10 Barrel on fire in Portland in 2013. It got biggest beer $$ share gain (+0.76), with $$ sales up 198% in Portland IRI foodstores for full yr thru Dec 29. 10 Barrel grabbed 0.76 share to 1.15. For 12 weeks, 10 Barrel still doubling and at 1.59 share of $$. That's nearly as big as New Belgium and Sierra in Portland mkt. Ninkasi was other craft brewer that snagged a hefty chunk of Portland food store share. Up 24% on sizable base; gained 0.56 share for full yr. Got 3 share of $$ in Portland mkt, as big as HUSA, and bigger than Boston Beer.

Biggest share gainer of all in Portland was Boston Beer, but that was all Angry Orchard. Boston Beer up 130%, grabbed 1.54 share in 2013 to 2.76. But Angry Orchard finished up 381.5%, +1.60 share. Boston Beer's Sam Adams family only ¼ of its biz in Portland, down 3%. Pyramid finished yr with solid growth in Portland food stores despite struggles throughout much of country: up 12.6%, gained 0.15 share YTD. Nearby Lagunitas and Elysian gained additional share along with several fast growing Oreg breweries: Lagunitas (+0.17), Elysian (+0.14), Laurelwood (+0.13), Hop Valley (+0.15), Double Mountain (+0.13), Portland Brewing (+0.13), Hopworks Urban Brewery (+0.11), GoodLife Brewing (+0.10), and Oakshire (+.09).

Meanwhile, most top craft cos continue to lag in Portland mkt. CBA finished with flat $$ sales and lost 0.1 share to 7.4. Deschutes $$ down 0.6% and it lost 0.1 share to 6.3. New Belgium down about 3%, Sierra up 1.4%, and Stone down 7%. Three long-time Oreg brewers had tough time: Full Sail flat at 2.1 share, Bridgeport down 13.5%, lost 0.4 share to 2.3, Rogue down 6.6% and at 0.8 share. These cos shed 0.5 share collectively.

So it's getting increasingly difficult for established craft brewers to grow in Portland, as next wave of new brewers keeps on coming on. But they still have it a lot better than major brewers. AB $$ sales down another 6% in Portland foodstores. And it dropped 1.4 share to just 17.2. MC also lost more than 1 full share of $$ to 24.6, with sales down 2.8%.  

Wow! Craft $$ sales up 13% in Portland foodstores in 2013, according to IRI data, even as total beer up 1.4%. So craft gained 4.5 share in its most developed mkt to 43.4 of $$ for a full yr. But what's really crazy is that craft approached half of $$ sales over key Christmas holiday. $$ sales up 17% and gained 4.65 share to 48.5 for 4 weeks thru Dec 29. Premium domestics dropped to 20% of the biz in period and value at 11 share. How high is up?  

At end of another strong year, craft segment $$ up 19.2% YTD thru Dec 29, in IRI multi-outlet + convenience data, gaining another 0.86 share of total beer sales to 6.34. Average craft prices up 2.3%. That's while premium and sub-premium segments shed a combined 2.6 share of $$. IPAs remained front horse for the category, with sales +44% in 2013, contributing almost 35% of craft's growth. IPAs now 18.43 share of craft $$. In craft's most developed channel, foodstores, IPAs over 19 share of craft $$. In all, craft at 13.4 in that channel YTD, up 1.5 share. Craft approached 16 share of beer sales in supers for 4 weeks thru Dec 29.

Stronger Beer Trends and Sizeable Cider Gains Boost Boston Beer 31.6% Category-leader Boston Beer posted $$ sales gain of 31.6% thru Dec 29, adding 0.41 share of total beer to 1.9. Its Seasonals, largest craft brand in these outlets, grew 13.6% by $$, adding over $16 mil to the category. Boston Lager and Variety Packs also up double-digits, +11% and +16.9% respectively. These 3 beer brands pulled in over 50% of Boston's sales thru Dec 29, but only represented about ¼ of its growth. Instead, Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, up 267%, added nearly $60 mil in sales, 43.4% of Boston's growth. At 36% of all cider in this channel, the brand's sales are now larger than Twisted Tea Original (+10.2%), Shiner Bock, Labatt Blue and Fat Tire.

IPAs Lead Growth at Sierra and New Belgium; Seasonals Struggle Flagship Sierra Nevada Pale Ale stayed up 9.8% by $$ YTD thru Dec 29 in IRI multi-outlet + conv data, with 12-pk of cans still growing, +68%. That package is now over 10% of total Pale sales. Sierra's total biz up 11%, helped by sales of Torpedo IPA, +25% same period. That brand over 12 share of craft IPA sales, but down almost 2 share from last yr. And its seasonals struggled, ending the year just flat. Similar story for New Belgium, $$ +9.1% all in, with Fat Tire +4%, Ranger up much faster, +17.6%, but seasonals slower, +2.2%. NBB variety packs up 16.3%. With growth of smaller brands, Fat Tire now just under 50% of NBB's sales in this channel, down from about 52%.

Lagunitas Led Many Double-Digit $$-Growers Big growth story remains Lagunitas, $$ +85.9% thru Dec 29 in IRI multi-outlet + conv. The co gained 1.3 share of craft $$, largest share-gain by far, to 3 share. Just over half of that share gain from 2 brands: IPA, +71.3%, +0.45 share YTD, and Little Sumpin Sumpin, +173%, +0.28 share. What else adding to Lagunitas gain? In foodstores, its seasonals (+63%) are larger than Sumpin Sumpin. Plenty of other craft suppliers grew double digits in IRI's multi-outlet + conv channel thru Dec 29 too: Gambrinus +11.3%; CBA +11.7%; Deschutes +13.4%; Stone +40%; Bells +31.9%; Sweetwater +43.3% and Great Lakes +29.8%.

Top 30 Brands All Over the Map, Collectively Losing Share Lots of double-digit sales trends for top 30 brands in this channel as well, including Shiner Bock +12.5% and Shiner Seasonal +39.8%. Magic Hat #9's +5.4% YTD trend wasn't enough to turn around NAB's overall trend (including non-craft), -8.3%. Long Trail finished yr -3.7% by $$ overall, its Long Trail Ale -16% and Double Bag Ale -17.4% in c-stores, the only channel the brands rank in top 30. Back in multi-outlet + conv, Widmer Hefe was only of top 30 craft brands down in 2013, -5.2%, shedding 0.28 share of craft $$. Goose Island 312, +59.1%, was third largest share-gainer, +0.19 to 0.77, followed by Bells Two Hearted IPA, +81.7%, +0.18 share to 0.525. Collectively, top 30 brands shed over 1.6 share points to just less than half of craft sales in all-outlet data. Top brands still hold onto over 58 share of craft c-store sales, with top 5 brands (Sierra Pale, Sam Adams Seasonal, Shiner Bock, Boston Lager, Fat Tire) still over a third of craft biz. But in foodstores, top 30 brands lost near 2 full share points to 45.  

Adam Romanov, a Boston Southie resident who has immersed himself in the craft beer world, is "hunting for as much as 12,000 square feet of space to open Castle Island Brewing Co, named after one of the neighborhood's most famous landmarks," reported Boston Business Journal. In 2010, Adam "apprenticed with White Birch Brewing in Hooksett, NH," and 2 yrs later, began to "put together a business plan for his own venture, and has begun seeking angel investors who would contribute to the $1.25 million he wants to have on hand to get the business going," noted paper. When Adam initially started business plan in 2011, "there were 30 members of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild. Now there are nearly 50," paper added. Thus far Adam has been "genuinely surprised by how helpful his future rivals have been in showing him the ropes," he told paper, tho other surprise was to "sheer amount of red tape and bureaucracy he would face to open a brewery in Boston."  

Small brewery in Chicago, 4 Paws, announced late last week it reached agreement with undisclosed buyer to sell its facility, including 15-bbl brewhouse. The founders, a Chi-town couple, will retain ownership of the brand. No surprise to find buyer for brewing-ready facility in exploding Chi craft mkt. How many other young owners are considering such moves?  

Forbes' annual list of "30 Under 30 Who Are Changing The World" put Golden Road Brewing co-founder Meg Gill as "standout" Food & Wine exec this morn. Golden Road produced 15K bbls in 2013 with revs over $10 mil, according to Forbes (that's gotta include hefty tasting room revs). Joining Meg on Food & Wine list: a slew of "craft" and sustainability-focused producers, suppliers and retailers including co-owner of Craft Restaurants, the 3 founders of Downeast Cider House, leaders of sustainable sources of compostable tableware, oysters and gefilte fish.  

It's been one mo since Appalachian Mountain Brewery entered letter of intent to acquire publicly traded natural energy co/federally licensed liquor wholesaler, North Carolina Natural Energy, Inc (see CBN vol 4 no 68). Acquisition was completed as of Dec 19 and co is trading over-the-counter under NCNE symbol. Currently co has 13 employees, reported Winston-Salem Journal.

Appalachian has eyes far beyond just craft beer: "Even though we make high-quality, award winning craft beers, we eventually want to become a craft beverage company, with hard ciders, liquors, sodas and restaurants," founder Sean Spiegelman told paper. "There are many ways to go about raising capital. We are choosing not to go to a bank for a big loan or take on debt financing and leverage ourselves. We want to control our path with investors who believe in our strategy, our beers and our way of doing business," he added. Sean "comes across not only as an outside-the-box thinker, but also very savvy in the ways of corporate America, learning from his father, who spent 30 years as an options trader on Wall Street," sez Winston-Salem Journal.

"Since going public, Appalachian's share price has risen as high as $3," from approximately $0.50 when it entered letter of intent. Currently it's trading at $5.00+ just one day after article was written. As previously reported in CBN, primary investor Mike Pruitt, chief executive of Chanticleer Holdings, owns and operates various Hooters franchies, and explained once the brewery expands he would "reach out to the appropriate people" to try to put Appalachian Mountain's beers in Hooters locations. Chanticleer Holdings also owns and operates American Roadside Burgers and Just Fresh restaurants in Charlotte market, noted paper.

"They said they will consider acquiring other breweries where it makes sense in terms of timing, distribution channels and beverage offerings, similar to how Craft Brew Alliance was formed," added paper. "We are very clear about who we are, what we're about, with our business model. We care about profit," sez Sean.  

Ballast Point continued as one of hottest mid-sized craft players. It jumped 41,000 bbls to 88.2 K bbls in 2013, sales and mktg veep Earl Kight told Craft Brew News. That included 60% growth on its home turf, jumping to 400,000 cases with distrib Crest as it "slipped past the 400k ce mark on New Year's Eve," Earl wrote distribs. Means Crest alone about 1/3 of Ballast Point volume. Plan is for Crest to get over half mil cases in San Diego mkt this yr, Earl said. That would be 2+ share of fast-growing SD mkt. "We don't see craft slowing down at all," Earl told CBN.

Indeed, Ballast Point will be betting big in 2014, opening a new facility, hiring a bunch more sales people, expanding into new states, etc. Its Scripps location currently has 100,000 bbls of capacity and new facility is expected to open in Jun or Jul with 50,000 bbls of capacity right outta the gate, according to Earl. If that timetable proves to be correct, Ballast Point expects to have around 125,000 bbls of capacity in 2014 (100K at Scripps, plus half of 50,000 bbls only available in 2d half at new facility). Ballast Point plans to enter about 5 new states in 2014, getting to 30. It had hoped to get to 32 states last yr, but growth was so rapid in 2013 that it didn't have the beer. And so it's only in 25. "California and existing markets drank up a bit of beer and stalled our expansion," wrote Earl. Ballast Point will be adding about a half dozen sales folks in 2014 to its current total of 14 (8 in SoCal alone), sez Earl. And it is planning on reaching a total of around 115,000 bbls.

Ballast Point's robust sales results fueled by Sculpin IPA, which has grown to become fully half of Ballast Point's total volume. But some additional pop from fledgling SoCal chain efforts, where Ballast had 24 loose mixed pack in Costco at $31.99 that it "can't keep in stock," sez Earl and mixed 12 in Vons with similar results. Earl also touted cans as a "hit" with "more styles on the way." Another highlight of 2013: "Picked to be in the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America mixed 12-pack," wrote Earl. "The coolest," he added.

As for 2014, biggest deal is new brewery at 107,000 sq feet with a 150-bbl brewhouse, "high speed canning and bottling." Lots of investments, including "invest like crazy" in quality control, "invest in people" as well as the brewery of course. As for innovation, "we have a couple of rabbits in our hats. Stay tuned."  

Kombucha Wonder Drink finally unveiled fruits of its collaboration with fellow Portland, Ore, co, Tao of Tea, pouring samples of Raw Fermented Tea in India, Japan and Tibet flavors, each incorporating ingredients associated with that country's culinary culture. Delays perhaps were inevitable in collaboration of 2 founders with perfectionist streaks: KWD's Stephen Lee, who earlier in career founded Tazo and other tea brands, and Tao of Tea's Veerinder Chawla, who manufactures his bottled line of unsweetened teas in his own plant in Portland, where this brand also is being produced. New line is packaged in 11-oz glass bottle with silver-foil background to better distinguish it from core pasteurized line, in 14-oz glass bottle. Despite smaller package size, new line commands $3.69 at retail, vs $2.99 for pasteurized line. New line so far has trickled out to about 35 Portland stores, Stephen said, but is heading into Seattle's PCC chain and has added UNFI warehouses for Pac NW and Northern Calif with view to quickly entering 150 stores within that broader region. He hopes line will have cracked Southern Calif by time of Expo West show there in Mar.

All 3 sku's are made from Darjeeling and Assam teas - green tea in case of Japan entry - but India sku also contains green cardamom, fresh ginger, Indian rose and tulsi, while Japan contains spirulina, matcha, yuzu and miso and Tibet contains goji berry, schizandra, pu-erh, black pepper and blackberry. Esoteric recipes yielded somewhat mixed reception among retailers who've sampled item so far, Lee allowed.

Besides shelf-stable core kombucha brand, in glass bottles and cans, co also was displaying its cause-marketed Tibet Tea, now in 500 retail stores and all UNFI warehouses. Co also has started doing meaningful overseas biz, with Taiwan and Australia/New Zealand among bigger markets, along with Colombia and Finland. Tho core brand's pasteurized nature has alienated kombucha purists in US, it enables line to go out as shelf-stable and likely boosted appeal in overseas markets located long shipping lanes away.  

C2O, major canned coconut water entry owned in part by Sunsweet, is moving rapidly into mainstream sets of its retail customers, lately getting its Pure and Pulp sku's into mainline water sets at 1,300 Safeway stores, said co-founder Adam Biggs. Couple more key retailers are pending, he noted. Trend represents pivotal moment for brand that numbers several sku's among top dozen coconut water items in natural channel, but it also means brand's youthful partners now must play slotting game, area in which grocery mainstay Sunsweet's expertise has been of great value, Adam noted. Latest items are 10.5-oz can and 1-liter gabletop carton, both of which are now nationally available within that core natural channel. Co has been staking its identity on use of young, Thai-sourced coconuts with superior flavor, betting that consumers who may have flirted with taste-challenged from-concentrate versions and added-sugar versions eventually will gravitate to C2O, enabling brand to thrive in cluttered category. But that means brand has less flexibility in sourcing arrangements, making adequate supply an ongoing challenge. Among other developments, co recently move from Long Beach, Calif, launchpad to adjoining Seal Beach, partly for "cultural" reasons, staffer said: prior building in Long Beach was mainly occupied by lawyer and finance types who were a clash with laid-back surfer vibe of C2O.