Joe Stange

Deep roots in the community and wide-open doors were in the schematics of Green Bench Brewing of St. Petersburg, Florida, from the start. Since then, head brewer and co-owner Khris Johnson has shepherded the brewery from strength to strength.

The Ontario-based Aphria calls its $300 million acquisition of the “420” brewer a “strategic entry into the United States.”

Knowing that business will slow as the weather gets frosty—especially amid fears that indoor areas are less safe—breweries are taking different tacks to keep attracting drinkers to their patios and beer gardens.

Drinkers are visiting less but spending more when they do. Package and store sales remain strong, while draft margins remain scant. Here we round up some recent data and analyses relevant to independent brewers.

The crunch on aluminum cans comes just when COVID-19 fears have made breweries more dependent than ever on packaged-beer sales. Relief is unlikely to arrive soon.

The Great American Beer Festival will happen this year, but in an altered and dispersed form. Besides a two-day virtual event, hundreds of breweries around the country are offering sweet deals to passport holders. The crazy thing? It just might work.

Labor Day windstorms damage up to 5 percent of Yakima Chief’s remaining crop in Washington and Idaho, with the response complicated by wildfires and apple harvest.

Taprooms and bars across the country began to seat patrons again in May and June. There was no one-size-fits-all plan for doing it safely, but there was—and still is—plenty of detailed advice. With fall and winter uncertain, that advice still applies.

A rough, surreal year continues, and many breweries may have to shut for good by the time it's over. But what if yours were just getting ready to open when the pandemic struck—in the middle of the city most severely affected by the virus?

GABF goes online this year—our pretzel necklaces will look fine on Zoom—while the competition will proceed with care. August 28 is the deadline to submit beers.