Beer, Bars & Brewers #32

Happy (almost) Easter friends! Jesus might have turned water into wine but we’re sipping on our hops. This week we got Samuel Adams founder worrying about the future of American craft beer, but not to worry! Forbes found a way to save it with the Millennial Latino market (all will become clear when reading the articles). BrewDog also sold 22% of its stake to a private equity firm (oh ho, who’s anti establishment now?), and a Toronto-based craft brewery launched a “Fake News Ale”. Fake it might be, but cheer with it you can! Prost!

This might be semi old news, but we’re still excited about it because now we can taste them! Back in February Craft Beer released a list of spring releases it was excited about. Now it’s spring and we’ve decided to take a look (blame it on winter ennui for taking so long). We can’t wait to get our hands on Cape May Brewing Co.’s The Topsail (a sour blonde ale) as well as the 3 Sheeps Brewing Company’s Nitraberry (a blackberry Tart Wheat Ale on nitro that boasts with a low 3.4% ABV). Have a look and tell us what you’ll be drinking this Spring!

Samuel Adams Founder says US Craft Beer Faces Extinction

This news comes from our friends over at Drinks International. “Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch believes that government greenlighting of overseas brewing conglomerates could be the ‘beginning of the end’ for craft beer in the US.” Basically he believes that allowing big beer to buy small craft companies will force small breweries out of business. “Around 90% of American beer production is owned by the two overseas companies. This has increased the price of beer and led to job cuts in the US, while keeping their profits offshore with reduced tax bills.” Time will tell.

How One Community Could Help Solve Two Of Craft Beer’s Biggest Problems

Nielsen’s just released a report that shows “U.S. off-premises dollar sales growth of craft slowed to just 2.9% last year from 14% just one year prior”, so Forbes. As you can surely imagine, craft brewery are freaking the frack out. Forbes points out that in this panic brewers are overlooking a massive market: the Millennial Latino market. “There’s no reason why craft shouldn’t do extraordinarily well with this consumer,” says Gerry Loredo, director of business analytics for Lopez Negrete Communications, a Houston-based Hispanic marketing firm that has compiled stats on this segment of the market. “If craft beer could give them a nod their numbers could blow up.” The article takes an in-depth look at Hispanic identity and how that could lead to “saving” the craft market. It concludes with a quote by Lopez Negrete on how to do just that: “Millennials are the sweet spot for craft drinkers. Latinos are a huge component of that.”

BrewDog Sells 22% stake to Private Equity Firm

Draft Mag reports that the sale sets the Scottish brewery’s value at roughly $1 billion. James Watt announced last week that they’d sold a 22% stake to TSG Consumer Partners, “San Francisco-based private equity firm that also has interests in Pabst Brewing Co. and Sweetwater Brewing Co”. While this is a change from BrewDogs typical anti-establishment anti private equity messaging, it’s certainly good news for all shareholders. “Those who invested in the company’s fourth round of funding last year have seen the value of their shares increase by 177 percent, according to the letter, and shares from the first investment round, which closed in February 2010, are now worth 2,800 percent of their original value, which is about the ROI you’d get from an actual money tree.”

Toronto Craft Brewer Launches Fake News Ale

The Beverage Industry reports that Toronto-based craft brewery Northern Maverick announced its first beer: the Fake News Ale, a sessionable ale is part of a charitable line of bers and should “lend itself to long discussions over world events with friends”, so the company says. “Northern Maverick stands in solidarity with its American neighbors in their time of need for beer, which is why the Canadian company is offering to donate 5 percent of every Fake News Ale can sold, it adds. In the coming weeks, consumers will be invited to nominate and vote for which cause will receive the charitable donation on their website.” Cheers, we guess? At least there’s something good coming out of Trump’s first 100 days of presidency.