American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
We blame the industry for this… It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates – things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed.
So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourselves.
BrewDog Has an Epic Year (Scotland) – UK brewing renegades, James Watt and Martin Dickie, the founders of Scotland-based BrewDog are toasting a mind-blowing 69% rise in profits last year! “Maybe they’ll buy Anheuser-Busch InBev” remarked Tom Bobak, Editor-In-Chief at American Craft Beer LLC. “There’s a paradigm shift towards craft beer taking place in the UK, and these guys are riding it.”
A Technical Knock Out By Yuengling? (Boulder, CO) – Pennsylvania-based DG Yuengling and Son came out of nowhere and knocked Sam Adams out of the #1 position in the Top Breweries of 2014 rankings chart released by last week. But it’s only a technical knockout because of a rule change that now allows smaller breweries using adjunct ingredients like rice or corn in their beers to be included in the rankings. Narragansett Beer also debuted on the list because of the change.
Anheuser-Busch InBev Staffing Up in NYC (New York, NY) – Anheuser-Busch is staffing up in New York City and is currently in the hunt “to fill around 50 positions in its new marketing and sales office.” Crain’s is reporting that “while AB InBev will keep its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, the U.S. “commercial strategy” office in New York is meant to provide it exposure to urban trends.”
Shocker! Arizona Legislators Do the Right Thing (Phoenix, AZ) – Governor Doug Ducey signed into law a new bill that raises the production cap for craft brewers, allowing them to 
generate more than 200,000 barrels of beer per year. SB 1030 will also allow them operate up to seven retail shops under a microbrewer license.
Expect Molson Coors to Begin Acquiring Craft Breweries (Denver, CO) – Mark Hunter is the new CEO for Molson Coors (now a part of SABMiller) has his hands full. Not only has he been tasked with shoring up his core brands (Coors Light, Miller Lite and Molson Canadian) – he needs to address all the consumers that his company is losing to American craft beer – and he might be taking his lead from AB InBev’s recent buying spree. In a conversation with the Denver Post, Hunter stressed that Molson Coors is looking to craft beer acquisitions in 2015 and we expect that he’ll find some.
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