi-Ball Energy. The deal marked a significant culling of A-B’s craft portfolio and vaulted Tilray into the No. 6 spot among top U.S. craft brewers by volume, according to the BA.
In a year of industry headwinds, it’s not a surprise that the most-read story is a painful one: Monster turned Cigar City’s Tampa, Florida-based production facility into a cross-category innovation center and cut 12 jobs in March.
In addition to those job cuts, Monster eliminated the position of long-time and original brewmaster Wayne Wambles in early February.
It wasn’t the first or the last time Monster shook up its craft division. The Cigar City transformation followed the closure of the 50,000 sq. ft. Oskar Blues brewery and taproom in Austin, Texas in November 2023. It also preceded the closure of Deep Ellum Brewing’s taproom and production facility in Dallas, although the brand lives on.