Stone Watch
Richmond, Va. is reported to be one of the final contending cities vying for Stone Brewing Co.’s first facility east of the Mississippi River, and the City Council is putting in time off the clock to make sure it doesn’t get skipped over.
Though it typically takes August off, the council called a “special meeting” yesterday with regards to permits for publicly owned land proximate to the James River, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
City Hall sources told the Dispatch “the measures were being brought forward to clear a path,” for Stone specifically.
If anything is to be gleaned from South Carolina and the legislative changes it made to court Stone, however, it might take more than a “clear path” to entice the nation’s tenth largest craft brewery.
Hop Valley Shoots for 60,000 Barrels
Oregon’s Hop Valley Brewing is expanding its distribution footprint and its production capacity, according to The Register Guard.
On Monday, the brewery installed four new fermentation vessels and plans to add four additional tanks later this year. In total, the company plans to invest $675,000 on capacity improvements this year.
“We did 8,000 barrels last year; we’ll do 25,000 to 30,000 barrels this year,” Hop Valley partner Walter Macbeth told the paper.
The company is also in the process of purchasing a new bottling line, canning line and is expanding distribution into Washington and Idaho as well as new markets throughout its home state of Oregon.
“Our goal is to double our growth next year, to 50,000 to 60,000 barrels,” Macbeth said.
Alleged Misconduct at Capital Brewery Invites Suit
Minority shareholders have sued Capital Brewery, alleging the company’s majority owners suppressed their rights and left them out of key business decisions, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Specifically, the suit alleges president Scott Weiner and company director Richard King had made a practice of disregarding input from minority owners in favor of running the company for their “personal gain.” The suit also claims majority owners had violated company bylaws and wasted company assets.
Weiner told the Journal the suit was “totally unexpected.”
“It’s unfortunate news to me,” he said. “We know of no basis for the filing of any lawsuit against us.”
Canned Craft Boosts Ball Corp.
Shares of Ball Corp. hit a 52-week high of $63 last week, a boon brought about, in part, by the increasing prevalence of craft brewers adding cans.
Citing figures from CraftCans.com, John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, wrote in an Indy Star op-ed that 412 breweries currently can 1,480 different beers.
The growing number of brewers canning their beers, he wrote, can be attributed to a variety of important factors, chief among them, the water-based polymer lining canning suppliers use to eliminate any trace of metallic taste and their willingness to work with smaller businesses such as craft brewers.
And considering there are more than 3,000 operational breweries in the country today, Ball’s running room in the craft beer space really looks more like a tarmac.
Gov. Cuomo Keeps Promoting Craft
Sure, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is alleged to have interfered with an ethics investigation being conducted by a commission that he himself assembled.
But without diving headlong into that, it hasn’t been all murky for Cuomo, as he has been relatively successful endearing himself to the state’s craft brewers of late.
In July, Cuomo helped form the New York Craft Brewer Work Group, a collection of brewers and industry representatives tasked with growing the state’s craft beer industry; Now this week, Cuomo announced the New York State Fair will launch its own line of craft beer, aptly dubbed “State Fair Showstopper Ale.”
According to The Sun, the beer will be brewed by Empire Brewing Co. of Syracuse.
Saint Archer Guest Stars on Adam Carolla Show
Josh Landan, president and founder of San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewing Co., appeared alongside brand ambassador and professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez on the Adam Carolla Show last week, and the comedian host had some high praise for the company.
“The problem is when you have the Saint Archer beer and then you try to step over to the Bud Light or the Miller Lite, it’s a f**king free fall,” he said. “You get the bends.”
Who needs buzzwords like mouthfeel when you get that type of endorsement?
Speaking with Brewbound about the company’s expansion that will increase production by 45 percent, Landan joked about the whole experience, adding Carolla was upset when all his employees took home the beer that he and Rodriguez had brought as gifts.