Summary: Craft Brew News - 5/3/2019<br><br>Craft Brew Alliance Agrees to Settle Kona Labeling Dispute<br><br>Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) has agreed to settle a years-long class action lawsuit over alleged “false and deceptive advertising” of its Kona Brewing beer brand.<br><br>In an SEC filing, the publicly traded Portland, Oregon-based craft beer company – today said it expects to incur costs of about $4.7 million to settle the dispute, which surfaced in early 2017.<br><br>That amount is inclusive of all legal and administrative fees but does not represent the total amount CBA will pay to the class, according to Marcus Reed, the company’s general counsel.<br><br>According to Reed, the nationwide settlement will be open to consumers who purchased Kona-branded beer products dating as far back as 2013.<br><br>The original complaint alleged that CBA, “intentionally misleads consumers into believing that Kona Brewing Company beer is a local beer made in Hawaii.”<br><br>Although CBA maintains a production facility in Hawaii and produces thousands of barrels on the island, it produces a majority of the Kona beer sold in the continental U.S. at facilities in Portland, Oregon, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and at an Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado.<br><br>Speaking to Brewbound, Reed said the company agreed to a settlement after two years of litigation because it was becoming a “distraction” to the company’s day-to-day business.<br><br>“It got to the point where it was time to reach a settlement,” he said.<br><br>Canada’s Moosehead Breweries Enters Cannabis Sector in JV with Sproutly<br><br>Canada’s oldest and largest independent brewery is getting into the cannabis business.<br><br>Moosehead Breweries Limited and Sproutly Canada, which aims to become the leading supplier of water-soluble cannabis solutions, yesterday announced their intent to form an exclusive joint venture that will develop, produce and market cannabis-infused beverages.<br><br>In the release, Moosehead CEO Andrew Oland said Sproutly’s proprietary “Infuz2O” process for delivering cannabis effects within five minutes drove the brewery’s interest in entering the cannabis market.<br><br>Recreational use of cannabis was legalized in Canada last October, however, the sale of edibles and infused beverages are not currently permitted. Legalization of those products is expected to occur on October 17.<br><br>Moosehead joins a growing list of beer manufacturers that have already invested in the cannabis space. Large beer companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev (Tilray), Constellation Brands (Canopy Growth) and Molson Coors (Hexo) have each struck partnerships with other Canadian cannabis companies. Hamilton, Ontario-based Collective Arts Brewing has also established a sister company called Collective Project Limited to develop and sell cannabis-infused beverages.<br><br>Cannabis is not federally legal in the U.S., however 10 states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C. — have established laws permitting the sale and use of recreational cannabis within their borders. Several other states are currently working to decriminalize and legalize cannabis.<br><br>Meeting of the Malts: Pennsylvania Craft Beer Production Tops in the Nation<br><br>For the third consecutive year, Pennsylvania produced more craft beer than any other state in the nation, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson shared during the Brewers of Pennsylvania’s annual Meeting of the Malts gathering in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (Check out Craft Beer Storm – Episode # 41 with Bart Watson!)<br><br>In 2018, Pennsylvania’s 354 craft breweries combined to produce more than 3.7 million barrels of beer. And, according to Watson, the state ranked second in the number of brewery openings, trailing just California. Most of that growth, Watson said, is...
