A look at the beer industry post-2015, the year that Big Beer acquired successful craft breweries left and right and infused mind-boggling amounts of money into the business. Their plan? Buy more shelf space.
Brooklyn Brewery’s Steve Hindy is one of just a few guys whose viewpoints are essential when it comes to understanding what went down in craft beer between the 1960s and today.
Brew Hub’s first brewery partners look forward; New York City’s beer industry angered over suggested beer tax increase; two Massachusetts nanobrewers join forces; Hindu advocate criticizes Asheville Brewing over Shiva IPA; and Maine breweries join Brewers for Clean Water.
Since Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut the ribbon on the first Brooklyn brewery in 20 years in May 1996, the borough has fully embraced the microbrew revolution, spawning five more breweries and scores of craft beer pubs.
As demand increases in newer markets, microbreweries are at a crossroads: take out large loans and expand, or sell stakes to larger brewers and distributors. Factor in that a generation of craft brewing legends is approaching retirement, and these questions become even more complicated.
