Craft Beer News Feed

Beer.Social's feed tracks what is happening across American craft beer: new taproom and brewery openings, closures and acquisitions, distributor and industry business news, notable beer releases, and festival announcements. Stories are curated twice daily from trusted craft beer publications, each with a short summary and a link to the original reporting.

• Former Anchor Brewing Workers Ask New Owner for Their Jobs Back as Reopening Nears

  VinePair — Aug 25, 2026, 9:03 PM UTC

  Signs of activity at Anchor Brewing's Potrero Hill plant, including work crews, permits and label approvals, suggest the shuttered San Francisco brewery is moving toward reopening after a nearly three-year hiatus. Former employees are publicly urging owner Hamdi Ulukaya, who bought the brand and property in June 2024, to rehire them, citing his stated goal of aligning with longtime workers and the community. Ulukaya has disclosed little about his plans or staffing intentions.

• Fort George Adds Island Towns as a Year-Round Tropical West Coast IPA

  PorchDrinking — Aug 25, 2026, 9:03 PM UTC

  Fort George Brewery has made Island Towns, a tropical West Coast IPA, a permanent part of its lineup, available year-round in 6-packs. The beer is brewed with Superdelic, Citra and Chinook hops and is positioned as a fruit-forward take on a classic West Coast IPA. The Astoria, Oregon brewery framed the release around its hometown's community-minded identity.

• Bev-Alc Off-Premise Trends Hold Steady Through Mid-August After Circana Data Correction

  Brewbound — Aug 25, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Brewbound reports that beverage-alcohol off-premise trends were roughly flat through the middle of August, following a correction to Circana's underlying data. The read-through matters for craft brands trying to gauge whether the summer softness is stabilizing or still deteriorating heading into the fall selling season.

• Asterisk Imports Launches With Exclusive U.S. Rights to Belgium's Kasteel Portfolio

  Brewbound — Aug 24, 2026, 9:03 PM UTC

  A newly formed importer, Asterisk Imports, announced its launch this week and said it has secured exclusive U.S. rights to the Kasteel family of Belgian beers. The deal gives the long-standing Belgian brand a dedicated American import partner at a time when specialty imports are fighting for limited retail shelf space.

• Press Clips: Sierra Nevada Adds a Spiked Agave Seltzer and a New Mexico Brewery Takes Over an Existing Space

  Brewbound — Aug 24, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Brewbound's August 21 roundup of short industry items includes Sierra Nevada launching Agua Azul, a spiked agave seltzer that pushes the California brewery further outside of beer. The column also notes a New Mexico brewery moving into a previously built-out brewery space, along with new data pointing to rising brewery visitation.

• Tilray to Halt Brewing at Terrapin's Athens Brewery; Taproom Stays Open

  Brewbound — Aug 23, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Tilray plans to stop production at Terrapin Beer Co.'s brewery in Athens, Georgia, shifting the brand's brewing elsewhere within its network. The company said the on-site taproom will continue operating. The move is the latest step in Tilray's ongoing consolidation of the craft portfolio it assembled through acquisitions.

• Sapporo USA to Lay Off 58 Workers as Stone's Escondido Brewery Winds Down

  Brewbound — Aug 22, 2026, 9:03 PM UTC

  Sapporo USA filed a California WARN Act notice on Aug. 19 disclosing that 58 Stone Brewing employees across three California facilities will be laid off effective Oct. 19. The cuts accompany the wind-down of operations at the Escondido brewery, the site Stone built its reputation on. The move follows Firestone Walker's acquisition of the Stone brand from Sapporo earlier in 2026.

• Perfect Plain Brewing Releases FestBier for the Fall Season

  Brewbound — Aug 22, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Pensacola, Florida's Perfect Plain Brewing has released FestBier, a traditional German-style lager brewed for the Oktoberfest season. The beer joins a crowded field of fall lagers arriving from US craft brewers this month.

• Great Lakes Brewing Leans on Seasonal Variety Packs to Drive 2026 Growth

  Brewbound — Aug 22, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Cleveland-based Great Lakes Brewing is building its 2026 growth plan around seasonal variety packs rather than new standalone brands. The strategy reflects a broader trend of regional craft brewers using mixed packs to hold shelf space as distributors trim craft SKUs.

• Gallup: Record-Low Share of Americans Say They Drink Too Much, Overall Drinking Rate Flat

  Brewbound — Aug 22, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Gallup's latest annual alcohol survey found the smallest share of respondents on record saying they drink more than they should. The percentage of US adults who report drinking at all was essentially unchanged from 2025. Industry watchers have urged caution in reading too much into the self-reported figures, which have driven headlines in past years.

• Boston Beer CFO Diego Reynoso to Exit as Company Launches Search for Successor

  Brewbound — Aug 22, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Boston Beer Company, the maker of Samuel Adams, Truly and Twisted Tea, said chief financial officer Diego Reynoso is leaving the company. The brewer has opened a formal search for his replacement. The change comes as Boston Beer works through continued softness across beer and hard seltzer.

• Beer Loses Summer Traction as Bev-Alc Slump Deepens in Weekly NIQ Off-Premise Scans

  Brewbound — Aug 21, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  Weekly NIQ off-premise scan data shows beer giving back momentum it had built earlier in the summer, as the broader beverage-alcohol category continues to soften. The figures add to a run of retail data pointing to sustained pressure on packaged beer sales heading into the fall season.

• Hop Take: Tilray's Craft Brewery Closures Reflect a Flawed Acquisition Strategy

  VinePair — Aug 21, 2026, 11:02 AM UTC

  VinePair's Hop Take column argues that Tilray's repeated shutdowns of craft breweries it acquired stem from a strategy that never fit the beer business, rather than from craft's broader downturn alone. The piece traces the cannabis company's run of brand purchases and subsequent production cuts, framing the closures as a predictable outcome. It arrives as Tilray continues consolidating brewing operations across its portfolio.

• Urban South Brings Back Its Oktoberfest Marzen for Fall

  Brewbound — Aug 20, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  New Orleans-based Urban South Brewery is returning its Oktoberfest Marzen lager to the seasonal lineup this fall. The 6.2% ABV, 15 IBU beer leans malt-forward with a fuller body and a clean, crisp finish. The brewery positions it as a traditional take on the German style that anchors Oktoberfest celebrations.

• Nod Hill Brewery Installs New BrauKon Brewhouse as Connecticut Wholesale Business Grows

  Brewbound — Aug 20, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  Ridgefield, Connecticut's Nod Hill Brewery has installed a German-engineered BrauKon brewhouse, which the family-founded brewery describes as its largest production investment since opening in 2017. The upgrade follows wholesale growth of more than 35 percent in Connecticut. The first beers off the new system are expected in September 2026, beginning with a double-decocted Marzen and then an IPA.

  Nod Hill Brewery on Beer.Social

• Horror Franchises Take Over Fall Beer Cans From New Belgium, Boston Beer and Neshaminy Creek

  Brewbound — Aug 20, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  New Belgium is putting the Halloween films' Michael Myers alongside its Voodoo Ranger skeleton on cans of Slasher IPA for the fall season. Boston Beer is bringing the Scream franchise's Ghost Face to a limited Angry Orchard variety pack, while Pennsylvania's Neshaminy Creek is releasing its own Slasher Sampler mix pack. The releases show how heavily brewers are leaning on horror licensing for the Halloween selling window.

• Press Clips: Teamsters Contract Wins, Ardagh Sale Listing and Source Brewing Taproom Closure

  Brewbound — Aug 20, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

  Brewbound's news roundup covers a set of Teamsters contract victories in the beverage sector, packaging supplier Ardagh being put up for sale, and the closure of a Source Brewing taproom. The items point to continued consolidation pressure on both suppliers and small breweries. It is one of the outlet's regular short-item digests of industry developments.

  Source Brewing on Beer.Social

• Brewers Association Data Shows Brewery Visits Trending Up

  Brewers Association — Aug 19, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  A new Brewers Association insights piece reports that visits to breweries and taprooms have increased, a finding the trade group frames as surprising given soft craft volume figures elsewhere. The analysis examines what the visitation trend suggests about on-premise demand. It adds nuance to a year in which overall craft sales data has remained weak.

• Craft Maltsters Guild Sets Third Annual Craft Malt Month

  Brewbound — Aug 19, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  The Craft Maltsters Guild announced plans for its third annual Craft Malt Month, a promotional period meant to draw attention to small, independent malthouses and the brewers who buy from them. The campaign arrives the same year the Great American Beer Festival added a dedicated craft malt judging category. Participating breweries typically mark the month with beers built around locally malted grain.

• Diageo Cut More Than 1,900 Jobs in Fiscal 2026

  Brewbound — Aug 19, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

  Spirits giant Diageo reduced its workforce by over 1,900 positions during its 2026 fiscal year as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The company indicated that roughly 90% of the restructuring work is expected to be finished by September. The move is one of the larger recent cost-cutting actions in the beverage-alcohol sector.