Boulevard Brewing Company has been in expansion mode as of late. During mid-August they announced a move into North Jersey and Philly with MillerCoors houses Peerless Beverage Company and Muller, respectively. Now, Boulevard has announced that it will team up with A-B house Brown Distributing to take on the Florida market starting next month.

Outgoing Tenth and Blake chief Tom Cardella has just sent a letter to MillerCoors distributors, execs and other partners announcing the retirement of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. president Jake Leinenkugel. Jake’s brother Dick Leinenkugel will assume the reins.

Having just officially opened their inaugural Lakeland, Florida, facility last week, “partner brewing” concept Brew Hub has just announced the locale for their second facility: St. Louis, Missouri.

Breckenridge Brewery is nearing completion of their $20 million “destination brewery” in Littleton, Colorado, and plans to welcome its first visitors by April, per report by Denver Business Journal.

This weekend, Brew Hub’s inaugural Lakeland, Florida, facility opens to the public. Brew Hub co-founder and CEO Tim Schoen told CBD that they’ve already got beer brewing at that location, and a few announcements up their sleeves over the next six or so months.

Victory at Courthouse Square in Leesburg is slated to open in Q2 2016. The restaurant will “expand the service footprint of Victory while directly supporting the positive image of the burgeoning company and its products through direct hospitality services,” per company statement.

Oregon’s BridgePort is commemorating its 30th birthday this year with a special series of “Trilogy” beers. The third in the series, co-conceived with Fermentation Science Program students at Oregon State University, was just announced last week.

Escanaba-based Upper Hand Brewery, a division of Michigan’s Bell’s Brewery, should start churning out beer by next month, per report by Crain’s Detroit Business. Recall, the Escanaba expansion is part of a larger $15 million estimated capital improvement planned by Bell’s [see CBD 04-30-2013 ], and construction of the $2.5 million, 11,550-square-foot facility began last November. “We have staff to get started. We’re finally there and everybody’s excited,” said founder Larry Bell.

In today’s Brewers Association-powered Power Hour talk with IRI beverage alcohol insight chief Dan Wandel, a theme emerged: Craft is not just growing, but “aggressively” gaining share. In fact, Dan went so far as to say that 2014 could be one craft’s best years yet.

If anything proves how far craft has come over the last few years, or how much small brewers have built their political muscles over as much time, it’s Alabama’s craft legislation record. Despite the fact that the state underindexes in the segment, it has quite the reputation for passing craft-friendly legislation the last few years.

In yet another record year for Craft Beer Distributor of the Year Award nominees, a whopping 40 distributors from across the nation are listed as potential winners for this year’s face off, up from last year’s 26 contenders (DeCrescente took home top 2013 honors).

More European moves for American craft brewers: This September, Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing Co. will expand supply across the UK with distribution partner James Clay, per company statement. The brewer has also established its first onsite, international brewery representative in Sharona Selby to support the brand there.

This weekend, Vermont Hard Cider will open its new state-of-the-art $34 million cidery with their new marquee event, “Ciderbration,” featuring musical acts, meet and greets, and tours. The sold-out event will entertain “well north” of 10,000 people, per VP sales Terry Hopper. “If we get 10,000 people here, we’ll be like the fourth largest town in Vermont that day [August 23],” he said.

Deschutes Brewery announced today its craft beers will be available in Michigan beginning October 6th. The Oregon-based brewery will partner with A-B house West Side Beer Distributing for distribution of its beers in the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Lansing areas.

Sierra Nevada sent a final numbers tally of their grand experiment, Beer Camp Across America, yesterday. Recall that the festival, which marked a path from their original Chico brewery to the new Mills River facility to commemorate its opening, also involved other brewers. In fact more than 700 breweries were involved in total, and 1,400 unique beers. Festival attendees totaled 22,000.