Show notes
Craft Brew News 020819
Canada’s Collective Arts Brewing to Enter Cannabis Market
Canada’s Collective Arts Brewing is venturing into the cannabis sector.
The Hamilton, Ontario-based craft brewery, located about 50 miles from the New York border, has established a sister company called Collective Project Limited that will develop and sell cannabis-infused beverages.
In a conversation with Brewbound, CEO and co-founder Matt Johnston said the new line of THC- and CBD-infused beverages would be “artisanal” in nature, and could include non-alcoholic beer, as well as cold brew coffee or tea.
The company is also planning to make a multi-million dollar investment on dealcoholization equipment, which will be used to produce non-alcoholic beer infused with THC and CBD, Johnston said.
Collective Arts joins a growing list of beer manufacturers that have already invested in the cannabis space. Large beer companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev (Tilray), Constellation Brands (Canopy Growth) and Molson Coors (Hexo) have each struck partnerships with Canadian cannabis companies. Other U.S. beer manufacturers, including Flying Dog, and Heineken-owned Lagunitas have experimented or explored the possibility of THC- and CBD-infused beverages. Craft Brew Alliance is also eying the sector.
Bell’s Brewery to Cease Beer Shipments to Virginia
Virginia may be for lovers, but it won’t be a place where drinkers can purchase Bell’s beer for much longer.
Bell’s Brewery founder Larry Bell notified the company’s seven Virginia wholesalers on Friday that the Michigan craft brewery would cease shipments to the state after filling final orders.
Bell told Brewbound. “We are not taking any new orders from them at this point,”
“Those were difficult calls to make,” he added. “It feels like the government shutdown. Here’s people that aren’t getting a paycheck because of somebody else’s dispute. But the fact of the matter is, with Virginia law, that if we stay in the market, we could be exposing ourselves to legal risk that could be financially devastating.”
Bell declined to explain further, citing ongoing legal proceedings before the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC). However, at the center of his company’s retraction from the state is a dispute over the attempted sale of Bell’s distribution rights to a subsidiary of the Reyes Beverage Group.
Bell added that his company’s overall shipments grew 2.7 percent in 2018, driven by distribution expansion and organic growth in the company’s home markets. In 2017, Bell’s ranked as the seventh largest craft brewery in the U.S., producing about 463,808 barrels of beer, according to trade group the Brewers Association.
Massachusetts Breweries Strike Strategic Partnership
Massachusetts’ Mercury Brewing and Newburyport Brewing today announced a strategic partnership that will give the latter company access to brewing capacity, via a contract arrangement, as well as various sales, marketing, and administrative resources.
Speaking to Brewbound, Rob Martin, owner of Mercury Brewing, which produces beers under the Ipswich Ale Brewery label, confirmed that his company had not taken an ownership stake in Newburyport.
Instead, Newburyport worked out an agreement with Mercury Brewing that includes payment for brewing, as well as sales, marketing and administrative services.
In the process of partnering up, Newburyport will close its existing production facility as it prepares to downsize brewing operations and open a “destination brewery” outfitted with a small-batch, 7-barrel system.
Newburyport currently operates on a 20-barrel brewing system and supplements its in-house production with beer brewed under contract at Isle Brewers Guild in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Mercury Brewing currently makes beer for about 20 different companies, Martin said, and its facility has the capacity to produce as much as 45,000 barrels annually.
The addition of Newburyport’s contract business will take Mercury to roughly 90 percent capacity utilization, Martin said.
ZX Ventures Fully Acquires RateBeer
ZX Ventures, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s venture capital arm, has acquired the remaining portion of beer ratings website RateBeer.com that it did not already own.
ZX Venture’s full purchase of RateBeer comes after an initial investment was made in October 2016 and disclosed eight months ago.
According to a ZX Ventures spokesperson, RateBeer will continue to “operate as an independent entity,” and its “rating system will remain unchanged.”
In a statement, ZX Ventures said its acquisition of RateBeer will lead to the expansion of the brand into “new areas,” such as “an affiliate marketplace pilot program in Australia” and further upgrades to the platform’s user experience.
The initial round of investment led to backlash from RateBeer users as well as well-known craft brewers such as Dogfish Head and Karl Strauss, among others, who questioned the unbiased nature of the site and asked for their ratings to be removed..
News of the investment also comes a week after RateBeer announced its annual list of the “Top 100 Brewers,” which was topped by Vermont’s Hill Farmstead.
The rest of the top 10, in descending order, included Russian River Brewing, Trillium Brewing Company, Cigar City, Tree House Brewing, AleSmith, Toppling Goliath, Three Floyds, New Glarus and Side Project.
Subscribe to Craft Beer Storm Podcast iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/craft-beer-storm/id1438117278?mt=2
Michael Potorti is the Host of Craft Beer Storm and Founder/Brewer at Beara Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH
Michael Potorti
Founder/Brewer
Host of "Craft Beer Storm" Podcast
michael@craftbeerstorm.com
michael@bearairishbrew.com
*** Come visit our brewery for some delicious local craft brew! ***
Beara Brewing Co.
2800 Lafayette Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Tel. (857) 342-3272
www.bearairishbrew.com
Like us on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bearairishbrew/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BearaIrishBrewingCo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BearaIrishBrew
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beara-brewing-co-30776075/
**LISTEN to our Craft Beer Storm Podcast and share with a friend**
Craft Beer Storm Podcast iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/craft-beer-storm/id1438117278?mt=2
Craft Beer Storm You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp3PVuCGmywNWlGFh0N0ukg?view_as=subscriber
Craft Beer Storm Podcast Radio Public:
https://radiopublic.com/craft-beer-storm-WdbK0L
Craft Beer Storm Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/craftbeerstorm/
Craft Beer Storm Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/craftbeerstorm/
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
