Packaging

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Union efforts begin at Anchor Brewing; Weyerbacher seeks investment; Tree House buys a farm in Connecticut; Pabst rebrands Not Your Father’s; and more industry news.

Green Flash Brewing Company chief executive Michael Taylor is “bullish” on the San Diego craft brewery’s prospects for a turnaround in 2019. In a conversation with Brewbound, Taylor — a former Anheuser-Busch executive who was hired as CEO last June — said he’s projecting 20 percent growth for a Green Flash business that ran into significant financial turmoil around this time last year.

Shipyard Brewing founder Fred Forsley is partnering with Valencia Realty Capital and State Street Realty Advisors on a proposed $36 million contract brewing and co-packing facility in Hooksett, New Hampshire. The 100,000 sq. ft. facility, which is currently under development along Highway 93 with a targeted opening date of late 2020, will be capable of producing and packaging thousands of barrels of beer, distilled spirits and non-alcoholic drinks.

The founders of Owl’s Brew are gearing up for 2019 as they plan to relaunch the brand with a new identity, and raise as much as $10 million as part of a Series B round of funding. The company also recently hired former New Belgium CEO Christine Perich.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: The Nevada Attorney General investigates MillerCoors; Stone seeks an injunction in its Keystone case; Almanac’s co-founder departs the company; and more news from the week.

In an effort to further establish itself in the high end craft beer category, Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Co. will launch a new line of premium-priced beers in the third quarter of this year, Duvel USA executives told Brewbound.

Draft beer now accounts for nearly two-thirds of all on-premise beer volume, according to the Beer Institute’s (BI) annual State-Level Packaging Report, released today. Last year, 61.7 percent of all beer sold on-premise was poured on draft — a 1.8 point share gain — which the BI said is the highest on-premise draft share ever recorded.

Felipe Szpigel, president of A-B’s High End, told Brewbound that more of his division’s craft breweries will be releasing 15- and 18-packs in the next couple of months.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Allagash begins canning; a Louisiana lawmaker yanks a bill to allow younger adults access to alcohol; and more.

After pulling distribution from two states last year, Santa Fe Brewing Company is re-focusing its efforts on growing sales in its home state of New Mexico and seven other core markets. Santa Fe director of sales and marketing Jarrett Babincsak told Brewbound that the company decided to dig deeper in its eight-state footprint due to the increasingly more difficult challenge of selling beer away from a home territory.

After selling 65,000 barrels of beer in 2016, Cigar City Brewing is on pace for a major bump in sales as the Florida craft brewery plans to cross the 100,000-barrel threshold by the end of the year. In an interview with Brewbound, Cigar City brand ambassador Neil Callaghan attributed the growth to expanded production of its flagship brand, Jai Alai IPA, at the start of the year.