Category: Beverage Industry News
- Business of Beer 762
- Commentary 159
- Crisis Response 190
News Monster Lays Off 12 Employees at Cigar City – Will Move Production to Oskar Blues
In another consolidation move to maintain efficiencies in a contracting craft beer segment, 12 employees at Cigar City Brewing have been laid off, as the brewery’s owner, Monster Beverage Corp plans to move production of Cigar City beers to their Oskar Blues Brewery in North Carolina.
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News Hard Fought Franchise Reform Passes in Wyoming
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has signed Senate File 0079 (SF 0079), a franchise reform bill into law. The bill has been a long fought and negotiated compromise between the states beer wholesalers and craft brewers to provide some relief to small brewers when terminating a distributor.
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News CHEERS Act Would Give Tax Break to Bars and Restaurants That Serve Draft Beer
The CHEERS Act, a congressional bill that would provide a tax break to restaurants and bars that utilize draft beer systems and help revitalize the hospitality industry has been introduced in Washington, DC.
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News Asahi to Close Meantime Brewery in UK
Asahi announced that it is closing Meantime Brewery in Greenwich, UK and will move the brewing of Meantime beers to its Fuller’s site in Chiswick. The move is becoming familiar as large brewers close small craft breweries that they acquired in order to consolidate production.
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News TTB Takes Input from Brewers on Ingredient Labelling
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is considering whether to require nutritional information on alcoholic beverages such as what the Food and Drug Administration has long required on other foods and beverages. The TTB is currently taking public comment – including those from the industry – until March 29.
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News Britain Puts the Freeze on Alcohol Tax Increases for 12 Months
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt today announced a freeze on any increase in alcohol taxes until February 2025. The announcement was met with mixed reviews as many in the alcohol industry have been pushing for a reduction in taxes.
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News AB Dodges Workers Strike in Last Minute Contract Agreement
Anheuser-Busch and the Teamsters union have averted a strike in agreeing to a tentative deal that gives workers an immediate pay raise with additional raises over the course of the eight-year contract. The agreement was reached at the final hour as the current union contract was set to expire at the end of today with 5,000 employees ready to go on strike.
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News Boston Beer Reports Tough Year with Shipments Down 6% – Announces New CEO
Dave Burwick, CEO and president of Boston Beer Company has announced his retirement as of April 1st. He will continue to serve in an advisory role with the company through March 2026. The news comes after the company released its fourth quarter financial results which show shipments down by 6.2% for the full year 2023.
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News Asahi Looks at More Acquisitions to Meet Demand
Asahi Group Holdings is looking for a brewery to buy. After the huge growth of Asahi Super Dry across the globe in 2023, the Japan-based brewer is looking to acquire a brewery in the US or elsewhere to increase its brewing capacity to meet demand.
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News Molson/Coors Workers Strike as AB Prepares for Its Own Strike
Molson Coors said that the union strike at its Fort Worth brewery has not impacted supply as they shift production to other breweries. Meanwhile, the deadline for a union strike at Anheuser-Busch nears after union members voted on Dec. 16th to authorize a strike on March 1st unless demands were met.
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News Featured Interview: BevPort Aims to Offer New Distribution Model for Craft Beverages
The traditional three-tier system for beer distribution is often a challenging and frustrating experience for brewers. Although self-distribution can work for brewers in their local market, for distribution on a wider scale, the three-tier system is the brewers only alternative. The BevPort Distribution Portal aims to change that by offering brewers a three-tier compliant digital distribution portal.
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News The Rise of Athletic Brewing – Where it Started and Where Will it Go
Who would have thought? One of the most talked about beers in America doesn’t have alcohol. Athletic Brewing has become the king of the fastest growing segment in the alcohol beverage industry. And it all started here on ProBrewer.
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News Sierra Nevada Hires Former Beam Suntory Exec as CEO
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has hired Pryce Greenow as the company’s new CEO and president. Greenow comes from the spirits industry where he most recently served as president of international and global sales officer at Beam Suntory from 2017 to February 2023.
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News AB Continues to Shed Craft Brands – Closes Two Craft Breweries
Anheuser-Busch is set to close two more of its acquired craft breweries, Wynwood Brewing in Miami and Golden Road in Sacramento, California. The closures come just six months after AB sold off six of its acquired craft brands.
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News Athletic Brewing Releases ‘Soul Sour’ to Raise Funds for Michael Jackson Foundation
Athletic Brewing Company, the largest non-alcoholic brewer in the U.S., announced the fourth annual release of Soul Sour in celebration of Black History Month. 100% of the profits from the 2024 release of Soul Sour will be donated to Sacred Heart University (SHU) and the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling (MJF).
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News NBWA Beer Purchasers’ Index for January Shows Improvement over 2023
The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) released the Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) for January which shows that beer distributors reported continued year-over-year improvement for nearly all market segments, a significant improvement over January of 2023.
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