The Brewers Association has their official end-of-2024 report out, and along with it their list of the largest US breweries. One thing you can’t help but notice: it’s a lot easier to survive as a larger brewery with a little help from your friends.
Read MoreRemember that brown-label, gray-market “Corona Mega” I discovered at a Mexican restaurant in Tillamook, Oregon a year ago? Lawyers have gotten involved. (Plus a brief, unrelated comment on the tariffs.)
Read MoreA couple weeks ago, we learned that Portland’s Breakside would be buying a winery and opening two new taprooms, increasing their growing empire to eight locations. But it was their new membership, the Breakside Collective, that caught my eye.
Read MoreHow well is alcohol doing? Well, not great, but you knew that. Two new reports take a granular look at the nature of that “not great” and reveal some interesting findings.
Read MoreLet’s say the cost of aluminum cans rises to the equivalent of five cents a pint. Does the brewer simply raise prices five cents a pint and pass this cost along? Brewer and onetime economist Van Havig has the answer.
Read MoreOn Saturday, President Trump authorized 25% tariffs on our neighbors and close allies Mexico and Canada. This was just one move in a hurricane of activity that has destabilized the US economy and federal government.
Read MoreMolson Coors recently purchased a small Chicago brewpub called Cruz Blanca. This is a little counter-intuitive, since they have been getting out of the craft beer market. But to understand the move, look at a (domestic) Spanish lager killing it in Britain.
Read MoreYesterday, Fintech and the National Beer Wholesalers Association presented numbers of beer’s sales performance for 2024 to date, and things were actually not terrible. Here is an overview, along with the key findings.
Read MoreTwo recent news items point to a phenomenon that will reshape the beer industry over the next decade. Call it the reset, when the perceived value of breweries comes in line with their actual sales.
Read MoreTilray may not be the cuddly, half-baked owner 10 Barrel thought it was getting when the cannabis firm took ownership from Anheuser-Busch last year. Today we learned Tilray had fired 10 Barrel's entire, award-winning innovation brewing team.
Read MoreDouglas Lager got a soft launch last fall, but an unexpected shortage of draft Rainier in Seattle offered a rare opportunity to expand this spring. I check in with this new project to create a domestic lager in the long lineage of the Northwest’s old breweries.
Read MoreOn Tuesday, Michael Kiser issued an unexpected announcement about the site he founded fifteen years ago: Good Beer Hunting was ending its run. The next day, the Brewers Association announced that Bob Pease was stepping down as CEO after ten years in the job. Some thoughts about these big transitions.
Read MoreHow many tanks are sitting empty in the brewing industry? Excess capacity is one way to assess the health of a market, and looking at figures from the Brewers Association, things don’t look good.
Read MoreChobani owner Hamdi Ulukaya has purchased Anchor Brewing, including the building, brewhouse, and brand. Who is Ulukaya and why did he buy the brewery?
Read MoreEach April, the Brewers Association releases an important package of data, headlined by a list of largest US breweries. This year’s numbers were a mixed bag, and revealed a lot about the state of the industry.
Read MoreWe can all agree on what a beer currently costs. In Portland, a pint will set you back $7. Before Covid it was $6, and not long before that five. So is $7 expensive? It depends
Read MoreLast week, London’s Meantime Brewery was in the news. Its fortunes are bound up with Fuller’s and Dark Star—by coincidence three breweries I toured 13 years ago. Show did they get here?
Read MoreOur friends at AB InBev have offered us a new beer promising a “fathomless palate squeeze.” Wait, what? And Juice Dust? That does not sound appetizing. What is going on here?
Read MoreIn which I look at the national beer market and make some interesting discoveries.
Read MoreAbout a year ago, Rogue launched its Dead Guy brand family of new beers. That wasn’t a superficial lunge at a popular strategy, however, but rather the first step on a multi-year plan for reinvention.
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