Category: News From The Breweries
News stories from craft brewing companies
News Asahi-owned Octopi Brewing Announces $35 Million Expansion
Asahi has announced a $35 million expansion of the Octopi Brewing production facility, with the goal to make Asahi Super Dry beer at the upgraded brewery. The goal is to expand distribution beyond Asian and Japanese restaurants and into off-premise chain stores, bars and restaurants.
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News Boston Beer Shipments Down 2.4% in 2024 – Plans More Marketing and Slight Price Increase in 2025
Boston Beer Company released their fourth quarter and full-year financial results yesterday which showed shipments down by 2.4% and depletions down by 2% in 2024 versus 2023. Net revenue for the year increased 0.2% to $2.01 billion. The drop in shipments across the spectrum of brands shows that even with a highly diversified portfolio of beer and non-beer beverages growth can be elusive in the current alcohol beverage industry.
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News Molson Coors Rejects Jake and Dick Leinenkugel Offer to Buy Chippewa Falls Brewery.
Molson Coors has rejected an offer by Jake and Dick Leinenkugel to buy the Chippewa Falls Brewery. Molson Coors is closing the iconic brewery and moving production to their main brewery in Milwaukee, yet declined the brothers offer to buy the brewery.
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News Greene King Gets Final Approval to Build New Brewery in UK
With excess brewing capacity at an all-time high across the globe as beer consumption declines, building a new brewery from the ground up is almost unheard of in the industry. Almost. Greene King has received final approval for its new $49 million brewery in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK and construction will begin by the middle of this year.
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News Harpoon and Smuttynose to Merge – More Deals May Follow
Two pioneering and iconic New England beer brands are merging. Thirty-year old Smuttynose of Hampton, NH will merge operations and ownership with 38-year-old Harpoon Brewery of Boston, MA. The new company more than hinted that they may be looking for more brands to acquire.
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News Jim Koch Announces New Succession Plan for Boston Beer
Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Company has famously said many times that his succession plan was “not to die.” Now is has a backup plan. Although he said he has no plans to retire imminently, he has announced that his longtime wife Cynthia Fisher will inherit his controlling stock in the brewery.
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News Castle Island Brewing Company to Purchase Cambridge Brewing Brand
Cambridge Brewing recently announced that it was closing its doors after 35 years in business, but it now appears that the Cambridge brand will live on. The pioneering brewery has sold its intellectual property to Castle Island Brewing Company in nearby Boston.
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News SPB Hospitality Sells Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch Locations
SPB Hospitality has sold Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, ChopHouse & Brewery, Ragtime Tavern and Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery to Kelly Companies of Southern California. The transaction of this sale includes 16 restaurants, with flagship and airport locations included.
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News Retirement Triggers Closure of a Pioneer Brewery and Merger of Coronado Breweries
Chris and Judi Wright, founders of Pikes Peak, are retiring from brewing and have sold their 13-year-old business to Goat Patch in Colorado Springs. The acquisition will allow Goat Patch, which operates a 3,000-bbl capacity brewery, to increase their capacity significantly with the addition of the Pikes Peak 10,000-bbl production facility in Monument, just about 20 miles north Colorado Springs.
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News ABInBev to Shutdown Elysian Brewery in Seattle
Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced that they will close the Elysian Brewing Company Georgetown brewery in Seattle, WA. The brewery employs about 90 people and is the largest brewery in Washington state. It is yet another sign that global brewers have a waning interest in the craft beer category.
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News Molson Coors to Close Historic Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls
Molson Coors has said it will close both its historic Leinenkugel’s Brewery in Chippewa Falls and Leinenkugel’s 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee early next year. The Chippewa Falls brewery has been in operation for 157 years.
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News New Glarus to Build New $55M Brewing and Distilling Facility
It’s not all doom and gloom. Even in an industry with declining sales and waning consumer interest, there are those who thrive. New Glarus Brewing Co. has announced that it will build a $55 million, 65,000 -square-foot brewing, distilling and hospitality addition to their existing brewery.
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News Tilray Price for Molson Coors Craft Brands: $120 a Barrel
When Tilray announced the purchase of four craft breweries from Molson Coors a few months ago, no financial terms were released. It has now been announced that the company, originally founded in Canada in 2014 as a cannabis and pharmaceutical company, paid a stunningly low $23 million, or $120 per barrel of annual sales.
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News Craft ‘Ohana Forms Strategic Partnership with Wings & Arrow to Assume Management of Modern Times Beer
Craft ‘Ohana, the parent company of Modern Times Beer, has announced that it will turn over day-to-day operations to Wings & Arrow. The company has said that the move was made to enable Craft ‘Ohana to focus on its core brand Maui Brewing Company.
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News Best Day Brewing Secures $22.5M in Funding for 2024
Best Day Brewing, another rapid growth non-alcoholic beer company, has announced $22.5M in total funding raised in 2024 from new partners and existing investors. The investment will expand product pipeline and further scale distribution nationwide.
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News Brewers Heavily Impacted by Hurricane Helene – Relief Efforts Under Way
It’s been seven days since the remnants of Hurricane Helene brought massive flooding to Western North Carolina, including the brewery-centric town of Ashville, and as the waters recede, word on damage to the many local breweries in the town are slowly coming out.
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News Wiper and True Wins ‘Brewery of the Year’ Award at Brewers Choice Awards in UK
When in the UK, you may want to add the town of Bristol to your itinerary. The 3 hour drive from London will take you to Wiper and True Brewery and Taproom, the recipient of the ‘Brewery of the Year’ at the recent Brewers Choice Awards in London.
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News FX Matt Continues to Diversify – Picks Up Ohza RTD’s
F.X. Matt Brewing Company, the Utica, New York family-owned brewery has continued its path of diversification by acquiring the RTD brand Ohza. Earlier this year the company purchased Merican Mule, an RTD cocktail company known for its Moscow Mule cocktails.
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News Anderson Valley Brewing Up for Sale at $7.9 Million
Pioneering California craft brewery Anderson Valley Brewing Co. has been listed for sale. The Mendocino County brewery, founded 37 years ago, is listed at $7.9 million which includes the 47,600 square foot production facility and the 29-acre parcel of land the brewery sits on.
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News Maui Brewing to Shutdown Modern Times in San Diego and Contract at AleSmith
Maui Brewing Company has announced that they will shutter the Modern Times brewery in San Diego which they acquired two years ago and move all production to neighboring AleSmith Brewing under a contract basis.
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News Tilray Lays Off Innovation Brewing Team at 10 Barrel
One year after purchasing 10 Barrel Brewing from Anheuser-Busch, reports have surfaced that Tilray Brands has laid off the entire innovation brewing team and positions in administration and sales. The move comes a few days after the announced resignation of 10 Barrel founders Chris and Jeremy Cox.
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