A trio of notable global deals were announced in the last week, spanning from Australia to UK and Peru.

Asahi’s acquisition spree continues overseas, this time buying a smaller craft co in Australia, Green Beacon Brewing, reported Financial Review. Recall, just one mo ago Asahi bought ABI’s Australian biz unit CUB for a cool $11 bil (which included craft cos 4 Pines and Pirate Life initially acquired by ABI). Notably, Asahi was mostly dinged for the deal as stock took tuff hit and analysts downgraded co for taking on too much debt (see Jul 22 issue of sibling pub INSIGHTS Express). That hasn’t deterred Asahi from buying more, it seems. Tho CUB had already reportedly “made overtures to Green Beacon months earlier prior to itself being bought out by Asahi,” paper noted.

Then too, ABI Zx Ventures unit acquired Peruvian craft brewer, Barbarian, reported local paper Semana Económica. This marks Zx Ventures’ 3rd craft brewer acquisition in South/Central America regions and 12th craft acquisition overall (tho two Australian cos were part of deal with Asahi for CUB – see above – and co also recently sold its stake in Northern Brewer homebrewing supplies). All in, Zx made 60 investments total since it was created, shared Liz Tomic, global director of explore fund unit, on recent Liquid Assets podcast. Nearly half of investments are in technology areas of the biz such as e-commerce platforms, Zx portfolio shows. There are currently 1500 people working within Zx Ventures unit alone, Liz added.

Lastly, big deal went down in UK, as Hong Kong billionaire Victor Li’s investment firm CK Asset Holdings acquired “UK’s biggest listed pubs and brewery group,” Greene King, Financial Times reported among several others. CK Asset Holdings first became a strategic investor in the pub chain in Dec 2016, and now agreed to buy Greene King for £850/share, “valuing it at £4.6 bil including net debt.” Notably, “the fall in the value of the pound in recent weeks” as part of constant Brexit speculation has “encouraged foreign investors to ‘look at UK assets as they are cheaper,’” a person close to CK Asset Holdings told paper. “Such a huge move from an international player is certainly encouraging,” seemingly suggesting that “regardless of the outcome [of Brexit], investors believe that the UK will still be open for business after the deadline,” added Nick Burchett, a fund manager for separate firm/shareholder in Greene King. Tho Greene King shares had plummeted 40% since Brexit vote in 2016, FT added.

Touting “new ownership, a new look, new food, and of course, new beer,” PHX Beer Co is new concept taking over pair of locations previously operated as Phoenix Ale Brewery. Co’s downtown brewery/taproom and uptown restaurant both shifting to PHX Beer branding, according to release. Phoenix Ale Brewery opened in 2011 by Pyramid (originally Hart Brewing) founder George Hancock and one of his longtime salespeople Greg Fretz. Both have since passed away. Co brought on leader of local NYPD Pizza chain Rich Stark to handle food ops at taproom the next yr and then opened standalone “Central Kitchen” restaurant in 2016. Rich will still run food for new PHX concept. But co brought on Adam Wojcik, who spent 7 yrs at Lagunitas including most recently on natl sales team, to run brewery. PHX Beer also has 3rd location planned for the area, its website indicates.

Just outside Murfreesboro, TN, the young brewing co known as Life is Brewing opened an expansive, 83-acre complex including brewery outfitted with 60-bbl brewhouse known as Hop Springs Beer Park early this yr. Starting Sep 1, it’ll bring operations for all 3 of its beer brand families to that brewery when it moves sour beer production for one of them, Mantra Artisan Ales, away from its original 15-bbl brewery and taproom in nearby Franklin, according to the Rutherford Source. That location will then become 3rd taproom and 2nd brewery for Nolensville-based Mill Creek Brewing.

Formation of Life is Brewing’s brands and establishment of Hop Springs complex itself a fascinating story that’s grown organically in Middle Tennessee over last few yrs, pieced together from Rutherford Source, co’s websites and extensive profile of plans for Hop Springs in TN Craft Beer Mag from a couple yrs back. Mantra was the co’s 1st brand to launch, back in 2015, initially a “side project” of head brewer at local brewpub Cool Springs Brewing, Derrick Morse, per the Source. To start Mantra, he linked up with notable local chef Maneet Chauhan and her husband Vivek Deora, who operate 3 Nashville restaurants. (And you may recognize Maneet as a regular judge on Food Network shows like “Chopped.”) In 2017, local entrepreneur and ag-focused leader Mark Jones came on as CEO of newly-formed Life is Brewing, with Mark, Derrick, Maneet and Vivek as founding partners. That yr, the co also launched Steel Barrel Brewing brand, focused on “clean and true-to-style beers,” as co described them, leaving more experimental, culinary-inspired and sour styles to Mantra. More recently, LIB launched its 3rd brand, Humulus Project, focused on IPAs, natch.

Plans for the huge Hop Springs Beer Park project also emerged in 2017. It opened this yr on large property outside of Murfreesboro. Co believes it could eventually brew over 125K bbls at new production facility. Besides brewery and taproom, property also includes plenty of outside space for roaming, walking trail, stage set up for music performances and 18-hole disc golf course. Dog park, restaurant, greenhouses and other agriculture, on-site cabins, separate event center, tv/film studio space, lake and running track planned. Site also houses lab for Middle Tennessee State University Fermentation Sciences program and partnership with school will help build out agriculture on land, including acreage devoted to hop and grain research plus vegetable and honey cultivation. Also led to plans to serve LIB beers at MTSU football games in coming new beer garden at the school’s stadium.

Outfitted with small brewhouse, 12 taps and room enough for just over 50 patrons, The Hull will open in Brooklyn, NY’s Dumbo neighborhood (close-in to Lower Manhattan) in Oct, Brooklyn Paper reported. And tho site connected The Hull project with Long Island-based Blue Point, it didn’t tie project to Blue Point parent co AB. “Pint-sized basement space,” as it describes, will serve mostly seafood from upstairs restaurant Seamore’s (one of a handful of that outfit’s locations around NYC). Also includes small stage for musical acts, “live podcast recordings” and more.

Green Flash/Alpine is lookin’ to relaunch brands in new mkts for first time since co retrenched from natl distribution to just 8 states after filing for bankruptcy and restructuring under new equity group WC IPA LLC. Green Flash/Alpine partnered with Atlantic Bev Distributors for both MA and RI starting Sep 9, sparking plans to relaunch “focused and limited distribution” into various eastern mkts, co announced. Green Flash and Alpine launches will be limited to a few brands each, including Green Flash West Coast IPA and new Tropical DNA hazy IPA, Alpine Duet, Nelson and HFS, available in 6pk 12oz cans and draft. “This is our first return to the East Coast since the brand’s departure almost two years ago and signals a renewed focus on deliberate growth within the company,” stated VP of sales Bracken Todd. “We are evaluating a few additional expansion opportunities where our brands previously resonated well with consumers,” Bracken told CBN separately. “Reintroduction in some of those markets could happen as early as the 4th quarter of this year, but nothing is finalized at this time.” Recall, Green Flash/Alpine volume slashed essentially in half to 33K bbls last year. Yet co plans to grow 20% to just under 40K bbls in 2019, lookin’ to communicate “we’re still here,” CEO Michael Taylor told CBN earlier this yr (see Feb 12 issue).

Another change in key personnel at Lagunitas further marks the end of an era for co. Lagunitas’ longtime head of sales, Greg Meredith, is no longer with the company, co confirmed with CBN. Greg has moved onto volunteer project with Hospice full time. Tom McReavy, who initially joined co in May 2017 according to LinkedIn, has officially taken over role as head of sales. Notably, Tom previously worked for 13 yrs at Activision, overlapping with Lagunitas CEO Maria Stipp’s tenure there. So Maria brought in a familiar face to help usher Lagunitas into next phase.

While Lagunitas continues to be run separately from Heineken USA in US since its deal with global Heineken, this is a very different lookin’ company nowadays. On top of Greg leaving, founder Tony Magee and “Beer Weasel” Ron Lindenbusch are no longer actively involved. That trio was front and center thruout Lagunitas’ existence until more recently. Co also recently hired new CMO Kelly Murnaghan to replace Noelle Haley (see Jul 12 issue). And above all, Lagunitas sales trajectory has changed, levelling off following its remarkable growth run that catapulted co among top craft brewers.

In this next phase, Lagunitas keeps ramping up innovation with new brands, line-extending Little Sumpin’ into trendy styles, leaning further into cans, and even going beyond beer with infused cannabis bev HiFi Hops and non-infused, non-alc hoppy seltzer. Lagunitas beer sales remain +1% YTD thru Aug 11 in IRI MULC data.

Summer may have started out slow for craft in off-premise scans, but as July turned to August most top craft players saw trends improve. Craft $$ up 3.1% for 4 wks thru Aug 11 in IRI multi-outlet + convenience data, just a tenth of a pt better than yr-to-date trend. Segment volume +2.7% tho, almost a full pt better than YTD and about twice the segment’s 52-wk volume gain. Hard seltzers continue to drive beer industry conversations and trends, helping push total beer $$ growth into high single-digits for 4 wks, with FMBs up north of 60% in grocery channel. So craft lost 0.1 share of beer $$ to 11.6 YTD in MULC and -0.3 share to 21.6 in food stores.

Sam, Sierra, NBB, Lagunitas and More All Improving Most of the biggest players in off-premise craft scans gotta be cheering recent trends. Among 14 top craft suppliers in IRI scans, all but 5 had better 4-wk trends than YTD. That doesn’t include a couple of fast growers that slowed recently but still growing (read on). Also doesn’t include Boston Beer, driven by its Truly seltzer line these days. But some Sam Adams trends also notably improving. In fact, Sam Seasonal up double digits, +15% for 4 wks. Co also cut Boston Lager decline to -4-5% for 4 wks. But Sam 76 ain’t cycling, off by 20+%. Tho Sierra Pale still soft, down mid-high single-digits, total Sierra biz now +9% by both $$ and volume for 4 wks. Hazy Little Thing more than doubling and Sierra Seasonal returned to modest low single-digit growth for 4 wks, vs big drops for 52 wks. New Belgium still bouncin’ back from tough yr in 2018. Its total $$ sales +9.7% for 4 wks in IRI MULC, over 1 pt better than YTD and 4 pts better than 52 wks.

Lagunitas also improving a touch, up around 2% by $$ and volume for 4 wks. Both flagship IPA and Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ returned to low single-digit growth for 4 wks thru 8/11. CANarchy brands accelerating, up by well over 30% latest period, almost 10 pts better than 52-wk trends. Cigar City Jai Alai “slowing,” still up 33-35% for 4 wks. Bell’s now up 8.7% by $$ last 4 wks, vs 6% gains YTD and for 52 wks. That’s despite flagship Two Hearted slippin’ negative recently, suggesting newer brands comin’ on strong. In similar boat, SweetWater $$ +6% for 4 wks, vs +3.5% for 52 wks, with 420 Pale down steeply. Artisanal Brewing Ventures collectively up 19-20% last 4 wks, a bit of an acceleration vs longer term trends. Dogfish Head trends holding, $$ up around 5%, volume up near 11% for 4 wks, similar to longer-term.

Firestone “Slowed” But Strong; Founders Up Just Low Singles; Gambrinus, Stone, Deschutes Two of most consistent fast growers over last few years among small handful of top craft players that slowed over last 4 wks. But Firestone Walker still up strong double digits, near 20% by both $$ and volume, only a couple pts slower than YTD and 52-wk trends. And 805 isn’t even driving all that growth: lead brand up 10-11% for 4wks. But Founders slowed considerably. Up 3-4% for 4 wks, vs 12-13% gain YTD and 16-17% gain for 52 wks. All Day up about 4%, over 10 pts slower than its 52-wk trend. And finally, a handful of players down more steeply recently than longer term. Gambrinus having a tough summer, $$ -7% for 4 wks, vs 5% drop for 52 wks. Stone even tougher, down double digits for 4 wks with lead IPA off mid-teens. Deschutes a bit of a mixed bag, with $$ -1.4% for 4 wks, vs -0.3% YTD and -3.1% for 52 wks. Like for Stone, its top brand Fresh Squeezed IPA down mid-teens recently and gains of other new intros not making up for it.

AB & MC Acquired Still Gaining Traction in Scans, Offset by Shock Top, Blue Moon/Leinie Top 2 US brewers continue to expand their presence in craft off-premise scan biz. AB acquired craft brands (not including just-bought Platform) collectively up 22.5% by $$ for 4 wks. And volume gains even faster, +29% together. As we’ve written in past, that’s at least in part due to expansion of larger pack sizes and lower avg prices. In fact, avg price per case declining for every AB acquired craft brand for all time periods. Avg prices for Breckenridge and Golden Road cases down $4.50-5.00 and both brands basically doubling volume YTD. That said, Karbach and Four Peaks both up 20+% YTD with pricing basically flat. Biggest AB acquired craft brands in scans remain Elysian by $$ (also up by over 20% so far this yr, but a bit slower latest 4 wks) and Goose Island by volume (down low-to-mid singles for 4 wks and YTD). But Shock Top down 25% YTD and more like 30% for 4 wks, cutting gains from acquired brands essentially in half. On MillerCoors side, Revolver only up slightly YTD but up double digits for 4 wks; Hop Valley $$ up mid-teens YTD, 10% for 4 wks; Terrapin up 19-20% YTD and slightly slower for 4 wks; and Saint Archer speeding up behind Gold launch, +24% YTD and 34% for 4 wks. But Blue Moon’s single-digit declines and Leinie’s double-digit declines offset all of that growth.

Another few breweries are lookin’ to exit for various reasons.

Sound Brewery in Debt, Faces Lawsuit WA’s Sound Brewery closed its restaurant and tasting room over the weekend, noting that “these last two weeks could be your last chance to get Sound beer” as well, Kitsap Sun reported following WA Beer Blog post earlier this mo (see Aug 14 issue). “The brewery’s fate remains unclear at this point but will likely be closing at the end of the month also.” Turns out a lawsuit was filed by Liberty Bay Bank last week against owners Mark Hood and Alan Moum for defaulting on loans, paper added. Both the bank and another group, Northwest Business Development Assn, made claims on Sound Brewery’s collateral, including brewery equipment.

The Rent is Too High? Also in WA, LoveCraft Brewery was sold to a local investment group, reported Kitsap Sun. LoveCraft opened in 2015 with help from a Kickstarter campaign that raised $30K. But co-founders, Tasha and Jesse Wilson, "explored selling the brewery about a year ago, during the final year of their lease,” lookin’ for someone to “continue and expand the LoveCraft brand,” paper noted. Separately, in Oakland, CA, the brew-on-premises pub,Diving Dog Brewhouse closed after 5 yrs in biz, reported Eater SF. “The bottom line is expenses vastly outpaced income,” owners posted.

Owners of CB’s Craft Brewers Retiring; No Plans to Sell Co or Equipment And in upstate NY, CB’s Craft Brewers, is closing Sep 1 as owners plan to retire, reported Syracuse.com among others. CB’s is one of the older craft brewers in the area, operating since 1997, sporting “an unusual business model” thruout. Initially, co “primarily” brewed private label “house” beers for various bars and restaurants in the area. It also began contract brewing for other start-up breweries, including Three Heads in Rochester and Stoneyard in Brockport, before those cos opened up their own facilities. And “eventually” CB’s began making its own beer under its own name. Owners/founders Mike and Luanne Alcorn do not plan to sell their biz, and the future of its brewery and equipment are still “uncertain,” paper added.

After briefly striking gold with Not Your Father’s Root Beer, Small Town Brewery founder/brewmaster Tim Kovac and one of the co’s “chief partners” plan to rename and relocate its biz, reported Daily Herald. New co is called spirit Water, expected to open its new taproom in Cary, IL late Sep featuring “Iconic” beer brand name as well as “spirit Water” spirits line. New location has more space than its brewery in Wauconda industrial park, with capacity for 160 customers vs 60 previously. Co received its distilling license last yr and plans to have 16 beers, 8 hard liquors and 2 sparkling wines available. “Now we’re talking to distributors and are getting them into stores,” partner Jagdish Chevli said of co’s spirits products. Recall, Small Town licensed out brand rights and recipe of Not Your Father’s Root Beer to Pabst. “We sold that, and that’s the end of that,” said Jagdish. Yet spirit Water will continue to make and sell alcoholic root beer, lemon-lime soda, strawberry rhubarb, and iced tea brands under new “Iconic” name, according to its website.

Cannabiniers, maker of Two Roots THC-infused non-alc beers, is officially makin’ broader pushes into flock of additional sectors including non-infused beers (both alcoholic and non-alc), infused teas and sparkling waters while still eyeing CBD (as our sibling pub Beverage Business Insights first reported earlier today). And while talks with unidentified top-10 craft brewer have sputtered out, another craft-brewer acquisition in Great Lakes region is due to be announced in next week or two, following previous acquisitions of Helm in CA and Dad & Dudes in CO.

Recall, parent co Lighthouse Strategies CEO Michael Hayford cited 2 letters of intent on brewer acquisitions as well as the talks with bigger craft brewer when he spoke in mid-Jun at cannabis conference sponsored by BevNet (see Jun 19 issue). Such deals offer way for Cannabiniers and its parent Lighthouse to comply with current regs that require THC purveyors to have manufacturing footprint in states in which they sell without having to outfit their own plants.

NA Beer Line Launching in CA Thru BevMo; Alc Beers Slated for Expansion in Coming Mos On new product front, bigger move is non-infused NA beer line, breaking in 2-3 weeks in all 145 stores operated by BevMo in Calif, in 5 styles. While non-infused alc beers would have needed to traverse extended approval period in crowded segment, the NA beers were greenlighted within a few business days of Lighthouse sending a mixed 6-pack to BevMo, which placed 700-case initial order, Michael Hayford told BBI. The lower-calorie line is fortified with vitamin B12 and electrolytes, making it comparable to flock of new sports-oriented beers like indie Athletic Beer and Boston Beer’s marathon-themed 26.2. The lineup includes core lager, IPA and wheat entries plus seasonal Mango Dango and Straight Drink, the latter obtaining a cannabis-like flavor matching that of its THC counterpart via use of natural terpenes. (That’s move we’re seeing elsewhere too – say, at recent Oregon Brewers Fest, where Coalition Brewing replicated cannabis flavors in non-infused beer called Color Me Kush.)

Two Roots already sold non-infused non-alc versions of beer at its dispensaries and its owned brewery & taproom (see Jul 16 issue). And Two Roots also offers non-infused alcoholic beers in venues like Las Vegas Lights soccer games where the THC entries can’t be sold. In conversation yesterday, Hayford cited flock of reasons to move ahead with the non-infused NA beer, from surging demand among retailers to cash flow to continue brand building for Two Roots, just as non-infused alcoholic beer has done when sold at Lights games in core Vegas market. Non-infused alc beers also are slated for geographic expansion in coming months.

DSD Up in the Air Tho co must move its non-infused alc beer thru 3d-party distributor in Nev, Cannabiniers is still up in air on DSD in general, with BevMo a direct-ship customer. Inquiries have been coming in from national and regional distributors interested in both the NA beers and non-infused alc beers, and figuring out path forward will be mandate of unidentified bev vet who’s coming aboard in coming weeks to oversee manufacturing, distribution and sales, Michael said. Looking at broader environment, he suggested that volatility in cannabis shares has prompted Lighthouse to take its time bringing in additional growth capital, even as continued pressures in craft brewing mean those assets will continue to be available at affordable prices. So, even tho co in Jun thought it would be further along, there’s been no need to undertake frenzy of deals.

Finally Moving Ahead with Non-Beer THC Items; Still Eyeing CBD Meanwhile, tho co is releasing few details, Cannabiniers finally is moving ahead with first non-beer THC items. Tho a year later than initially anticipated, development of Creative Waters line of sparkling waters has been proceeding and expects to launch in NV within 30 days, Michael shared. Just Society teas moving forward as well, including Black Mango Tea that tested well in spring and got first full production run in early Aug. One area where Cannabiniers has been quiet so far is CBD (aside from acquisition of Dad & Dudes), but Hayford said co has formulated all its products for both THC and CBD and that CBD samples of the teas and waters are being produced to gauge interest among c-store retailers, even as greater regulatory clarity is anticipated later this year from FDA and state of Calif. (States like Nev and Ariz allow dispensaries to sell CBD-only items, but Calif currently does not.) Cannabiniers will tailor trade dress to requirements, meaning items could be labeled as CBD- or hemp-based as needed.