Craft Brewing and Distilling News for November 19, 2015
November 19, 2015•Illinois-based Small Town Brewery is following up on its fast-growing Not Your Father’s Root Beer brand with a national launch of Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale, a 5.9% abv ginger ale. The new entry is a “gruit-inspired botanical beer brewed with ginger,” according to Small Town, which is rolling the product out to about 40 states next week through distributor Pabst Brewing, with nationwide coverage expected by February. Gruit (German for “herbs”) beers are bittered and flavored with roots, spices, flowers and berries rather than hops. The company recommends that Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale—packaged in six-packs of bottles and cans ($10.99)—be served chilled over ice or in ginger cocktails like the Moscow Mule and Dark & Stormy.
•Chico, California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is adding to its year-round lineup with the launch of gose-style ale Otra Vez early next year. The new beer is brewed with local produce like prickly pear cactus and grapefruits and comes in at 4.5% abv. Beginning January 2016, Otra Vez will be available throughout the company’s nationwide distribution footprint in 12-ounce cans and bottles and on draft. Sierra Nevada’s core beers include Pale Ale, Torpedo, Hop Hunter IPA, Nooner Pilsner, Kellerweis, Porter and Stout, as well as seasonal, specialty and limited releases. In addition to its Chico operation, Sierra Nevada operates a second brewery in Mills River, North Carolina.
•Mark Hegedus, who has led AB InBev-owned Blue Point Brewing as president since last year, is leaving the company to become general manager at North American Breweries’ (NAB) Magic Hat Brewing Company, effective next month, NAB has confirmed to SND. Prior to joining Blue Point, Hegedus was senior director of marketing at ABI’s Goose Island Beer Co., and prior to that was director of sales and marketing at Deschutes. Magic Hat was down 6.6% by volume last year, according to Impact Databank.
Subscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.Tagged : AB InBev, Blue Point Brewing, Deschutes, Goose Island Beer Co., Magic Hat Brewing Company, North American Breweries, Pabst Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Small Town Brewery
