Sluggish Memorial Day Sales Signal Summer Blues for Sweating Beer Business

Generations are more or less made up. They’re a social construct, much like “time” and “the rule of law.” That doesn’t mean cultural norms aren’t shifting, and it certainly hasn’t stopped the beverage-alcohol industry from collectively freaking the hell out about it. But from Zoomer to Boomer and beyond, this generation stuff is kinda squishy. Seasons, on the other hand, are pretty real. In the…

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The 15 Beers That Defined American Craft Brewing — and Where They Are Now

Before craft beer there was only Big Beer. At first it was factory-made regional lagers that were ubiquitous to a certain area. Old Style in the Midwest, “Natty Boh” in Baltimore, Olympia in the Pacific Northwest, Pearl in Texas — it was what pretty much everyone in these places drank. By the 1960s, these regional favorites had started to be replaced by national powerhouses and you already know…

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Anheuser-Busch Takes the Corporate Craft Throne From Molson Coors and New Belgium

It seemed like it wasn’t a question of if, but when, Voodoo Ranger’s parent company finally caught up to Blue Moon’s on corporate craft volume. And according to one long-running brewing industry magazine, the answer is now. But that answer appears to be wrong. And a miscommunication around New Belgium Brewery’s “total beverage” ambitions may be to blame. Every year around Memorial Day — that…

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Anchor Brewing Co. Will Reopen to a Beer Industry It Won’t Recognize

It’s been nearly three years since Sapporo USA (SUSA) unceremoniously shuttered Anchor Brewing Company, and two almost to the day since the billionaire founder of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, scooped it off the scrap heap with the stated goal of returning the historic firm to its former glory. It has not yet reopened for business. But lately, there are definite signs of life at Potrero Hill’s beloved…

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The Year Every State Got Its First Craft Brewery [MAP]

Today, beer geeks flock to their local craft brewery to sit at picnic tables and sip small-batch brews — a culture that stems from the Great American Craft Beer Boom that gained traction in the 1960s and ’70s. However, the existence of craft breweries predates that sudden rise by over a century. Pennsylvania is home to the country’s first craft brewery, D.G. Yuengling & Son, which opened in 1829.…

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We Asked 8 Brewers: Which Craft Beer Style Is Officially Dead in 2026?

Craft brewers are a nerdy bunch. They research historical practices, geek out over yeasts and hops, and make tiny tweaks to their brews to achieve the balance and flavor they’re after. So when we decided to ask brewers what style of beer has already seen its best days, we knew they would have strong opinions. Sure, beer styles gain and lose favor with both consumers and creators, but some…

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Stone Brewing Flew Too Close to the Sun. It Still Hasn’t Hit Rock Bottom

It was easy to be outrageously optimistic about the craft-brewing industry midway last decade. Too easy, in fact. Thanks in part to greater San Diego’s status as a bona fide first-wave craft-brewing hotbed, many of the trade’s toughest cautionary tales from the Terrible Tens/Teens started there. Constellation Brands’ November 2015 announcement of plans to acquire Ballast Point for a cool billion…

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In Philly, the Brewers Association Pilots Craft Beer’s Comeback Narrative

PHILADELPHIA — As the economy struggles through a vibecession and the internet gets enshittified by vibecoding, the craft brewing industry has been grappling with an unfamiliar vibe of its own this week at its largest annual conference, too. Is that… could it really be…? It could be, and it was. Bona fide optimism was in the air during the 2026 Craft Brewers Conference, which concluded Wednesday…

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Firestone Walker and Duvel USA to Acquire Stone Brewing From Sapporo

Firestone Walker and Duvel Moortgat USA have agreed to acquire the Stone Brewing brand from Sapporo USA for an undisclosed amount, Brewbound reports. The transaction is slated to finalize within the second quarter of the fiscal year. California-based craft brewery Firestone Walker — in which Duvel USA acquired a majority stake in 2015 and continues to operate independently — will assume ownership…

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Nosey Neighbors partnership with New Barons hits roadblock, release event moved

Nosey Neighbor Brewing, which partnered with New Barons Brewing Co-Op last autumn to share a brew system and taproom, had planned to launch its first beer this weekend at the Bay View taproom. Now that's not happening, and in fact New Barons' entire effort to serve as a incubator for emerging breweries seems threatened.

These Are the Top 50 Craft Breweries of 2025

The number of craft breweries in the U.S. contracted for the second year in a row in 2025 with a 2.9-percent year-over-year decrease, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) annual production report for the craft industry. The BA recorded 9,578 operating craft breweries last year. The number of microbreweries showed the largest decline with a 4.4-percent drop. Taprooms and brewpubs trailed…

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