Monster is shutting down another of its craft breweries as co looks to shore up financials and capacity utilization of its brewing unit, as sibling pub Craft Brew News reported earlier today. Co "made the decision to close" Deep Ellum's brewing facility and taproom "and move production of the beer to other facilities in our network," a Monster Brewing spokesperson shared with INSIGHTS. Closure will result in job losses for "25 positions from the taproom and production teams," and "each person has been offered outplacement support and encouraged to apply for available positions within the company." Deep Ellum "will continue to be produced and distributed to our wholesale partners and there will be no reduction in supply or availability," co assured. Yet Deep Ellum will no longer be brewed in TX.

Guinness trends stand out among top beer brands this spring/summer selling season. Sales notably picked up since St. Patrick's Day in tracked off-prem channels and Guinness "continues to sustain the positive volume trends achieved throughout St Patrick's Day season" across the country in all channels of trade, Diageo Beer Co outgoing ceo Rodney Williams shared with INSIGHTS separately. Indeed, Guinness family $$ grew 6% with volume up 3% for the latest 8 wks thru 5/19 in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. It's one of the few top beer brands (aside from AB brands vs easier comps) seeing an acceleration in scans since Apr.

This month in 2011, CBN reported on "unsettling thoughts" about craft's future coming from large suppliers, "and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt." Major raw material costs in next couple of yrs will cause "significant headwind" for craft brewers, said one major supplier. This could push even more craft brewers into unprofitability and precipitate lotsa further consolidation, said source. Craft brewers were rapidly adding drinkers, but as craft pushed further out on the curve, the drinkers craft was adding consumed smaller quantities on few drinking occasions, added source. In 2-3 yrs that will reach a saturation point, source thought. Also, big brewers could still mess up craft segment, argued a consultant, who thought it would happen. How? By cutting price.

Platform Brewing's former Cleveland production facility is officially on the block. The 100K sq-ft building hit the mkt yesterday, NEOtrans Blog reported, over a yr after parent co Anheuser-Busch ceased Platform's local operations amid continued declines. The 1-acre property is listed by real estate giant CBRE and is reportedly still owned by Platform co-founder Justin Carson (thru Gypsy Real Estate Holding LLC).

Party on, Wayne. Longtime former Cigar City brewmaster Wayne Wambles now has a brewery to call his own after finalizing an agreement to purchase Upcountry Brewing in Brevard, NC, All About Beer reports. He plans to keep the UpCountry name and several of its beers on offer from co's small, 4-bbl brewhouse. Tho Wayne will also use it to brew and self-distribute a new brand called Griffon & Sphynx, named after his 2 dogs.

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Sales of spirits in control states bounced back slightly in Apr, with some help from additional selling days. Distilled spirits $$ sales were up 1.4% in control states for the month compared to -0.2% for the last 3 mos, TD Cowen wrote citing NABCA. Volume was also up 0.7% in Apr with price/mix up the same, an improvement from trailing 3-mo volume decline of -1.7%. That follows particularly soft trends in Mar. But adjusting for selling days, Cowen estimates that sales declined ~0.9% in Apr, reinforcing its view that "the industry will face slower growth in 2024."

Joining the recent run of import brands onshoring production, Molson Coors will begin brewing full-strength Peroni in the US this August. Domestically produced kegs will start the transition, slated to roll out on-premise in Sep. Bottles and cans will hit retail shelves in "early 2025," a spokesperson shared. Co's long imported the brand from Italy, and Peroni 0.0 will continue to be made overseas. But shifting full-strength production should help ensure fresh and steady supply for the US mkt, as MC looks to overcome one of the brand's "biggest issues to date, which is reliable supply."