New England Brewing Co's "forever home" is no more. The Woodbridge, CT-based regional brewer pulled out of its planned relocation to the former Savin Rock Conference Center in West Haven, citing lack of support from "some City Council members, a few Land Trust of West Haven members and an appeal filed by the owners of Jimmies of Savin Rock restaurant," Patch reported last wk. Majority of city's residents and bizzes supported the brewery project, said West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi, which would've included a production facility, office space and a taproom with space for up to 1K patrons. But New England Brewing Co (NEBCO) has 2 separate offers in the works to relocate elsewhere, co's director of biz development told the paper. Tho he didn't specify where. NEBCO grew 9% last yr and finished 2022 just under 20K bbls, per Brewers Assn stats.

A couple unique collabs between brewers and non-alc bevs recently showed up in mkt, on top of investments/partnership news from Brooklyn/Hoplark and MC/ZOA. For female-founded TALEA Brewing in NY, one sweet spot has been fruity sours and other beers that avoid astringent hop bite of the IPAs that dominate other local brewers, in process expanding appeal to females who might not have realized they could become beer lovers. "Easy to love" beers for "non-beer bros," is TALEA's credo. What better partner for a collab then than Olipop, the maker of approachable prebiotic sodas that's bent on poaching its customers directly from conventional CSDs. On Saturday, TALEA's flagship Williamsburg brewery (it operates taprooms in other parts of city too) was offering enthusiastic visitors flights of Olipop Strawberry Vanilla and Tropical Punch sodas and specially brewed beers in emulation of those flavors, Strawberry Vanilla Cream Ale and Tutti Frutti Sour Ale. "Think pink and celebrate our collaboration!" urged menu cards at the brewery, whose entry was encircled by pink balloons. Also in mix were ice cream floats and strawberry pizza. Olipop marketing exec with a sampling table outside said Olipop product actually was used in the brewing process.

As former Anchor Brewing employees hold out hope that they can buy the biz from Sapporo and its assignee appointed to sell the assets, the unionized group set up a GoFundMe page last wk that's since raised $88K on 1.5K donations. Those funds will help "pay the bills" for orgs and legal guidance that the Anchor SF Cooperative has worked with since July, page notes, while beginning "Phase 2 of our plan to buy back the brewery." But still a long way off from funds needed to field a competitive offer, as the group starts pitching investors to build up their bid. Union members also set up an elected board of directors consisting of current and past workers, working with Project Equity and Tuttle Law Group to create a 5-yr biz plan, org noted on social media.

Early this summer, legislators in NJ unanimously supported a bill to repeal restrictions levied on small brewers in the state in mid-2022. But Governor Phil Murphy hasn't signed it yet. Instead, he plans to conditionally veto the measure and send it back to lawmakers, aiming for it to be added to a broader license reform bill. So after brewers successfully escaped getting wrapped up in that much bigger, more contentious issue, that's precisely where they find themselves. And with legislators unlikely to return 'til after Nov elections, that's where they'll be.

As far as up-and-comers go, Portland, Oregon-based Steeplejack Brewing hit the ground running. It opened 3 locations with a 4th in planning since launching in 2021. It won best new brewer in the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards. And while co's on track to produce around 2.5K bbls this yr, it's already equipped with 10K-bbl capacity, co-founder Brody Day and GM Billy Cook shared with CBN during a recent visit.

Draft beer volume was notably soft for opening NFL weekend, down 8.3% from Thursday thru Sunday vs same period year ago, according to BeerBoard report. That's after 2 yrs of 20%-plus growth recovering from Covid shutdowns. Tho opening night Thursday volume down just 3.3%, including IPAs up 7%, release highlighted. IPA volume finished weekend flat, suggesting more craft-centric crowds were drinking on-premise Thursday nights vs Sundays, and that IPAs still managed to gain share of draft beer for the weekend.

Gearing up for fall distrib mtgs, Wisconsin craft leader New Glarus shared a new major milestone with its partners this morn. With $5.5 mil in sales for 4 wks thru Jul 9, New Glarus rose to #2 brand fam in WI Circana multi-outlet plus convenience data. Tho still a long ways off #1 Busch's $9.8 mil in sales for the 4-wk period, the top craft brand in the state passed both Coors and Bud families ($5.3 mil and $5.2 mil, respectively). In fact, New Glarus sales were over 2x #9 brand fam Corona and well over $2 mil ahead of #6 Modelo and #7 White Claw. New Glarus clearly "still rolling," as one source put it.

Coupla big developments in US grocery world progressed since late last week. Instacart announced it's targeting $8.6-$9.3 bil valuation in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO). "A far cry" from ~$39 bil valuation it had for 2021 capital raise, Wall St Journal (and many other news outlets) were quick to point out. Instacart aims to raise up to $616 mil from 22 mil shares offered between $26 and $28 each, Reuters wrote, citing latest public filing, adding that top venture firm investors already agreed to buy up to $400 mil worth. Recall, PepsiCo agreed to separate deal to buy $175 mil in preferred convertible stock (see Aug 29 issue).