In the wide wild world of Twitter, less than a tenth of a percent of all Tweets, or about 1 in every 1250, concern drinking. As expected, most of them are positive, according to a recently published study. Researchers collected almost 12 million drinking-related Tweets over the course of one month, tracking selected keywords like "drunk," "beer" and "alcohol." After narrowing that down to 4800 Tweets with the greatest reach potential and then coding them for sentiment, themes and source, the group found that almost 80% of alcohol-related Tweets were pro-alcohol, near 90% of which came from regular folks rather than brands or celebrities. That's "concerning" and "worrisome," authors conclude, because underage Twitter users could see content "normalizing drinking behaviors." Results also "point to the crucial need for prevention efforts to counter" much greater number of pro-drinking messages.

Digital media platforms clearly represent a significant piece of modern social interactions, particularly among younger people. Studying those interactions poses unique methodological challenges, but also offers huge scale opportunities. For example, the 4800 alcohol-related sample of short, digital messages studied had a potential reach of over 35.3 million Twitter users. To the researchers' point: while about 79% of those Tweets were pro-alcohol, those messages represented almost 89% of the potential reach, or 31.4 mil users.

Just over half the "pro-alcohol Tweets referred to heavy or frequent drinking," the most-common of any alcohol-related theme for which the researchers coded. Another quarter of pro- messages had Tweeters "wanting, needing, or planning to drink" (ex. "I need a hug or 6 shots of vodka"). Reports from people currently drinking or with other current drinkers (ex. "Lol angie is drunk") and marketing/promotional messages represented another 16-17% each of pro- Tweets. Researchers coded about the same number of Tweets, just over 140, with the least-common pro-drinking theme ("also mentions tobacco, marijuana, or other drugs) as the most-common anti-drinking theme ("alcohol use is harmful"). That represented over 40% of anti- Tweets, followed by disliking of finding drunk people unattractive (29%), getting sober or in recovery (13%) and having fun without alcohol (8%). About 87% of pro- and 81% of anti- Tweets came from regular users. Industry members or "alcohol-focused handle[s]" (like @DrunkyStory) represented 10% of pro- and 2% of anti- Tweets.

The terms researchers used and the timing of their study offer important caveats to these results. Researchers limited terms for the study to those used over 500K times per month, but didn't include "wine" because "we presumed that wine-related Tweets could be qualitatively different" from the others, including "beer" and "vodka." But that volume minimum also meant the researchers didn't pick up all alcohol-related tweets, particularly those using many slang terms. Further, the popular term "hangover" created particular coding difficulty. Importantly: researchers collected Tweets between mid-March and mid-April of 2014, a period that included both St Patrick's Day and many high school/college spring breaks. So a peak drinking period that could have affected the volume and type of drinking-related Tweets, researchers acknowledge. It's early days in this research, but these findings are likely to fuel the public health argument that consumers, especially young and underage consumers, are exposed to far too many positive messages about drinking. Ref 4    Go To Top



References
1 Data from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, website address: vizhub.heathdata.org/us-health-map Stockwell, T, et al, "Relationships Between Minimum Alcohol Pricing and Crime During the Partial Privatization of a Canadian Government Alcohol Monopoly," Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol 76, No 4, 628-634.
3 Riordan, B, et al, "A Brief Orientation Week Ecological Momentary Intervention to Reduce Student Alcohol Consumption,"; Samson, J, et al, " Single-Session Alcohol Interventions or Heavy Drinking College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol 76, No 4, 525-543.
4 Cavazos-Rehg, P, et al, "'Hey Everyone, I'm Drunk,' An Evaluation of Drinking Related Twitter Chatter," Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol 76, No 4, 635-643.

Many commentators, in the UK and the US, including some industry members, have loudly criticized the alleged "deregulation" of the alcohol beverage business in the UK about a decade ago for leading to a plethora of increased problems. Many of these commentators focus on the right extended to pubs to stay open for 24 hours as a particularly egregious policy mistake. But the new rules neither saved the pub business nor led to an increase in drinking, heavy drinking or some key alcohol-related problems. Quite the contrary. As we reported in our April issue, per capita consumption dropped by 18% since deregulation. A new report on the effects of the UK changes from the Institute for Economic Affairs also showed:

• Excessive drinking rates among 16-24 yr-olds fell from 29% to 18% over the same period, a nearly 40% decline in the rate. Among 25-44 yr-olds, the excessive drinking rate declined by almost one-quarter, from 25% to 19%.
• Crimes described as "generally aggravated by alcohol" fell by 28%.
• The average pub has increased its opening time by just 21 minutes. (A "very small" number of pubs adopted 24-hour drinking.)
• Despite fewer restrictions, thousands of pubs closed during this period.

The report's author concluded: "A cautious interpretation of the data suggests that the Act may have improved public health and public order somewhat. It certainly did not worsen them." (Source: The Telegraph, Financial Times)

Elsewhere in the UK, a recent alcohol policy change is having a very predictable impact. Scotland reduced the legal BAC limit for driving, to .05 in December last year. Just months later, "rural businesses report a drop in bar sales of up to 90%," reports the Scottish Daily Mail. Many outlets "are providing our customers with access to breathalysers so guests can be confident before they return to the roads," a spokesperson for the on-premise trade association pointed out. But millions of dollars in revenues and a significant number of jobs are threatened.

Amidst college administrators' and health officials' constant search for ways to reduce heavy drinking on college campuses, two recently released studies found "moderate" success in their different approaches, with an emphasis on moderate. Indeed, while "brief interventions" with some drinking populations have shown very promising results, these two studies suggest far more research/effort will be needed to "crack the code" to successful prevention of heavy drinking on campus, especially among males.

Hoping to curb heavy drinking habits during a notoriously high alcohol consumption time period, Orientation Week, researchers in New Zealand tested the effectiveness of Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMIs). EMIs send "real-time" advice via text to students. During Orientation Week at the University of Otago, 130 freshman participants (72 women, 58 men) were "randomly assigned" to either Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), which only tracks participants drinking during Orientation and thruout the semester, or EMA-EMI (both "assessment and intervention"). Those receiving EMIs received a daily text message at 7:30pm thruout Orientation that typically consisted of reminders of potential "health" concerns and/or "social consequences" of consuming too much alcohol. Some examples of messages included: "drinking too much can turn you into a burden for your mates," "long-term heavy drinking can cause serious health risks later in life," or "heavy drinking can cause alcohol poisoning." And those types of messages were also sent once a week throughout the 1st semester. All participants were asked to report drinking habits during Orientation Week as well as once a week throughout the semester.

Results show that women who received EMI messages "consumed significantly less alcohol during orientation week and throughout the first semester," compared to those who didn't. Indeed, women who received the EMI messages consumed 9 fewer drinks during Orientation than those who were only assessed. That was a 35% difference. The EMI women also consumed a third fewer drinks during typical semester weekends thereafter during the first semester. But there was "no difference" for men's drinking habits. In fact, men who received EMI's actually had more drinks during Orientation than those who were only assessed and only consumed 1 fewer drink per week on successive weekends. While other reports using EMIs have shown "equally effective results" for both genders, the authors hypothesized that "peer influences during Orientation Week may be more intense for men than for women," and ultimately "men may require a more intensive intervention." (Our emphasis.) "This study represents a crucial first step in using EMIs during Orientation Week to decrease alcohol use," the authors concluded, and given the findings among women, did show some promise.

Single-Session Interventions Show "Modest" Effects; "Interactive Approaches" Work Best A much more extensive, mega survey of previous research looked at the effectiveness of "brief, single-session interventions" for "heavy drinking college students." Heavy drinkers were defined as participants that drink more than two drinks per day or four drinks in a sitting (for men), or more than one drink/day or three drinks/ sitting (for women) in the past month. The authors aggregated 73 "unique studies" across the world since 1979 (79% of studies were conducted in US) that "specifically compared alcohol use among heavy drinkers that received a single-session intervention treatment compared to those who received no treatment. . . . Eligible interventions. . . could include up to five hours of contact time," and "had to directly address participants' alcohol use without pharmacotherapy."

Single-session interventions "show modest effects for reducing alcohol consumption among heavy drinking college students," the authors concluded. In fact, the effects were extremely modest. Heavy drinking college students who received single session treatment on average had only "0.37 fewer drinks per week." While these results could be "clinically insignificant," the authors conceded, they believe that "even this small effect has the potential to interrupt the trajectory from heavy drinking to alcohol use disorder." Then too, the study also found "the most consistent, positive effects" when using "motivational enhancement therapy/motivation interviewing" (MET/MI), or "personalized feedback only" techniques. Meanwhile, psycho-educational therapy (PET) - basically providing information about "potential harms associated with alcohol use" - demonstrated "no evidence" of having any effect on participants' drinking habits. Findings for a third type of intervention -- cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) -- were "inconclusive."

The PET approach "may be developmentally inappropriate" to younger participants "who feel invincible or think that bad things happen only to other people," the authors speculated. These findings support the many public health advocates who are skeptical about whether education can dent heavy drinking among young people. All in, these "results are consistent with prior research that suggests substance use interventions for youth yield more favorable outcomes when they use personalized interactive approaches rather than solely didactic or educational/ informational strategies." Ref 3  

As noted last issue, national surveys (the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System) reveal remarkably broad ranges in overall, heavy and binge drinking rates within the same state. These findings raise the question of whether alcohol policy needs to be more tailored to local conditions and cultures. They also strongly counter the notion that average drinking rates, however defined, determine problem drinking rates and suggest that the latter, rather than the former, should therefore be the major prevention focus.

INSIGHTS dug into the county-by-county binge drinking rates in some large states to discover the variation in that measure. In the largest US alcohol market, California, the average binge drinking rate was 11.9% in 2012, just below the national average of 12.4%. In San Francisco County, the binge rate jumps up to 19.6%, almost 2/3 higher than the state average. Bust just down the coast in Monterey, the rate drops nearly 50% to 10.6%. In the southeast corner of the state, the binge rate declines to 6.9% in Imperial County.

Moving across the country to New York, Bronx County, one of the 5 boroughs of NYC, has a binge rate of 10.2%, lower than the state average. But cross a bridge to New York County (Manhattan) and the binge rate jumps by almost 70% to 17.1. A similar situation can be found in Florida. Monroe County (including Key West) has a binge rate of 19.5%, much higher than the state average of 12.2%. But binging drops to 10.9% just next door in Miami Dade. Up in the mid-Panhandle, the binge rate falls to 5.9% in Liberty County. In Michigan, several counties in the Upper Peninsula have binge rates of 22%+. But in South Central Wayne County (Detroit), that plummets to 8.4%. Even wider swings can be found in Colorado. Hinsdale County has a binge rate of 23.6%; Kiowa County's is 4.9%. In the Midwest, Chicago's Cook County has a binge rate almost exactly the same as the state average (16.1%/15.9%). But that rate jumps by over half in southwest Calhoun County and falls by over half to 8.4% in south-central Wayne County.

Texas provides a different perspective. Harris County (Houston) matched the state binge drinking average of 10.8%; Dallas County is only slightly below, at 10.3%. The figures change vastly in different parts of the huge state. Most interesting perhaps is to compare binge rates in the 7 "completely dry" counties (where "no sales of alcohol beverages are legal anywhere in the county," as the Texas Alc Bev Commission describes them) to the 49 "completely wet" counties, (where "all alcoholic beverage sales are legal everywhere in the county"). "All other counties are a combination of wet and dry areas," the TABC points out. Predictably, there are wide variations even within these two groups. Among the "completely wet" counties, some have binge drinking rates that far exceed the state average of 10.8% and some are significantly below. Perhaps more surprising is that the binge drinking rate in several of the "completely dry" counties exceeds the rate in some of the "completely wet" counties. Indeed, the binge rate in Throckmorton County matches the state average and exceeds the rate in 21 of the 49 "completely wet" counties. Ref 1  

Whether or not governments should impose minimum prices on alcohol beverages remains a hot debate in the UK, though it's still not gotten much traction in the US. Minimum price proponents received support for the measure in recent research from British Columbia, Canada. But the same study cast doubt on another very popular measure among public health advocates: restricting the number of alcohol outlets.

Coincidentally, British Columbia adopted a new minimum pricing scheme and loosened controls on availability at nearly the same time about a decade ago. Lead author and long-time public health advocate Tim Stockwell led a research team to see if the two policies were linked to changes in three different types of crime over the 2002-2010 period: alcohol-involved traffic violations, non-alcohol-involved traffic violations and "crimes against persons," alcohol-involved or not. Oddly, the team either did not correlate these policy changes with changes in drinking levels in BC during this period, or they chose not to include that data in this report. Changes in pricing were substantial: the minimum price per liter of spirits and packaged beer, for example, rose in stages by nearly 20% from August 2004 to April 2009. Interestingly, minimum prices of wine, coolers and liqueurs did not change. The key findings:

• "A 10% increase in average minimum price (dollars per standard drink) . . . was estimated to be significantly associated with a 9.39% reduction in the rate of all three crime types." That included a nearly 19% drop in alcohol-involved traffic violations and a 9% decline in crimes against persons.
• But "a 10% increase in private liquor store density" was not associated with any statistically significant change in any of the crime types, after adjustments were made for interactions with minimum price.

How the researchers were able to tease apart the effects of two policies adopted at the same time isn't clear from the analysis, but the authors did point out that "we report only associations between variables - not evidence of causation - and other simultaneous events not included in this study may better explain the relationships found." Yet those relationships seemed strong enough to them to suggest that the findings "add to the growing literature indicating that public health and safety benefits can flow from policies that seek to limit cheap alcohol by setting minimum prices." Nor are the authors ready to discard availability limits as a prevention tool. Indeed, despite finding no link between increased availability and crime, including alcohol-involved traffic violations, they point out that "there are a number of possible mechanisms by which an increase in the density of liquor stores may create some adverse consequences or public health and safety." (Our emphasis.) Another round of higher minimum prices and availability reforms were adopted in BC in 2014. So the province will remain a rich source for further research.

Meanwhile, as officials in Scotland continue to pursue a minimum price, colleagues in neighboring Wales have proposed a bill to adopt a minimum price of 50p per unit, reports The Western Mail. Adoption would lead to 50 fewer deaths in Wales each year and "help prevent 1,400 hospital admissions," the bill claims. The Mail cited a study that suggested a minimum price of 50p would save the Welsh economy £882 million over 20 years in lower costs due to "illness, crime and sickness absence." A spokesman for the Salvation Army decried the availability of "cheap drink," as low as 27p per unit. A spokesman for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association decried the notion of raising prices on "over half of the drinks on supermarket shelves" while "doing nothing to tackle alcohol harm." Ref 2

Appalachian Mountain Brewery grew revs 60% to $478,572, and net profit up 32% to $111,852 in Q2 this yr, co announced in earnings release.  Recall, that’s already an improvement from total 2014 results.  Last yr co increased revs yet had overall net loss of $196,597 as cost of sales nearly tripled and gross margin dropped 8.1 pts to 73.8 (see Jul 1 issue).  This quarter gross margin “remained flat but extremely strong” at 77. 

Meanwhile, under recent “Alternating Proprietorship agreement” with Craft Brew Alliance at CBA’s Portsmouth, NH brewery, “AMB started brewing test trials of our core beers in Portsmouth,” and plans to have draught and 16oz cans “of all our core beers” out of Portsmouth by end of Q3.  Notably, CBA mentioned on its Q2 call that "regulatory approval of our Portsmouth brewery as an alternate proprietorship" is "a milestone that now enables additional partnerships to take root," per CBA ceo Andy Thomas (see Aug 6 issue).  Once that gets rollin’ it’ll “increase AMB capacity significantly” and eventually help “on a wider spread forum,” sez co.  Indeed, the distribution agreement it signed with CBA, effective Apr 1, has already “enabled both our craft beer and cider lines to become more available…across Western and Central North Carolina,” and has implications “beyond” NC as well.  Stay tuned.

These are good times for Colo craft brewers. State is epicenter of ongoing craft expansion, home of ever growing Brewers Assn, a strong brewers guild and more.  Indeed, recent survey for Colo Brewers Guild found “the majority of the brewers surveyed said they expect to tally year over year sales growth of 20% in 2015 and 2016,” reports Denver Post.   So what’s the problem?  As we noted last week, some Colo brewers “concerned” that vastly expanded AB branch in Colo via purchase of American Eagle and swap for Standard Sales operations will curb craft oppys in state.  American Eagle had 86% of its biz in AB portfolio, Post reports, but many watching what happens with remaining biz, including some of Colo’s favorite sons, Odell, Great Divide and High Hops among them.  “We have a pretty big footprint that American Eagle has helped,” High Hops’ Pat Weakland told the Post.  “It’s a sad thing to see American Eagle go, but it’s a real sad thing to see Budweiser, or InBev, buy American Eagle and possibly get rid of all the small craft breweries.”  AB’s Bob Tallett has said AB aims to keep a “handful” of local beers in American Eagle’s portfolio.       

Meanwhile, Colo craft brewers also concerned about annual effort to allow grocery chains to sell not only 3.2 beer, but full strength beer as well.  Full strength beer now confined to independent liquor stores.  Same Post article said Twisted Pine Brewing Co’s prexy Bob Baile “estimated that the passage of the law could slash 30%” of its annual revs.  Colo brewers believe grocery chains would narrow choice and hurt neighborhood stores where they sell their full strength beer.  Rarely stated, but also a factor: Colo brewers know grocery chains would have much bigger hammer to negotiate price than neighborhood stores.    

Deschutes is yet another top 10 craft brewer growing at markedly slower rate than last yr.  But it’s still up 5.4% yr-to-date.  And founder Gary Fish expresses satisfaction with this yr’s results in a fast-changing environment. “We feel pretty good about it,” Gary told CBN. “We have a plan and we’re executing against it.”  The mkt is changing so fast that it “requires being light on your feet…. We enjoy the challenge of trying to keep up” with the consumer who “loves beer, variety and new.” 

Deschutes’ Fresh Squeezed IPA is its “big star of the moment” and will likely overtake Mirror Pond Ale as Deschutes # 1 brand this mo or next (recall, it was 19% of volume and #1 in 20 of Deschutes’ 28 states back in Apr, according to presentation at Craft Brewers Conference).  This is the way it is for many leading craft brewers these days, with flagships that “are lagging behind” if not “suffering outright.”  In response to conditions which make it difficult to maintain the flagship, Deschutes is doubling down on the innovation and creativity that are seemingly a necessity just to compete in craft these days, especially in the ultracompetitive Pacific Northwest (recall that Deschutes did 46% of its biz in just Oreg and Wash last yr).  And so here comes Pinedrops IPA, already a top-15 new craft intro as of May in IRI supers (see Jun 12 issue).  In 3 of 4 last years, Deschutes has had a top-15 craft intro with an IPA.

The current craft environment “is definitely getting more crowded,” Gary noted. “Things are shifting” and there’s a “lot of uncertainty” but these are also “exciting times,” when consumers will pay up for perceived value.  Each of Fresh Squeezed and Pinedrops are “higher priced” and  typically sell for “above $10 per six pack” in what amounts to a “separate pricing tier” where if you “put value” in the bottle, the consumer is “not shying away from opportunities” to pay up.  The cost of goods sold for such brands “can vary dramatically” and Deschutes has also had to “beef up” its R&D department, Gary noted. 

Even if there are significantly increased costs, the greater revenue of these higher priced brands is clearly visible in IRI multioutlet + convenience data, where Deschutes volume is up just 1.6% yr-to-date thru Jul 12, but its $$ sales are up 8.7%.  Interestingly, Deschutes is the #6 BA-defined craft brewer, and yet it no longer has a brand that is among the top 30 craft brands in IRI.  Both Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter are “soft,” acknowledged Gary, but if the “brands that brought us to the dance” aren’t “doing as well as we’d like,” then it’s up to Deschutes to “keep the customer engaged” with brands like Fresh Squeezed and Pinedrops IPA.  Today’s consumer is “completely enamored with hop flavor,” said Gary.  Deschutes presently has 28 brands.

Recall that last yr, Deschutes grew at its fastest pace in over a decade as it opened many new mkts.  Up 17% to 335,000 bbls.  But this yr Deschutes will enter no new mkts, except it is filling out a couple of counties in Mich and PA.  Meanwhile, Deschutes is still “looking for a location” to build an East Coast brewery and somewhat “struggling” with the decision, said Gary. At same time, Deschutes is always adding to its existing facility whether it’s a big warehouse, added cellar space or a pilot sourcing brewery. “We’re just a construction company masquerading as a brewery,” quipped Gary.  Deschutes currently has “terminal” capacity of 430-450,000 bbls, so it really needs a new brewery before it can start expanding to many more Eastern mkts.   In the meantime, it is racing to keep up with the rapidly evolving craft consumer, particularly in some of its most developed mkts. And it has at least temporarily answered the problem of flagship fatigue, by developing a new lead brand.

After only growing combined 2% in last 3 yrs, Montana’s largest brewery, Big Sky, turned its biz back to solid 13% growth thru first half of 2015, co-founder Neal Leathers shared with Missoula Independent in extensive article covering current MT craft beer landscape.  And that’s nearly all due to huge boost in its home-state sales. “Big Sky beer in-state jumped almost 50 percent in the first six months of 2015,” Neal shared.  Indeed, “this year’s been amazing for us” since “we don’t have new territory,” its new beer Pygmy Owl is “doing fine” but “not a huge seller for us,” and it’s even seen cut in Texas mkt presence, he acknowledged.  Big Sky was one of the few mid-sized craft brewers that actually declined (-1%) in 2014.  Yet biz has taken turn for the better, it seems, with increased focus in its backyard.  Gotta note, Big Sky’s approach is similar to Craft Brew Alliance’s home mkt strategy for each of its legacy brands, particularly Widmer and Redhook, as well as other approaches from older, more established brands/cos (i.e Flying Dog) to shore up home mkt. 

Meanwhile, Montana’s craft beer scene has only become more prevalent, up from “barely two dozen” in 2010 to 59 breweries (one other already licensed) currently, noted paper.  In that time “nearly a dozen already existing cos in-state “have announced or completed ambitious expansion plans.”  For example, state’s 2d largest brewery, Kettlehouse “is building an expansive production facility on an 18-acre plot of land in Bonner.”  Last month Missoula Brewing co opened new taproom in Missoula (city now has 10 brewery taprooms and countin’).  In Jun, yr-old Lolo Peak announced plans to build 8K sq-ft brewpub and restaurant facility in Missoula.  Flathead Lake Brewing opened new pubhouse in Feb, started canning in Jun, and already “looking into adding new tanks” to reach 7K bbls/yr capacity next year.  Philipsburg Brewing opened second location for packaging in its 2d yr, and yr-old Kalispell Brewing “more than doubled its brewing capacity this spring.”  Editor’s note: MT craft share is one of the highest and fastest growin’ in the country these days.  All Other suppliers outside of top-5 (AB, MC, Constellation, HUSA and Pabst) gained 3.2 share to 21.2 of total state shipments in 2014.  Imports have very little presence in-state so vast majority of “All Others” is craft. 

Raising the Cap for On-Site Sales; Brewers Competing with Bars but “Real Battle” is for “Shelf Space,” sez Big Sky Co-Founder Thruout the article there’re several references to 1999 legislation for on-site sales that’s helped further the MT craft movement.  However, attempts to further reform that cap stalled in most recent legislative session.  Recall, in 1999 legislation was changed to allow on-site sales for brewers up to 10K bbls/yr.  This past yr there was motion to raise cap to 60K bbls, however industry members (even within the same tiers) haven’t been able to stay aligned despite forming an Alcoholic Beverage Coalition in 2014 to work together on this issue.  State distrib association left the coalition, with support of a few breweries, in late 2014 since Coalition members were pushing for law to allow brewery owners to buy a retail license and tavern owners to buy a brewing license (see Dec 31, 2014 issue).   So “lack of legislative progress on this front has prompted several breweries to undergo complex legal restructuring to meet their goals.”  That includes Kettlehouse, where “a legal restructuring took place last year that let Kettlehouse breach that cap.”  Kettlehouse ended up havin’ a big 2014, up 80%+ to 22,814 bbls, according to Brewers Assn stats.  That’s all in-state.  And its new production facility, expected to be completed in spring 2016, is primarily “addressing seasonal shortages and ramping up distribution to markets Kettlehouse had previously been forced to abandon.”

Even without the 60K-bbl cap, on-site sales have opened door for smaller brewers to percolate in-state “subsisting primarily off taproom sales and limited keg distribution,” said Neal.  “From that perspective we really see it as much more of a replacement or competitor to the bars and restaurants,” he added, pointing to the difference in number of breweries versus number of bars in Missoula.  Newer breweries “like Draught Works, Great Burn and Imagine Nation are working under a model that simply wasn’t an option 20 years ago.”  However Neal also acknowledged that “the real battle” will be “for store shelf space and that sort of thing.”  Missoula Independent lists Tamarack, Bozeman, Red Lodge Ales, Lewis and Clark, Wildwood, Bitter Root among “a number of others” that’ve more recently started packaging their products for retail distribution.

Bent Paddle Brewing Co outta Duluth, Minn is yet another Midwestern craft brewer that’s shootin’ up toward regional status in fast order.  After growing 5X in just its 2d year to 7,850 bbls, this yr Bent Paddle expects to more than double production to 16,000-18,000 bbls, reported InForum.  Sales “edged past $2 million last year” and are also expected to double this yr “as distribution expands in the state.”  Indeed, “everybody [in MN] is growing, but we’re growing faster,” said Laura Mullen, “who oversees the company’s outreach and events,” and is wife of co-founder Colin Mullen.  

Bent Paddle started in 2013 with “a healthy chunk -- $1.5 million” and a 10,600 sq-ft facility, noted Lake Superior Brewing co-owner, Dale Kleinschmidt.  “Within six months” of starting it had reached initial production limit and now “after three major equipment expansions, we’re basically out of space,” co-founder Colin told the chamber group.  It recently added “6300-square foot off-site warehouse in West Duluth, which houses a 1300-square-foot cooler to store beer for state distribution” and “this fall” co will switch from 60-bbl fermenters to 120-bbl.  Yet it’ll still likely reach 22,000 bbl/yr production limit within “a year or two.”  So Bent Paddle is already “working on their next expansion plan.”