In its first year offering alc bevs at University of Texas Longhorn football games, sales reached $1.74 mil, reported Houston Chronicle. While over 2/3 of that came from big-3 beer brands (mostly from Miller Lite and Coors Light), a handful of local craft brands made their mark at the stadium too. Five Texas craft brands totaled 15,098 orders for $132,670. Uncle Billy's Green Room IPA led all craft brands with $34,322, followed by Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Kolsch, Independence Power & Light Pale Ale, Hops & Grains The One They Call Zoe Pale Lager, and Shiner Bock. Interestingly, each of the smaller local brands outsold Shiner here.  

In advance of opening its $32.5 mil brewery in Columbus, Oh late this summer, BrewDog hired Jason Davis as US sales veep, starting Monday. Jason worked for Sierra Nevada for last 13 yrs, spending much of that time heading up midwest region sales for Sierra. Previously he worked for Diageo too. BrewDog will open multiple retail locations in US. Relationship with Anchor in US ended some mos back. BrewDog's big success in UK means its ambitious efforts in US will be closely watched.  

Last fall, Troegs Independent Brewing debuted new packaging across most of its portfolio, providing a "very nice uplift," co-founder Chris Trogner told Craft Brew News this week. So the co finished 2015 at about 78K bbls, +13%. That's a slower trend than the 20%+ growth Troegs got the last few years. But the low double-digit range is where the co feels most comfortable, Chris said. Since launching Perpetual IPA year-round in 2012, it's remained Troegs' largest brand and is still "really leading," he said. At about 30% of total production, it's up 35%. Troegenator still grew double digits too and the re-vamped Hop Cycle seasonal series was a "homerun for us last year," Chris noted.

This year, Troegs has a new year-round brand Solid Sender Ale in the mix. It "evolved" from the first beer Troegs brewed, its Pale Ale, Chris explained. As Troegs nears its 20th year in biz (it opened July, 1997) and completed its first major brand refresh, Chris and brother/co-founder John figured it was a "nice time" for the co "to reinvent that beer." Though the "basics of the beer are the same," Solid Sender is a totally new offering. It clocks in at just over 5% ABV but doesn't call attention to its sessionability except through the "subtle" implication of "the name itself," referencing "something you can fall back on." The beer started sneaking out into Troegs' home markets late last year, but hits its full 10-state plus DC distribution starting now. And the co is "not really looking to add" new markets this year, Chris said. It will fill out North Carolina, launching in Asheville and Western NC as well as the Outer Banks in early spring.

While Troegs, at almost 80K bbls last year, may fit right into the target-range some folks cite in conversations about "who's next" (that is, which brewery will do the next deal), you may also notice that it's kept "Independent" in its company name. The inclusion of the word dates all the way back to 1998. And Chris notes that he and his brother see no end to the co's independence in sight. They're both in their early 40s so "plan on continuing" to run the company for a while. Sure, they get "rapid emails" from folks "fishing" for a deal, but Chris suggested that it may not be as common as we've heard from others. He also reminded that Troegs doesn't have any other original investors looking to be paid. They do have a bunch of debt from the brewery, but that's why it's "necessary to do things in steps," Chris said, and "have sales to help cover" it.  

Top-30 craft brands list in 2015 looks a fair amount different than 2014 list as six new brands finished in top-30 this yr. Whether you wanna call it craft, FMB or somethin' entirely separate, it's impossible to ignore the growth of root beer, and particularly Not Your Father's Root Beer. NYFRB sales reached $104.4 mil in IRI MULC thru Dec 27, with majority of its sales comin' in the latter half of the yr. On its own NYFRB is large enuf to be 17th best-selling vendor in IRI behind Lagunitas ($136.5 mil) and Craft Brew Alliance ($137.8 mil). And the 38th best-selling beer brand in toto. Put into craft context, that's larger than all craft brands except for Sierra Pale and Sam Seasonal in scans; its 6pk in bottles is the best-selling craft package and its canned 6pk is already #25 largest craft package after launching in September.

Boston Beer's Coney Island Hard Root Beer also made its mark, reachin' $24 mil in total sales, mostly from August onward. That's large enuf to be 16th top craft brand in scans, ahead of Bell's Two Hearted Ale (+35%), Redhook Longhammer IPA (flat) and Stone IPA (+24%) among others. It helped drive Boston's Alchemy & Science unit to become top-25 vendor separate from Boston Beer. So as rest of Boston Beer portfolio (Sam Adams, Cider, Tea) collectively down 3% for final 13 wks, adding in A&S boosts $$ trend to +5% for same period. Altogether NYFRB and CIHRB have close to 0.4 share of MULC $$ YTD and have well over 1 share in supers for latest 13 wks.

Meanwhile, three other craft brands zoomed onto top-30 list. Fastest of 'em all was AB-owned Goose Island IPA. It more than tripled sales for the full yr, +260%, (more than quadrupled sales every 4 wk period since July) propelling the brand to 23d best-selling IRI craft brand and 8th largest IPA brand by $$ (6th largest by volume). And guess where it's been pushin' most - c-stores. Goose IPA was up a whopping 570% in craft's most underdeveloped (and AB's most developed) channel YTD and up over 800% for last 13 wks. Already the 15th largest craft brand in c-stores thru 2015. Think AB smells c-store oppy?

Lastly, Firestone 805 Blonde Ale and Founders All Day IPA each more than doubled to make the top-30 brand list in IRI MULC. We've talked about these two brands' impressive growth all year. Firestone 805 ranks as 26th largest craft brand all from sales in CA, and Founders All Day IPA found its niche with a canned 15pk driving sales. Indeed, Founders All Day 15pk more than quadrupled sales in scans with lowest pricing among top craft packages, at $27.36 per case. Both brands were among the top-10 largest share gainers in foodstores for the last 13 wks now too. Honorable mentions: Lagunitas Seasonal (+28%) snuck back into top-30 IRI MULC craft brands as of November; and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (+94%) jumped into top-30 craft brand list in supers. These brands ousted Magic Hat #9, Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat, Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA, Harpoon IPA and both Deschutes Seasonal and Mirror Pond Ale for a spot in the top-30 MULC brands this yr. While we don't have these brands' total trends, we know each of them markedly slowed in 2015. Should be interesting to see how this list changes again in 2016.  

Craft segment $$ sales up 23%, volume up 19% thru nearly all of 2015 (YTD thru Dec 27) in IRI multi-outlet + convenience data that includes Not Your Father's Root Beer and Coney Island Hard Root Beer. Even without including those brands, craft still managed to keep up +20% pace in scans, gaining over 1 share of $$ to 8.5. That's almost as fast as 20.5% pace in 2014 but off a much larger base. Meaning total gains were heftier than ever regardless of how you define segment. Indeed, without Root Beer boost, craft still managed to grow nearly 11 mil cases and $476 mil to over 78 mil cases and $2.84 bil total for the full yr. Gotta note, $$ trend slowed to +17% in latest 4 wks and 18% for latest 13wks (w/o root beer). Slower yet in most developed channel, supers: up 11% for 4 wks, 12% for 13 wks (volume gains slowed to high-single digits for both periods). Yet segment hit whopping 9.9 and 9.5 share of MULC $$ during respective periods. Impressively, that's well ahead of Domestic Super Premium category's 9 share for 4 wks and 9.2 share for 13 wks. And in supers, craft is ahead of imports segment for both 4 and 13 wks at 19.6 and 18.9 share respectively. They told us OND was key…

Lookin' at top cos, Lagunitas again finished yr as fastest growing craft co in scans. Tho trend slowed down a bit at the end of the yr, it still finished with $$ up 49%, +$44.7 mil. Sierra Nevada finished with similar total gain, $44.4 mil, up 20%. No other top craft company came anywhere near those total $$ gains. Boston Beer up $86 mil, +11% altogether including A&S, tho that's all Cider, Tea and Root Beer (see below for more on Sam Adams). Next closest was AB's Goose Island, up $13.3 mil, +33%. Stone (+27%), Bell's (+20%), SweetWater (+25%) and New Glarus (+35%) were other top trends in 2015 among craft cos in IRI's top-25 vendors. Excluding New Glarus, each of those cos trends decelerated vs 2014. And SweetWater slowed to single digits (+8%) for second straight 4wk period. Meanwhile, Deschutes accelerated in final mos to close out yr up 12%, better than 2014 trend. And Gambrinus sustained 7% gain, same trend as last yr, with steady growin' Shiner Bock (also +7%) leadin' the way. Now ahead of Boston Lager as 3d largest craft brand in scans (excluding root beer).

Yet final numbers for the yr weren't as pretty for several top cos. Sam Adams top-4 brands finished the yr down 6% collectively. That's Sam Seasonal (-8%), Boston Lager (-6%), Sam Variety Pk (-13%), Rebel IPA (+15%). And each of those brands saw considerably steeper declines thru latter part of the yr: combined down 12% for final 13 wks. Altogether they make up about 88% of Sam Adams total sales in IRI MULC. Then too, New Belgium eked out a 2% gain, with Fat Tire (-1%), Ranger IPA (-2%) and NBB Seasonal (-13%) down for the yr. And Craft Brew Alliance ended up +3% amid a particularly tuff year for Redhook brand family.  

Charlie Papazian shifts roles "to founder, past president" at the Brewers Assn this month as current CEO Bob Pease takes on prexy title as well. Charlie spent 37 years serving the American small brewer and homebrewer communities. He'll continue to help tell their stories by archiving almost 4 decades worth of pictures and videos and taping new interviews with industry pioneers.  

Several sizable cos have already announced new distribution territory to begin in Jan. Yuengling officially enters MS. Founders enters SoCal with Reyes Group and AB house, Pacific Beverage. Duvel USA's Boulevard enters Ariz with Hensley and KY with Beer House Distributors. Another Duvel co, Firestone Walker just announced it'll officially expand 805 Blonde Ale outside of home-state Calif for the first time (see above). Oskar Blues just launched UT with M&M Dist this mo and plans to be fully national by first half of 2016; only ND, SD, OK, MT to go. Interestingly, Oskar Blues partnered with UT-based Utah Brewers Co-op (owned by same PE firm, Fireman's Capital) to create a new session beer called Utah Blues that will be available at select locations, co announced. The first collaboration we've seen (at least publicly) between the two cos with the same PE owner. Then too, a few smaller cos announced new distribution in TX starting in Jan. AleSmith is largest of the bunch, entering Dallas Fort Worth area with Andrews Dist. Another CA brewer, Knee Deep Brewing enters Austin area with Austin Specialty Beverage. And TX-based Ranger Creek Brewing signed on with Glazer's for San Antonio area. In Fla, local MIA Brewing switched to Cavalier Dist from its own distribution unit, Most Wanted Beverages. Recall, MIA just partnered with Brew Hub to help out with production, which will help it launch cans in coming mos. It's also expanding its own facility to 21K sq-ft by summer 2016, via Miami New Times. In NC, local brewer Lazy Hiker partnered with Skyland Dist for Western NC. And a Ontario, Canada-based Nickel Brook Brewing enters northeast OH with Esber Beverage, reported cleveland.com. That's co's first US distribution point. It also has alc soda line with Babbling Brooke's Root Beer and Naughty Nick's Ginger Beer.  

A couple of regional breweries announced limitations on distribution in North Carolina recently, though for different reasons. After 12 years of selling beer in NC, Ska Brewing will withdraw from the market, it announced this week. The co is capacity constrained back at its Durango, Colo brewery, and demand "continues to climb closer to their Colorado backyard." And tho NC has gotten lots more crowded in the last couple of years, it was actually the first mkt Ska opened outside of Colo. It's been statewide with Tryon for most of its time in the market. Separately, in-state brewer Olde Mecklenburg announced it would pull out of the Triad area (around Greensboro). Why? Because state law requires breweries producing more than 25K bbls per year to use distributors and stop self-distributing. Olde Mecklenburg refuses to hand over distribution rights and so, "in order not to underserve Charlotte - our home market - we are preemptively pulling out of the Triad," founder John Marrino told the Charlotte Biz Journal. Interestingly, the co just expanded into the Triad area and leases a 5000 sq-ft warehouse there to assist in its distribution operations. And its current Charlotte facility has the space to expand operations up to 100K bbls. "It's one of those laws of unintended consequences," sales director Ryan Self told the paper. "It takes OMB from something that is growing every year as an employment and tax creator and puts us in a holding pattern."  

In just its 3d year Rhinegeist grew to 30K bbls, makin' it "one of the fastest breweries to hit" 30K bbl mark in history, co announced today. That's right on the mark for goal it set earlier this yr (see Mar 16 issue) and nearly 3x growth vs last yr. Recall, it shot up from 2K bbls in yr-1 to 10.5K bbls in 2014. Rhinegeist continues to have notable success in chains, already a top-50 craft brewer in IRI data this year (see Nov 23 issue). And now with its new brewery up and running, Rhinegeist has plenty of room to run. Its beers are still only available in OH and KY as co still expanding reach within those states. It also plans to add IN.  

Atwater Brewery announced 25% revenue increase in 2015 across the country and +40% in home state Mich, reported MLive. Gotta note, Atwater previously expected to grow revenue and shipments 55% to $12 mil and 62K bbls in 2015 (see Feb 11 issue); so 2015 number came in a fair amount lower. Co's goal is to reach 300K bbls by 2020. "The beer business is extremely competitive," owner Mark Reith acknowledged, "but our brands have remained strong, especially our Dirty Blonde and Vanilla Java Porter that continue to be market leaders" (they account for nearly 70% of Atwater total IRI sales and just over 70% of total growth). Meanwhile, Atwater has several projects/expansions either completed or in the works. It opened new mkts in Ontario Canada, CO, NC and Calif last yr and announced partnership with Oak Beverages in NYC area. Co reportedly still lookin' at GA and NJ as well. Then too, it expanded capacity and recently reopened its original beer garden in Detroit's Rivertown area, announced plans to open a Grand Rapids beer garden and "still looking at opening a taproom in downtown Detroit," sez paper. It also launched a line of spirits and recently revamped its packaging. And last we heard, Atwater expects to open its 2d brewery in Austin, TX in early 2017 and plans for a 3d brewery in NC. Stay tuned.