Red Brick Reverts Back to Atlanta Brewing Company
Atlanta’s Red Brick Brewing is getting back to its roots.
First launched as Atlanta Brewing Company 25 years ago, the Georgia-based craft brewery today unveiled a rebrand that includes a return to its original name.
“The craft beer market has changed significantly over the last several years and we felt it was important to highlight the changes and improvements that we’ve made here at the brewery,” Atlanta Brewing Company president Garett Lockhart explained via a press release. “As a 25-year-old craft brewery, it is important for us to be innovative and stay relevant in an increasingly competitive market. These changes set the table for us to truly reintroduce ourselves to a growing craft consumer base.”
Three of the company’s core offerings – Homestand Pilsner, Soul of the City Pale Ale, and Hoplanta IPA – have already transitioned into rebranded packages.
“Over the last eight years we’ve rebuilt Atlanta Brewing Company from top to bottom,” marketing director Cameron Davis said in the release.
That rebuilding process included a $50,000 taproom renovation aimed at taking advantage of recently approved direct-to-consumer sales regulations statewide, as well as a renewed focus on improving off-premise sales with a revamped portfolio.
“We’re the oldest craft brewery in Atlanta,” Gavin McKenna, the company’s director of brewing operations, told Brewbound in January. “We feel like there’s a really cool story to tell there. The cool kid breweries are not forever going to be new breweries, and at some point people are going to have to rediscover breweries along the road. And we want to be in that conversation about what’s happening in the city that’s interesting and vital to beer culture.”
Atlanta Brewing Company tapped Indianapolis-based CODO Design, which has designed labels for a number of craft breweries, to help create its new look.
Coronado Closes Monkey Paw Brewpub
One year after it acquired a majority stake in Monkey Paw Brewing Company, San Diego’s Coronado Brewing has closed the doors to the brewpub and craft beer bar, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The closure comes about three months after Coronado unsuccessfully tried to sell the brand amid a breach-of-contract lawsuit with Monkey Paw founder Scot Blair.
Blair, who maintained a minority stake in the Monkey Paw business, claimed in his lawsuit that the business owed him more than $33,000 as part of an unsecured promissory note.
That lawsuit is set for a September 28 hearing.
In May, Coronado Brewing CEO Brandon Richards refuted the notion that a sale of the Monkey Paw business stemmed from the pending litigation, claiming instead that Coronado was refocusing attention on growing its core business.
“The effort that it was taking to put into the brand was really becoming a distraction for Coronado Brewing,” he said at the time. “We’re talking about a 40,000-barrel brewery and a 600-barrel brewery, and we have to make sure we’re watching out for our main business.”
Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective Announces Cross-Platform Mixed Pack, GABF Presence
Fresh off its acquisition of Los Angeles’ Three Weavers Brewing Company, Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective has unveiled a collaborative 12-pack featuring four offerings from its partner brands.
The first multi-pack, dubbed “VOL. 1,” includes Cigar City Brewing’s Jai Alai IPA, Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale, Perrin Brewing’s Black Ale and Squatters Craft Beers’ Hop Rising IPA.
“For the first time, four CANarchy breweries are represented in one box,” a press release noted. “This mixed-tape is made possible by the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective – a group of craft breweries who have come together to stay independent.”
Distribution throughout North Carolina and Florida is set to begin on September 1, and “wider distribution” will follow, the release noted.
It’s not the first time a brewery control group has attempted to sell multiple brands in the same mixed pack, however. In 2014, Craft Brew Alliance released the “Craft Beer Explorer Summer Variety Pack,” which included beers from Widmer Brothers Brewing, Redhook Brewery and Kona Brewing.
In other Canarchy news, the collective also said this week that all of its partner companies would pour alongside one another in the upcoming Great American Beer Festival.
“Each CANarchy brewery will have their own pouring station between booth #100-110, making up the CANarchy Collective area,” a press release stated.
Together, the group will pour 60 different beers between its Oskar Blues, Cigar City, Squatters, Wasatch, Perrin, Deep Ellum and Three Weavers brands.
Harpoon to Brew, Distribute Former Red Sox Player’s Offerings
Mass. Bay Brewing Company – better known as the makers of Harpoon – will begin brewing and distributing beers from Loma Brewing Company, a California-based company owned by former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis.
In an email to Brewbound, Chris Bonacci, the vice president of marketing for Mass. Bay Brewing, said the company would contract brew Loma’s “Appeasement Brut IPA” and “Greek God of Hops Double IPA.” It will also distribute the beers, via Harpoon Distributing, throughout greater Boston.
Additional distribution is planned for eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Bonacci added.
A launch event is slated for September 6.
Meanwhile, Harpoon also released a new beer of its own this week.
Called “Rec League,” the 3.8 percent ABV hazy pale ale, which only has 120 calories, is being marketed to fitness enthusiasts and is brewed with chia seeds, buckwheat and Mediterranean Sea salt.
“Quenching and refreshing, this hazy pale ale is meant to celebrate life’s little victories, like crushing that 10K,” a description of the new beer states.