The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening in the beer world while you were drinking your way through a long holiday weekend.

Hidden Health Dangers Found In Non-Alcoholic Beer

Embracing a more healthful and clear-headed lifestyle, younger consumers are abandoning alcohol products in droves. And this migration away from alcohol hasn’t gone unnoticed by a beer industry that is now taking the non-alcohol segment seriously and that sector is growing.

But that doesn’t mean that brewing buzz-free beer can’t pose problems.

A study by researchers at Cornell University has found that non-alcoholic beers can be a breeding ground for bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

Head researcher Randy Worobo and his team of microbiologists studied the growth of three types of bacteria—E. coli, salmonella, and listeria—in traditional beer, low-alcohol beer, and non-alcoholic beer. The study which was published in The Journal of Food Protection, tested the beers in two situations. In the first case beers were a refrigerated 39.2°F but others were left at “room temperature” 57.2°F.

And while E. coli and salmonella were able to survive in both low and non-alcoholic beer for up to 63 days, the microbial pathogens grew more rapidly in the non-alcoholic beverage.

“Low and nonalcoholic beers should be processed through pasteurization to achieve commercial sterility,” they said in a statement, via The Daily Mail. “Sterile filtration and the addition of preservatives should be considered as additional steps to reduce this microbial risk.

Words to Drink By

“The world keeps turning, keeps changing, you’re supposed to question your suppositions, or else you’re left behind.” – Bob Lefsetz, Music industry writer and media analyst

(Courtesy Smuttunose Brewing)

Smuttynose Acquires Five Boroughs Brewing

On November 7^th, Finestkind Brewing, a venture capital company that now own New Hampshire’s Smuttynose Brewing, announced the purchase of Brooklyn, New York-based Five Boroughs Brewing Co.

Founded in 1994 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Smuttynose was the “Granite State’s” first craft brewery. Enjoying the benefits of craft beer’s boom years, the company moved into a brand-new facility on a historic 17-acre site in Towle Farm in Hampton, NH, a state-of-the-art operation that offered tours, tastings and even a nine-hole disc golf course.

But then came harder times…

After a brief four years at the new facility the company announced a bank auction of the brewery. The company which was producing 75,000 barrels of beer a year had been running at 50% at the time. Provident Bank purchased the company at auction for $8.25 million and it was quickly sold to Runnymede Investments which formed Finestkind.

Under Finestkind’s management, Smuttynose has experienced a significant revival. It is currently distributed in 25 states and 11 countries and this deal will give the New Hampshire brewery access to distribution in the New York market as well as an expanded presence in the tri-state area.

Five Boroughs Brewing Co. was established in 2017 and is available throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And its acquisition represents a new chapter for Finestkind Brewing as it explores potential expansion into new beverage categories. Five Boroughs will join Smuttynose Brewing Co. and Island District Cocktails as one of Finestkind’s core beverage bran

Financial details of the transaction, which closed on October 23^rd, were not disclosed.

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