Ohio produces about 981K bbls of craft beer, making it 4^th largest state in production, behind Calif (2.45 mil), Pennsy (1.63 mil), and Colo (1.29 mil), according to Brewer’s Association data for 2012.  “The craft beer industry is pretty tight, and Ohio is viewed as a pretty strong power player,” Bart Watson, staff economist for BA told Crains Cleveland Business.  Keep in mind, that number is largely driven by Sam Adams facility in Cincy, and  “aside from Cinncinati’s Sam Adams operation, Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland commands the state’s craft beer production, at about 145,000 bbls,” wrote Crains.  Rest of production comes from 56, much smaller breweries – next closest is Thirsty Dog Brewing at about 15-20k bbls. “The concentration of craft breweries in Northeast Ohio – which at 37 (share) represent nearly half the state’s market – underscore the region’s influence in the national specialty beer market,” John Najeway, vp of Ohio Craft Brewer’s association told paper.  Gotta note, tho Oh is 4^th largest state producer of craft, only grew 7,165 bbls from 2011 to 2012, less than 1% from yr prior, which is 7^th lowest of all states.

Then too, “Boston Beer Co. Inc. is expanding its Samuel Adams Brewery in Cincinnati’s West End,” reported Cincinnati Business Courier.  “The brewer is planning a 6700 square-foot expansion,” for a “beer storage building addition.”   Boston Beer “has added several tanks that will be used for aging and fermentation,” to up production, senior public relations manager for Boston Beer, Jessica Paar told paper.  “The application filed with the city is for only the foundation, valued at $700,000.”  They’re also “currently hiring for six positions in Cincinnati, including packaging operator, a brewing operator and an assistant brewing manager,” added Business Courier.

Highly popular Milk Stout Nitro will no longer be the only bottled nitro (rather than CO2) offering from Colo’s Left Hand Brewing.  The co introduced nitro versions of its original flagship, Sawtooth Ale, an American ESB, and Wake Up Dead, its big Russian Imperial Stout, both in 12oz bottles at a packed GABF party last week.  The new nitro bottles are on shelves in Colo already, operations veep Chris Lennert told CBN, and Left Hand doesn’t plan to send the beers outside of its home state til early 2014, when the packages will go to all of Left Hand’s markets.  While “we’re confident that others will be introducing nitro bottle offerings, it’s only a matter of time,” Chris acknowledged, “everyone knows that we were first” with this particular innovation and “now we’re also #2 and #3 with the new introductions.”  And it’s a rich niche to be in.  Bottled Milk Stout Nitro has grown to Left Hand’s largest 6-pack, now 36% of its 6-pack biz, according to Chris; it’s more than doubling yr-to-date.  Regular Milk Stout is #2 and regular Sawtooth is #3, and the new nitro offerings “will grow as big as our customers tell us,” Chris said.  And Left Hand’s “nitro” success only works to round up more attention to the rest of Left Hand’s portfolio, he added.  Also last week, the brewery hit the 50K-bbl mark, Chris tweeted out, just less than 500 bbls more than it pumped out last yr.  Chris followed-up with us that it puts Left Hand on schedule for 62-65K bbls by yr-end and is up 32% yr-to-date.

Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat, which also owns NY craft brewer Ommegang and hi-end importer Duvel Moortgat USA, has deal to buy Boulevard based in Kansas City, creating a new US based company.   Deal price is reportedly between $110-120 mil we hear, tho that’s unconfirmed by either party officially. That’s the 1^st major craft brewer deal for over $100 mil (tho New Belgium’s Kim Jordan sold her stake in New Belgium to employees for much more than that last yr).   AB bought Goose Island for $38.8 mil in 2011, Magic Hat bought similarly sized Pyramid 5 yrs ago for $25 mil and assumption of $10 mil in debt (NAB paid less), Fireman’s Capital bought majority of Utah Brewers Coop for $35 mil last yr.   

Boulevard expects to do 188,000 bbls in 2013, up about 8% and it was #12 BA craft brewer last yr.  Ommegang/Duvel Moortgat USA will be close to 70,000 bbls, with more than half of that Ommegang, the rest in imports.  So in one fell swoop, Duvel would become a leading player in this fast-growing segment here in the US, with ambitions to ultimately be quite a bit larger yet.  Deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

The Marriage of 2 Craft Bizzes; Approaching $300 Mil in Revs “This is the marriage of 2 craft breweries,” Duvel Moortgat ceo Michel Moortgat told CBN, “one from the old world and one from the new.” And as such, it is yet another example of globalization, the first major foray of a foreign brewer into the US craft space (Indian mogul VJ Mallya had an aborted craft rollup strategy in the 90s).  With this acquisition, Duvel Moortgat will roughly double its US business to over $75 million.  Tho Boulevard is a lot bigger than Ommegang/Duvel Moortgat USA from a volume perspective, it’s about equal from a revenue standpoint.  With the acquisition of Boulevard, Duvel Moortgat’s total worldwide biz will approach $300 million and over 1 mil bbls.  So this is not a small company by any means, but it is laser focused on the high end. 

Duvel Moortgat went private earlier this yr. Before that about 25% of its shares were publicly traded.  In 2011, last yr of publicly available data, it had operating profit of $40 mil on revs of $202 mil and it has grown since then.  So this is highly profitable co too with operating margin close to 20%.  It is reportedly acquiring $10-11 mil of EBITDA from Boulevard, paying a multiple that is roughly in line with industry norms, tho not the 12-14x that is often associated with strategic buyers among global brewers.

Diversification One Big Reason for Doing the Deal  Most of Duvel’s biz is in hard-hit Western Europe, including tiny Belgium (only about 7.3 mil bbls) where beer biz in decline in recent yrs.  So diversification has to be key strategic aim for Duvel Moortgat.  This deal will make it more balanced and less reliant on Belgium.   It’s already been in US for some time (about 20 yrs), with a successful and growing business, in a fast-growing space (ultra high-end craft and imports).  This deal will push US to around 25% of volume and over 30% of value, said Michel.

Why Is John McDonald Selling?  “Perfect Fit”  “I’m 60,” John told CBN and he “woke up a couple of years ago” and started thinking about “exit strategy.  I’ve looked at all kinds of partners… talked to a lot of great people” and “at least had [exploratory] conversations” with them.  And John “weighed” these various options.  Duvel Moortgat only came into picture a few months ago.  But the more he talked to the Duvel Moortgat folks, the more he liked their “vision and plan” and “fit…. Our brewery is better served longterm to partner with them than it is to go it alone,” John added.  In a statement, John put it thus: “Duvel Moortgat’s commitment to quality and independence, and their proven record helping breweries fulfill their potential, made this a perfect fit and an easy decision.”  

The Vision: Keeping the Biz Intact; Exports; Investments    This deal has lots of angles.  Importantly, Duvel Moortgat is “absolutely” intent on keeping Boulevard intact and building upon it.  “We don’t want to change daily operations,” said Michel.  So this is not a synergy or cost-cutting play.  Duvel Moortgat has done numerous smaller acquisitons in Belgium, keeping the bizzes there intact and growing them, according to Michel.  Boulevard’s majority owner John McDonald will still come in daily, stay on the board of the combined US entity and will remain a “significant” shareholder of US co.  That is “very important for the future” of Boulevard, said Michel.  And it is important to John to sell to someone that would preserve Boulevard’s local status and take care of his 126 employees. John is also a prinicipal in an innovative sustainable glass co called Ripple Glass with a couple of other key Boulevard employees. Boulevard had a stake in Ripple too, which Duvel Moortgat will keep. 

Sales Force Almost 50 Strong; Smokestack; Distrib Networks; 1+1=3 The two companies have roughly equal sized sales forces of 24 people, noted Duvel Moortgat USA ceo Simon Thorpe. Combined that will be “way beyond” any similar sized brewery, he asserted.  But Boulevard is in 25 states and 90% of its biz and its strengths are in the Midwest.  Meanwhile, Duvel Moortgat USA is much stronger on the coasts and lion’s share of its biz is done in a dozen largely coastal and urban mkts.  So there’s not that much overlap in their distrib networks and aligning their distrib networks is not a top priority.  “It is much more important to have highly motivated distributors than to have consolidation for its own sake,” said Simon.  The Boulevard brands are very likely to be expanded.

Could Boulevard ever brew Ommegang brands or vice versa?  Tho no one will officially say that’s the case, Boulevard brewery is highly efficient and it’s reasonable to speculate that someday Ommegang brands could be brewed there. Meanwhile, Boulevard’s higher margin Smokestack Series is right in Duvel Moortgat’s wheelhouse and is viewed as especially promising, both here and abroad.   “We will look where those brands can help each other,” said Michel.  The idea is to “achieve that 1 +1=3,” he added.  Duvel Moortgat’s global chief operating officer Daniel Krug will relocate to Kansas City for the first several months of the deal.

Exports “Certainly One of the Purposes” of Deal  So said Michel.  Nowadays American beer starts “to become very interesting” to Europeans and even Belgians. And as a Midwest heartland “icon,” the Boulevard brand could play well in Euro mkts, said Michel.  Once again, the Smokestack Series “has the most potential here and in Europe.”   Today American brewers “are probably more creative” than Europeans, said Michel.  “We have the legacy” in Europe.  US brewers “don’t have the weight of history,” he added. “That’s a very strong asset.”

Duvel Will Invest $17 Mil Over Next Few Yrs Boulevard has had some capacity constraints.  Not in brewing or bottling, but fermentation and cellaring.  So Duvel Moortgat has “an ambitious investment plan” and will break ground in 2014 on a project called Cellar 5.  It will invest $17 mil spread out over yrs.  This deal is far more about finding “top line synergies,” said Simon, and figuring out “what we need to invest to drive growth.”

Boulevard’s Slower Growth and Battle in Home Mkts  Boulevard has  not kept pace with segment growth in recent yrs.  It grew 1% in 09, 7% in 2010, 5% in 2011, before returning to double digit growth in 2012 and 8% growth this yr.  Missouri is of course Boulevard’s #1 mkt.  Boulevard did 37% of its biz there in 2012.  So far this yr, Boulevard is up less than 1% in its home state, but that is based on volume.  Since good chunk of volume has become Smokestack in recent yrs, biz has healthy value and profit trends, sources say.

This deal will make Duvel Moortgat a very serious player in US craft arena. But oddly, because of foreign ownership, Boulevard will likely no longer be a voting member of the Brewers Association.  “Don’t get me started,” said John.  First Beverage represented Boulveard in the sale.  Other bidders at different points had reportedly included MC and an unnamed family office (a type of private equity firm).  Yet Duvel Moortgat and Boulevard seem very much on the same page and a fine fit to start. 

“Great” may be becoming quite the understatement to describe the size of the beer festival that took over Denver last week.  About 49,000 attendees could sample over 3100 beers from 624 brewers at the festival, the Brewers Assn reported.  Sales and marketing director Barbara Fusco shared with media that about half of the attendees were from home-state Colorado while another 50% were expected to come in from out of state.  And while working your way through crowds at the event, you’re likely to see mostly males, Barbara was happy to share that “anecdotally...more and more women” attend the event every year.

As for “the largest commercial beer competition in the world,” 130 experienced stewards prepared 4809 beers from 745 breweries for 201 judges.  Almost a third of those breweries, over 230, “self-reported” as first-time entrants in the competition.  It’s not clear how many of those first-time entrants have opened within the past year or two, but one can suspect it’s a majority.  Just 24 of those new entrants won medals.  It’s important to remember, as one observer pointed out to CBN, that all beer must be delivered to a distributor and stored in its warehouse before being brought to the Convention Center and served to judges and festival attendees.  The logistics of an event this size are almost staggering.  

Regardless of who won, analyzing entries in the competition provides some interesting clues as to what kinds of beers brewers believe to be their best (likely related to the recipes they receive positive consumer-feedback for and brands they choose to promote over others).  As such, no surprise that American-Style IPA received the most entries again: 252.  That’s 103 entries more than 2nd-most-entered category, Imperial IPA.  The average category received just 51 entries, according to the BA.  Over 430 IPAs, 9% of all entries, competed for just 9 medals across 3 categories.  Add another 300+ entries in 4 Pale Ale categories and you’re talking lotsa hops, lotsa bitterness.  And we noticed at least a few IPA-branded entries that medaled or were entered outside of the 3 IPA categories.  The significance of those 3 letters continues to pick up steam, it seems, even if their collective meaning continues to be diluted.

This year’s competition entries reflected a few other flavor trends too.  Note that 6 Belgian-style categories received 10% of entries, an average of 79 entries apiece, not including the growing popularity of the American-Belgo Style category.  That’s as 15 German or Czech-Style categories received an average of 41 entries.  Six categories for beers with something more than just barley, hops, yeast and water (think fruit, veggies, herbs and spices, chocolate and coffee) received an average of 80 entries.  Wood and Barrel-Aged beers were split among 4 categories with an average of 83 entries each.

In a crowded ballroom on the 38th floor of the Denver Grand Hyatt last Friday, the Brewers Assn’s Julia Herz told a room full of media that they were among 460 journalists, reporters, and bloggers attending last week’s Great American Beer Festival.  That’s up from 368 last year and 250 in 2011.  She continued that the luncheon she was kicking off was probably the “largest gathering of beer media,” perhaps ever.  Indeed, when she asked how many in the room regularly walked the “beer beat,” more than half of the attendees raised their hands.  With that platform, Julia introduced one by one 8 different brewers representing a wide array of small brewer business models and startup stories.  

Craft Stories  Craft brewers are “not in it for the buck,” Julia said, and “are selling their houses, mortgaging their homes” to open their bizzes.  That may not be true for all, but that was how she summed up Evan Hanseth’s story of his Lumberyard Brewing, a distributing brewpub in Flagstaff, Ariz.  Evan sold his house in SoCal in 1994 to move to Flagstaff to open his Beaver Street brewpub then opened Lumberyard to assist with production.  He’s looking toward 4000 bbls in Lumberyard’s 4th year, with capacity for about 9000 bbls.  He wasn’t the only brewer present building new facilities: Blue Mountain Brewing founder Matt Nucci added the Blue Mountain Barrelhouse about 20 miles away to aid in production and specialize in barrel-aging beers.  Matt plans to open a 3rd even larger facility in the future.  Chris Fish, founder of Telluride Brewing, has been expanding since he opened in 2011, using the “Avery model” of “gobbling up more and more spaces” in an industrial park.  He “just tripled our capacity” to about 11K bbls.  Telluride brewed about 1300 bbls last year and will crank out 3000 this year.    

Dave Hoops, head brewer for Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth and Jason Medvec of Big Wood Brewing in White Bear Lake both represented Minnesota at the luncheon.  Fitger’s is a non-distributing brewpub open for 18 years, working towards 3200 bbls on a 10-bbl system this year.  Jason provided perhaps the most unique story, relating the opening of Big Wood, co-founded by Steve Merila who previously operated a wood distributing company just outside of the Twin Cities.  When the recession hit in 2009, Steve wanted to have something to cheer up all the contractors that came by to commiserate about the lack of work.  So he put in a large homebrewing system in his warehouse.  Steve brought on Jason when he decided to get into the brewing business, and they hired Ty McBee as lead brewer.  Ty’s first beer (a coffee stout brewed the day after his interview) won the top prize at a local competition within a month of being hired.

Julian Shrago also joined the brewing business to help a company transition into brewing.  Beachwood BBQ restaurant hired him to brew when they decided to open a brewpub in Long Beach, Calif; Julian had been working on a biz plan for a production facility, but agreed to join Beachwood since, in his view, a brewpub would be “a lot easier.”  David Logsdon on the other hand has been in the beer business for almost 30 years, after opening Wyeast Laboratories in 1985.  He recently opened Logsdon Farmhouse Ales in Hood River, Oreg to focus on Belgian styles and work with organic ingredients.  Dick Cantwell of Elysian rounded out the program, saying that the co has opened a new brewpub location in Seattle about every 5 years or so since its founding in 1996.  It’s last addition is Elysian Fields, near CenturyLink Field, with almost 500 seats.

Brewer Insights  Dick’s experience allowed him to provide some interesting perspective when Julia brought up four of the brewers at a time and hit each set with a round of questions about the industry.  When asked to look forward, Dick insisted that “we need to make sure that we maintain creativity,” not just in recipe-creation but to “be prepared to be creative in our business plans” as well.  As such, he expects to see interesting “mergers,” “creative combinations” and a “big shifting of the landscape, which is not the ‘shakeout’” folks often fret about.  Dave said his folks need to “educate, educate, educate” to keep growing and David echoed constant calls to “focus on quality” while “taking care of your home market.”  Putting more feet on the street wouldn’t hurt either.  On the future of styles and beer flavor, Dave pointed to “session,” Evan mentioned “bitter beers,” David talked about “finessing lager beers” and styles often “passed over,” while Dick doesn’t “think IPA is going away.”  In fact, new varieties of hops being developed by farmers will “help us differentiate” the many IPA offerings out there, he said.  Interestingly, none of these “heritage” brewer panelists had too many problems with the laws governing brewers, tho Evan, in Ariz, sees that “some” local distributors “don’t really abide by the laws.”  He didn’t elaborate, of course.  

Oskar Blues Brewing’s quickly-created Can’d Aid foundation has already raised $175K for Colo Flood Relief, as of CBN’s Saturday conversation with communications leader Chad Melis at GABF.  That’s before counting donations received at the fest and it’s simultaneous FBAG music fest, as well as various commitments of $1/beer at OBB locations and other supportive bars/restaurants and $1/CE from some distributors throughout Oct.  Federal aid is still being assessed, Chad said, likely millions of dollars toward infrastructure-rebuilding alone.  So OBB is focusing its efforts on helping people and local businesses, quickly.  The town of Lyons, where Oskar Blues was born, where it operates its original pub, where a number of employees had homes and where the flood was particularly “violent,” is of course a “focus,” Chad said.  Flooding affected about 50 employees, he estimated.  The flood “changed the structure of the landscape,” and as of two weeks ago, officials were telling Lyons residents that they may not get back to their homes for another 4-6 weeks.  OBB has tried to help in the meantime by “trying to create additional work.”  That was the company and the organization’s 3rd priority, after making sure folks were safe and had a place to sleep.  Its Front Range restaurants are now all “open and giving people a place to talk, come together, have a beer.”  Applications are available on the foundation’s website for individuals, businesses and organizations in search of aid.

Total Biz +40% Yr-To-Date, Dale’s Up Almost 42%  Amidst its work helping to rebuild its community, Oskar Blues continues to build its brands.  Flagship Dale’s Pale Ale is up almost 42% yr-to-date, Chad told us, as total biz is up 40%.  They’re “hoping for 5 new states” by yr-end too (recall, Chad had said 6 total for 2013 earlier in the year, and OBB opened up Mich in March).  Similarly, the co is “doubling our sales staff.”  Its new NC plant could pump out about 50K bbls or so.  All in, Oskar Blues should end the yr at 122-125K bbls, up over 40%.  

At the GABF media luncheon last week, Elysian brewer and co-founder Dick Cantwell told the crowd that his co would be opening a new location in Seattle early next year (see below for more insights from the lunch). Co-founder and CEO Joe Bisacca filled CBN in on all the details this week and said lots more about the rest of Elysian's biz too. Early in the summer, Joe and team projected that they'd finish up 2013 around 41-42K bbls (about 31% over 2012). Recently, he's been seeing accelerated growth trends, +50-75% yr-to-date from local distributors, but he still doesn't plan on topping 50K bbls this yr. And that's as the co is "still short-shipping beer," "holding back a little bit" to let "infrastructure catch up." That infrastructure work includes doubling the fermenters in its Seattle production facility by next June - "not doing it half-assed, doing it full-assed" - along with lots of other facility improvements that "don't sound as sexy," Joe said. Elysian already has extra space, as well as demand, so could be running up much faster this year. But "I don't want to kill the staff trying to set the world on fire," Joe said. "Putting numbers on the board sounds good...but you have to consider what that does to your staff." And "if the 'pause' is 70% growth, that's fine," he concluded.

Elysian's production facility, if it were pushing out as much beer as possible, has current fermentation space for about 65K bbls, Joe estimated, and "can package whatever the hell we throw at it." But Joe is thinking about this expansion more in terms of differentiating flavors/styles and investing in quality. He'd like to be able to "realize bursts of need that I might have," as well as put "more styles out on the street," including those that need to age for longer (and therefore take up more fermentation space). As such, Elysian will also add a couple of foeders (traditional European oak fermentation vessels), "dozens and dozens of oak barrels" and add even more to its already-extensive lab. "People underrated the labs," Joe said, and "not many brewers have a cryogenic freezer." But Elysian does now and has invested in trying to set its beers apart. For example, the team "plated up an airborne yeast from Seattle" just to see how it would do. The resulting test beer was "terrible," but had it worked out, it woulda been "cool," and have a pretty unique selling point.

About 70% of Elysian's volume "goes through Washington," Joe said. Elysian operates 3 brewpubs within Seattle city-limits already and will open a 4th location - tho with no brewing - next yr. The newest spot will occupy 8000 sq-ft "right outside of Pike Place Market," and have a NY-in-the-80s feel with a "chunked-through," "exposed beams and brick" style. A "pretty extensive bottle beer selection" will accompany 16 taps and 2 cask offerings. Having so many on-premise locations in one city may seem "counter-intuitive," Joe acknowledges, but "I hate things that look the same," he added, so each has a unique feel and "completely different menus," so Elysian sees "no cannibalization."

Just a bit south, Oreg was "+230% trailing 12" (months), Joe said after he "put a really good sales guy on the ground." He thinks about selling beer based on 3 things: what's "in the bottle," what's "on the bottle," and "who you are." With local-loving Oregonians, brewers "gotta have your own guy out there," so "that presence in the Oregon market, that was a real catalyst" for the growth there: the "human side was a real turning point." Elysian has 4 sales people in the northwest, including 2 that focus solely on Wash, and 1 that covers Eastern Wash, Ida and Mont. Next up will be Calif, where he wants "to go in capable of handling changes in the marketplace" and "take advantage of whatever comes up," which likely means another salesperson. But "I don't want to go into California with a lot of bravado and ego," and instead wants to put the beer in the right spots and grow organically. Elysian also sells in a handful of states in the Mid-Atlantic, where "I have to put a salesperson on the ground," Joe said.  

Correction: Elysian Brewing never got around to brewing a beer with that airborne Seattle yeast we wrote about last issue.  They knew it was “terrible” after just culturing it.

Northern Calif's Bear Republic Brewing will be "pre-paying future water credits" to the city of Cloverdale to expedite expanding the city's water supply infrastructure to allow the company to produce more beer and continue growing, founder Richard Norgrove Sr told CBN during GABF late last week.  The “private-public partnership” has taken over 6 months to nail down, but Richard expects it to be finalized this week, allowing the new water supply to flow by next summer.  In the meantime, Cloverdale has budgeted Bear Republic's water supply for the year, so Richard and his brewing team have had to be very careful about their water usage.  As such, the co has "disengaged in some territories," cutting back on distribution to markets further afield to focus on California and other key territories.  They've had to "manage our production capacity" and "manage the expectation" of trade partners.  The amount of water it can use will still allow Bear Republic to grow about 14-15% this yr, Richard said, to about 75K bbls, but if the co brewed at the pace they could be selling the beer, its water allotment would be "zeroed out by Thanksgiving."

This isn't the first time Bear Republic has dealt with complications to its water supply.  Back in 2006, Healdsburg, where Bear Republic’s original brewpub is still located, was sued by an environmental group that forced the municipality to spend $35 mil on new water infrastructure, according to Richard.  The city planned to charge Bear Republic six-figures, proportional to its water usage, Richard says.  So Bear Republic took the six-figures and built its current facility in Cloverdale, which he was "led to believe had plenty of water and sewer" for Bear Republic to keep growing.  The initial brewery took up a handful of lots in a 12-lot space.  By 2011 Bear Republic "finally bought the last four" lots, but the city said "wait, we can't give you the permits" to build on those lots "because we don't have the water."  The city lacked the infrastructure to support Bear Republic's planned expansion.  

Cloverdale looked into a USDA loan to create that infrastructure, but the gov't came back and said that the city's rate structure didn't support a loan.  The city raised water and sewer rates by about 25%, "still a very competitive rate," which did support the loan, but the projected timeline meant that Bear Republic wasn't "getting additional water til 2015," Richard explained.  Since "we as a company have to move forward" and have "gotta grow" to support employees, he went to the city to see how they could "work together to expedite the timeline."  The price tag of the new water system came back in the "mid-six figures," Richard said.  He told the city "I'll front you the money but we gotta get started tomorrow."  But governments can't just take six-figure checks from private citizens or companies to pay for new water pumps and wells.  Knowing how complicated such an agreement could be, Richard and co started off on a "parallel path," searching for other locations on which to build a new facility, making sure he could "push the go button" on construction should work with Cloverdale fall through.  It wasn't an exciting prospect for Richard and his son Richard Jr, as they're "4th generation Sonoma County residents."  Luckily, the agreement with the city is all but signed, Cloverdale will receive expanded water supply and Bear Republic can continue to brew and grow.

Concrete Beach Brewery should be open and adding to the growing Alchemy & Science family by early next year, according to the Boston Beer subsidiary’s release this afternoon.  Construction began at a warehouse in the Wynwood Arts District in Miami earlier this month.  That means Alchemy & Science will now operate 2 urban breweries - in LA and now Miami.  It also now sells the NYC-themed Coney Island brands.  Florida has been heating up recently, tho its largest city has not necessarily been craft’s epicenter there.  But “Miami is a world class city and deserves to have world class beers,” A&S prexy Alan Newman said.  A&S’s other projects include Traveler Beer Company, mostly focused on shandies, and The Just Beer Project.

New Belgium announced its distribs in Oh this afternoon.  MC’s largest distrib Superior will get the NBB brands in several key mkts like Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Columbus. Another MC distrib, Stagnaro will get it in Cinci and Bonbright gets it in Dayton. The other largest distrib in state,  Heidelberg gets the NBB brands in some of outlying mkts where it has AB, and also in Toledo where it is Coors distrib.   Several other AB distribs got NBB brands  including Classic Brands, Choice Beverage, Matesich, Muskie and Spriggs.  Deschutes will also enter Ohio next yr.

Ohio was about a 112-mil-case market in 2012.  That’s down from 119.5 mil cases in 2008.  AB and Miller Coors lost 13.5 mil cases, 13% of their volume (almost 1 mil bbls) and 6 share between ‘em in just that 4 yr period.  And they’re down again there this yr.  Biggest portion of AB and MC drop came with Yuengling intro in late 2010 and 2011.  While NBB and Deschutes won’t hit with the force of a Yuengling, the two cominbed do expect to get about over 1 mil cases and about 1 share, CBN understands.  Recall that Great Lakes is the only highly-developed local craft brewer in Oh, tho of course natl player Boston Beer also has a brewery in Cincinnati.