Brewbound readers in 2020 sought out news about the pandemic, mergers and acquisitions, brewery closures and job changes.
2020 marked a year of shifts for brewers, as well as Brewbound, which shifted its business model to a subscription model. With that in mind, we’ve pulled the five most-read stories before the paywall was introduced and the five most-read stories after.
So, before we finally say farewell to 2020 and move on to 2021, here’s a look back at the most-read stories on Brewbound.
The Pre-Subscription Top 5
Pabst, Molson Coors Agree to Sale of California Brewery
In May, Pabst Brewing Company surprised many industry watchers by agreeing to buy Molson Coors’ Irwindale, California, production brewery for $150 million.
Molson Coors was set to shutter the 40-year-old brewery in September 2020, and Pabst had 120 days to exercise an option to buy the plant. Although Pabst pulled the trigger on the deal, its plans for the facility are still unclear.
Dogfish Head President and COO to Exit the Company
Two years after joining Dogfish Head Craft Brewery president and COO, George Pastrana announced he would exit the company on February 14.
“With much of the merger integration completed, George Pastrana has decided to move on from Boston Beer to pursue other opportunities,” Boston Beer director of communications Jessica Paar told Brewbound. “Mariah and Sam [Calagione] are thankful for George’s contributions to Dogfish’s journey over the last two years and wish him the very best for the future.”
Pastrana’s exit came seven months after Boston Beer Company closed on a merger with Dogfish Head.
Ballast Point Deal Closes; New Ownership Discusses Path Forward
Constellation Brands’ sale of Ballast Point to an investor group fronted by little-known Chicago upstart beer company Kings and Convicts officially closed in early March.
The iconic San Diego craft brewery’s return to independence and ownership by a craft brewing group that didn’t produce 1,000 barrels of beer last year blindsided and confounded industry professionals and media when it was announced in early December 2019.
According to Kings and Convicts CEO Brendan Watters, those industry insiders only had an outsider’s perspective of the Ballast Point business.
“If you’ve got a brand, if you’ve got a company that has very profitable locations that still produces north of 200,000 barrels of beer a year, that’s pretty bloody solid,” he said. “You gotta peel back and look at what’s real.”
Constellation Brands, which acquired Ballast Point for $1 billion in 2015, sold it for $41.1 million.
Pabst Launches Craft Beer Brand, Captain Pabst, with Flagship IPA
In January, Pabst Brewing Company launched Captain Pabst, a standalone craft beer brand with a flagship offering, Seabird IPA, in Wisconsin and Illinois.
The Captain Pabst line of beers paid homage to company namesake Frederick Pabst, who was a ship captain on Lake Michigan before marrying into the family that owned Milwaukee-based Best’s Brewing Company, which was renamed for Pabst by 1889.
However, the voyage would be short lived. More on that later.
Brewers Association Survey: 46% of Craft Breweries Say They May Be Forced to Close Within 3 Months
In April, the Brewers Association (BA) released the results of its second member survey on the effect of COVID-19 on the craft brewing industry, and the results were bleak for many small and independent craft brewers.
The survey — taken by 455 respondents from 49 states and Washington, D.C., through April 6 — revealed “a sharp drop in craft category sales, massive furloughs or layoffs, and the high likelihood of large numbers of brewery closings without a swift end to social distance measures or rapid government support for small brewers and hospitality more broadly,” according to an analysis by BA chief economist Bart Watson.
Although many breweries have shuttered satellite outposts or indefinitely suspended taproom operations, the mass closures have yet to materialize, possibly staved off by loan programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan, and rent assistance from landlords.
In fact, BA chief economist Bart Watson is projecting fewer closures — about 250 — in 2020 than in 2019.
“My prediction for 2021 is something has to give, and we’re going to see those closings rise,” Watson said in early December, prior to Congress passing a relief package that included another round of PPP funding.
The Post-Subscription Top 5
Anheuser-Busch Launches Higher ABV Hard Seltzer Under Bud Light Platinum Brand
Just ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend, Anheuser-Busch launched Bud Light Platinum Seltzer nationwide.
Bud Light Platinum Seltzer bumps up the ABV to 8% from A-B’s previous hard seltzer brands Bud Light Seltzer (5% ABV), Natural Light Seltzer (6% ABV), Bon & Viv (4.5% ABV) and Social Club Seltzer (7%). The seltzer checks in at 170 calories and is made with cane sugar, sparkling water, natural fruit flavors and agave, the company said.
The 8% ABV put Bud Light Platinum Seltzer in line with higher ABV products from market leaders Boston Beer Company’s Truly Extra and Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw Surge, which has yet to launch and is rumored to be on the stronger ABV side. Existing harder seltzers include Pabst Stronger Seltzer (8% ABV) and Four Loko Hard Seltzer (12%).
DOJ Approves Craft Brew Alliance to Anheuser-Busch Combination
Ten months after a deal was announced, the Department of Justice finally approved the merger of Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) and Anheuser-Busch InBev in mid-September.
“This latest milestone brings us one step closer to officially joining the Brewers Collective family,” CBA CEO Andy Thomas said in a press release. “We look forward to combining our resources, talented teammates, and dynamic brands as we continue nurturing the growth of CBA’s existing portfolio and investing in innovation to meet the changing needs of today’s beverage consumers, all while delivering certainty of value to our shareholders.”
The merger officially closed 12 days later.
Pabst Brewing Company to Shutter Captain Pabst Pilot House and Craft Beer Brand
Not even a full year after launching, Pabst Brewing pulled the plug on the Captain Pabst craft beer line and closed the Captain Pabst Pilot House in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 21.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for all hospitality and tourism businesses, the Pilot House included,” the company wrote on the location’s social media pages. “We’ve loved our time in Milwaukee running a taproom, event space and brewery on the grounds of the original complex, building new connections in the city that started it all.”
The closure marked an end to the modern day iteration of the Pabst brand’s ties to its ancestral hometown of Milwaukee, where it was founded in 1844. The company’s brewing operations have since relocated to San Antonio, Texas.
Mikkeller Brewing NYC Permanently Closes
The New York City outpost of Danish craft brewery Mikkeller permanently closed in October after a little more than two years.
In a Facebook post, Mikkeller said it had made “the difficult decision” to shutter the location at Citi Field in Queens, home of the New York Mets.
“Mikkeller is consolidating its NYC brewery with its San Diego brewery and closing Mikkeller NYC,” the company wrote. “Thank you for your support over the past two and a half years; we are extremely grateful to have been part of the New York brewing community, and to have had the opportunity to present our beers in this incredible location.”
A fanless Major League Baseball season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic hampered the location.
Bell’s Brewery Excluded From Monarch Beverage’s Sale to Reyes in Indiana
The sale of Indianapolis-headquartered Monarch Beverages to the Reyes Beer Division did not include the portfolio of Bell’s Brewery after the Michigan craft brewery informed its distributors last year it would not allow its brands to be sold to certain successors.
“Last year, we sent out a letter that I hand-signed to every one of our wholesalers saying that we would not accept Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors or Reyes as a successor wholesaler,” Bell’s founder Larry Bell told Brewbound. “We weren’t going to accept a branch of one of the breweries, and we were not going to accept Reyes.
“Right now, that’s not binding; it’s just a letter,” he continued. “In new contracts that we have with wholesalers, we have a clause that says we will not accept Reyes as a successor wholesaler.”
Reyes, the nation’s largest beer distributor, struck a deal to acquire Monarch, whose brands include the portfolios of Molson Coors, Constellation Brands, Heineken USA, Diageo, Mark Anthony Brands, Boston Beer, Yuengling, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium.
However, the rights to Bell’s offerings, of which Monarch sold about 200,000 case equivalents, weren’t included in the transaction.
In early December, Bell’s filled out its new distribution map in southern Indiana with 15 new wholesaler partners, all within Anheuser-Busch’s network in the state.