it's like old times with my buds 🥹

welcome, doug, to the vast array of beer-adjacent new jerseyans. we are legion.

I wrote the intro script for this conversation, which included references to community members being shot in the streets, standing in my kitchen while my home-for-snow-day toddler had a dance party. Dystopian. Despite all that, I enjoyed my chat with Joey a lot - check it out here:

Dream team! Such a pleasure to recap last year's biggest bev-alc stories and share what we're watching in 2026 with David Steinman + @brewbound.com's @jessicainfante.bsky.social, and Zoe Licata.

This column from my dear friend @dinfontay.com (& fellow, though non-related, Infante and fellow Sad Kid) about how his late dad's love for the beer industry shaped Dave's own views on it is SO worth your time this morning: vinepair.com/articles/hop...

Unsure what the best part here is: that the young fellow who bagged my stuff at Market Basket chased after me to give me the Bunny Grahams that fell out OR that he called me miss (not ma’am) while doing it 🥹

Martin is leaving BrewDog, ostensibly to focus on his cannabis company. Weird thing I realized while working on this story: BrewDog is now on its 3rd James at CEO. James I left in May 24. James II replaced him but left in January. James III was promoted in March.

Breaking craft news: Hendler Family Brewing (Jack's Abby, Wormtown, Night Shift, Jack's Bev Co) forges strategic partnership with NY's Sloop Brewing. HFB will produce, market and sell Sloop's portfolio, freeing Sloop's team to focus on innovation & hospitality. No equity exchanged or jobs cut.

dream phone in 1993 cost $77.17 in today’s dollars 😳

My bud @dinfontay.com with a big scoop on RNDC leaving California completely after a string of supplier losses.

The @bevnet.com crew has been hard at work on @nombase.bsky.social, a hub for everything you need to know about the CPG world today.

Earlier this month, the former US surgeon general recommended that alcohol containers bear cancer warning labels. Collective wisdom is that this will never happen, but some states are considering expanding health warnings for consumers. www.brewbound.com/news/connect...

smart, well-reported piece from @jessicainfante.bsky.social for @brewbound.com on breweries that understand the losing battle and dismal optics of whining about dry january and are using the month for more productive endeavors

“'It’s really bad form for breweries to shame their customers because they want to take January off,' [Notch's founder] said. 'We should understand it, and live with them, and meet them someplace in the middle. It’s bad form. It’s not a good look for us. Are we pushers now?'"

Instead of swimming against the tide this Dry January, some craft breweries have deployed temporary shutdowns to do renovation projects that would be difficult while open for service. I chatted with Notch (MA), Tilted Barn (RI), Big Ditch (NY) & Steam Donkey (WA). www.brewbound.com/news/169913

this morning over my 1.5-year-old's breakfast of yogurt, berries, banana, eggs and cinnamon toast... me, emphatically: i love you!!!! her, saying a whole sentence for may the second time ever: i love cinnamon!

Most fitting way to cap off the year that MA put the M and A in M&A: parent cos. of New England legacy craft brewers Harpoon and Smuttynose merge to form Barrel One Collective. www.brewbound.com/news/harpoon...

“You’ve got to do absolutely everything with excellence, because there is no slack now.” -Allagash founder Rob Tod on surviving craft beer’s tough times during @brewbound.com Live.

Super interesting stuff from the NIQ & 3 Tier pros at @brewbound.com live. IPA is the dominant style nationwide. Regionally, the #2 spot goes to seasonal in most markets but hazy IPA in the mountain regions and bock in WSC, which basically means Texans drink a lot of Shiner Bock 🐐

“Don’t mess it up. This is my local.” Advice given from a longtime patron of Russian River’s Santa Rosa pub to his son, who is now a bartender there after visiting with his parents from 3 years old. Co-owner/founder Natalie Cilurzo just nailed her keynote address at @brewbound.com live 🍻

Happening now! The @bevnet.com Cocktail Showdown in Marina Del Rey! Catch the competition streaming here and check back in all week for free BevNET and Brewbound Live conference content www.bevnet.com/livestream/b...

Feeling deeply inadequate as I sit in a coffee shop typing a silly little story about booze sales data while a group next to me hammers out complex logistics of delivering Thanksgiving meals to people all over eastern Massachusetts over the next two days. Also: should have brought my headphones.

Requirement for the first truly nasty day of the late New England fall: černé pivo.

Kept my coughing toddler home from daycare today and I am never not astounded that people just did this for months on end in 2020.

🧵 A couple interesting top 30 craft tidbits from the most recent Circana report (which covers off-premise retailers with some exceptions): 1. The only brand to accelerate growth in both dollars and volume year-to-date and in the last 4 weeks thru 11/3 is AB-owned Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug.

It's the 200th episode of the Brewbound Podcast! No featured interview this week, but there was PLENTY of news to go around including the Lord Hobo/Lone Pine merger, Tree House's Boston plans, the Beer Institute meeting, Monster's Q3 and Molson Coors craft layoffs: open.spotify.com/episode/1HxW...

Taking a page out of my buddy @kbernot.bsky.social's playbook and re-intro-ing myself: Hi! I'm Jess and I'm the managing editor at Brewbound, a multimedia trade news outlet focusing on the beer industry. We cover breaking news, data and insights, legislative, M&A, etc etc. www.brewbound.com

I would love to read the brief that went into this.

After months (years?) of barely posting at the other place, I feel like I'm so out of practice that I forget how to say anything remotely interesting, but it's nice to see people conversing again.

Do you report on the liquor business? Work in cannabis policy? Prune vines in some tech asshole's vanity vineyard? If you or somebody you know belongs in this starter pack, shoot me a DM!

Big craft beer news in New England: MA-based Lord Hobo and ME-based Lone Pine are merging, in what the companies hope will become a broader platform of craft brands that can "thrive" vs. just survive, Lord Hobo CEO Simon Thorpe told me. www.brewbound.com/news/lord-ho...

this was honestly the most fun i have had in a long while and i promise you will also have a good time listening to it 😎

Craft-focused chain World of Beer filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection for its parent company and 8 locations, 4 of which have already closed. It plans to reorganize, but more closings will come, marking the loss of on-premise opportunities for craft brewers.

The North American Guild of Beer Writers has selected five journalists to receive a Diversity in Beer Writing Grant for 2024. Congratulations to these writers and audio storytellers! reportersnotebook.org/nagbw-news/n...

important beach booze ad report: in 90 seconds, i saw a hoop tea plane banner, a leinenkugel’s summer shandy plane banner, and digital ads on the billboard boat thing for sun cruiser and high noon tea. no pics because i was swimming at the time but we’ll try again later.

my tl is full of my buddies @kbernot.bsky.social & @dinfontay.bsky.social. we are so back 🥹

Twisted Tea is the majority of Boston Beer's shipments and NIQ-tracked dollar sales, according to financial services firm Bernstein. Now that sales of Truly are down 20+%, analyst Nadine Sarwat asks how long can Twisted Tea sustain the company. She projects Tea can deliver a +9% CAGR in 5 yrs.

#brewsky grows more powerful by the day

what a welcome from my fellow (non-related) booze-covering infante! 😎