Category Archives: Craft Brewing News

Ownership-related news in the craft brewing world

The outsize (emotional) impact of New Belgium going Crafty

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New Belgium Brewing Logo

Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing recently announced that it has been purchased by Lion Little World Beverages, which is the U.S. branch of the Japanese alcohol giant Kirin.  Kirin owns over a hundred beer brands worldwide, primarily in Asia and Australia.  They also own a 25% stake in Brooklyn Brewery.  They are decidedly Corporate.  The 100% stake Kirin is acquiring means that New Belgium loses its Craft status.  Indeed, it will be required to removed the Independent Craft Brewers seal from its labels.

For fans of independent craft beer, this might be the most painful Crafty buyout yet. Feels real bad. This sale went public just before Thanksgiving, but it has taken me awhile to get my head around the implications.

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Ballast Point comes back to Craft

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Travel with me if you will back to the heady days of 2015.  Game of Thrones and Modern Family ruled the airwaves.  Ballast Point was at the height of its popularity.  Their wildly popular Sculpin IPA was available almost everywhere.  Caught in the twin mid-decade beer waves of explosive growth and selling out to Corporate Beer, Ballast Point was purchased by Crafty brand aggregator Constellation Brands for an unfuckingbelievable $1,000,000,000.00.  That’s “billion” with a “b.”

Enter Kings & Convicts, an privately owned craft brewery in the North Shore of Chicago that last year brewed less than 2000 barrels of beer.  They have purchased Ballast Point (minus their new production facility).  Financial terms were not disclosed, but it’s a private sale, financed by friends, family, and bank loans, so it’s pretty clear that they paid a bit less than a billion dollars. Continue reading →

Dogfish Head sells to Boston Beer Company

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Like many fans of craft beer, Dogfish Head was the gateway drug that got me hooked on small, independent brewing. 60 Minute IPA was one of my first infatuations as a lover of craft beer. I had a downright love affair with 90 Minute. For many years, DFH was synonymous with craft beer. They were the guys pushing the envelope, changing what was possible in brewing.

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Pete Coors Versus the Craft Beer Industry

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Pete Coors takes on Craft BeerA recent public back-and-forth between Pete Coors of Molson Coors and Nikos Ridge of Ninkasi Brewing sheds some light on the state of the brewing industry today.

Coors took a shot at the Craft beer world in open letter to the Brewing Association.  Read the entire letter here.  TLDR:

 All small brewers want to grow to become big, and all big brewers were once small.  Lots of distributers of craft beer won’t distribute Corporate beer, and this is unfair.  Calling some breweries craft and others not-craft is insulting to Corporate brewers and damages the industry as a whole. Turning the beer world against itself hurts the whole industry when we should be working together to stave off competition from wine, booze, and pot.

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“Independent” bottle label introduced

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Today the Brewer’s Association announced that they will be launching a new bottle label to help consumers identify truly Craft beer.  The label will be free to use, and will be licensed only to breweries that meet the BA’s definition of a craft brewery.

This could be a game-changer.  Best-case scenario, this labeling campaign makes this website obsolete.

Read more details in the BA’s announcement.  Even more details are in their press release.