The craft brewery that led the Black is Beautiful charitable beer initiative is seeking a new equity partner to buy out one of its co-founders and take a majority stake in the business.

Weathered Souls Brewing Company co-founder Mike Holt is seeking an exit from the San Antonio craft brewery that he helped found with Marcus Baskerville in 2016.  

Holt said: “Building this alongside Marcus, and alongside all of the incredible people who helped get Weathered Souls to where it is today, that’s been the adventure of my life. Now it’s time for someone else to continue that good work, whether it’s raising millions to support charitable organizations in Black communities across the country, winning awards for making some of the best beer on the market, or just creating an environment where everyone can feel comfortable enjoying craft beer regardless of who they are. 

“The community deserves to see Weathered Souls continue in the hands of someone who will truly be the good steward and community leader that we’ve strived to be ourselves these last few years.”

Holt is asking interested parties to reach out directly to him at investor@weatheredsouls.beer.

Brewbound Insiders can read more about Holt’s decision and Weathered Soul’s recent moves.

Asheville, North Carolina-based Green Man Brewing and Boone-based Appalachian Mountain Brewery’s (AMB) announced a joint venture today in which Green Man will produce AMB’s beers for distribution. 

In May, AMB co-founders Nathan Kelischek and Chris Zieber struck a deal to reacquire the business from Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B). Much of AMB’s packaged beer for distribution had been produced at A-B facilities, leading to the duo needing to form a contract brewing partnership.

Kelischek and Zieber said in the announcement: “As soon as we signed the papers, we started making phone calls, knowing that we wanted to act fast and bring our production back to North Carolina. When we spoke with Green Man, their team and [the owners] the Thieses, we knew we found the right home.”

AMB’s Boone brewery will continue to produce beer and cider, while supplementing its production for distribution at Green Man’s Asheville facility. Green Man has already produced two batches of beer for Green Man.  

Green Man co-owner Dennis Thies told Brewbound that both companies will remain independent of each other with no equity exchanged.

Thies told Brewbound that if projects are accurate, the partnership will “nearly double” Green Man’s non-taproom volume. 

Brewbound Insiders can go deeper into the partnership.

Sheehan Family Companies has agreed to sell yet another piece of its distribution business.

The latest is Hunterdon Brewery Company, Sheehan’s New Jersey beverage distributor. The company has struck a deal to sell the business to distributors within Anheuser-Busch’s network, Beer Marketer’s Insights (BMI) reported Friday.

Five A-B distributors – High Grade, Ritchie & Page, Northern Eagle, Harrison and Konrad – will take over distribution of more than 1.2 million cases of beer, including offerings from Founders, Laguinitas, Allgash, Stone, Tröegs and CANarchy, according to BMI. The deal is expected to close by early December.

The Context: Sheehan has offloaded several of its craft distributors this year, including a similar deal for its Maryland and Washington, D.C., branch Legends Distributing to the A-B network in June. 

Sheehan also sold its Craft Rhode Island to Molson Coors house C&C Distributors earlier this summer and announced plans to sell its Craft New Hampshire business to A-B houses in February.

Despite some ebbs and flows, on-premise sales velocity over the last 12 weeks (ending August 26) has remained flat versus the same period in 2022, according to CGA, a NIQ-powered on-premise market research firm.

In the latest week, on-premise sales velocity declined -4% week-over-week, driven by a -2% decline in check value and -1% decline in ticket count. 

The week was down -1% year-over-year (YoY), with a -2% YoY decline in ticket count and flat check value. 

Insiders can dive into the performances of key states here.

On this week’s Brewbound Podcast, Justin and Zoe chatted with leadership at Mass. Bay Brewing Company to discuss its partnership with Dunkin’, the release of Dunkin’ Spiked hard teas and hard coffees and how the companies plan to sustain the initial hype of the launch.

Plus, lookout for coverage of what large beer companies – including Molson Coors, Constellation Brands and Boston Beer – are saying this week at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference.

Last week, Brewbound dove into Firestone Walker’s 2024 business plans, including a renewed focus on its top brand, 805, and innovation plans for Cali Squeeze, Mind Haze and more.

Brewbound editor Justin Kendall also dove into the trajectory of Exile Brewing’s Swarm NIL Beer and chatted with Dogfish Head co-founder Sam Calagione to talk about the brewery’s 2023 performance. 

Last week also brought about people moves at Summit Brewing and BrewDog. 

And the news that Russian River will distribute STS Pils and Velvet Glow Helles lager in cans for the first time, starting this fall. 

Plus: 3 Tier Beverages consultant Mary Mills and Beer Institute VP of research Danelle Kosmal joined Justin and Zoe for a Brewbound Data Club to discuss pre-Labor Day beer trends.

Leaders from Dogfish Head, Buffalo Wild Wings and Tamarron Consulting will explore national draft trends and the opportunities during Brewbound’s Brew Talks meetup in Denver on Thursday, September 21.

Brew Talks will take place from noon to 3 p.m. MT at Cervantes Masterpiece (2637 Welton St., Denver, CO, 80205) prior to the start of the first session of the Great American Beer Festival. Tickets are available now, and include two beer tickets and light appetizers.

On-premise draft has historically been an important piece of business for craft brewers, accounting for 30% of distributed draft and serving as a brand building theater. However, draft has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson shared during the trade group’s midyear survey. Watson estimated that 2023 distributed draft volume is 2 million barrels below historic trends.

Panelists will discuss the challenges facing draft beer and strategies for improving draft trends. They include:

• Dogfish Head co-founder Sam Calagione
• Buffalo Wild Wings director of beverage strategy & innovation Jason Murphy
• Tamarron Consulting co-founder and president Lori Scheiffler. 

Additional conversations will be shared in the coming weeks. Speakers include Hops & Pie owner and chief beer buyer Drew Watson, Ska Brewing president and co-founder David Thibodeau, Holidaily Brewing founder Karen Hertz and Colorado Brewers Guild executive director Shawnee Adelson. More speakers will be announced soon.

Tickets are available now.

The Brewbound Live business conference returns December 6-7 in Marina del Rey. Speakers and conversations to be announced in the coming weeks. 

Registration and the discounted room block is now open. Find out more details here.