Twelfth-largest craft brewer Harpoon Brewery has just announced that it will become an employee-owned company as of August 1. The existing shareholder group transferred 48% of Harpoon’s shares to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which will “ensure the brewery’s independence and preserve Harpoon’s culture.”

Carnival Cruise Lines has signed an exclusive agreement with Cigar City to offer the Tampa brewer’s Invasion Pale Ale and Florida Cracker Belgian-Style Ale on all Florida-based ships, starting July 13. d

Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is turning 17, and founder Forest Gray told SF Weekly his big plans for the Bay Area brewery. “We are in the midst of an epic expansion in Hunters Point, increasing our brewery’s production capacity to upwards of 90,000 barrels per year,” he said. Last year they did just 29,000 barrels.

For West Sacramento-based Raley’s grocery chain, “all of our potential growth is in craft,” beer, wine and spirits buyer Curtis Mann told the Sacramento Bee.

New Belgium is toasting good times. The Fort Collins brewer just wrapped its last shipping day for the first sixth months of the year. “We exceeded expectations by a longshot,” said sales chief Joe Menetre, who is excited about their July 4 prospects, coming off a rollicking Memorial Day.

Karbach Brewing Co. of Houston, Texas, shook hands with A-B house Brown Distributing to deliver more of its brews to Austin, per company statement. Prior to the agreement, Karbach had been self-distributing its draft beer in the state’s capital since the beginning of this year.

Remember the Green Man Brewery, the most recently announced partner for Brew Hub? It’s grown from a 600 barrel brewpub facility five years ago to a roughly 8,000 packaging brewery sold in three states. By next year, five-year owner Dennis Thies believes they’ll reach regional status, with the help of 10,000 barrels brewed at Brew Hub Lakeland.

Last week the small but outspoken Austin-based brewery Jester King announced a new collaboration beer with much-lauded Belgian brewery Brasserie Fantôme. Though Jester King admitted to often sharing recipes and techniques, “in deference to the mystery and intrigue that has always shrouded Fantome, we’re going to be a little secretive as to how [collaboration] Fantôme Del Rey was made,” they said.

Craft trends have held pat this latest IRI round, to June 15. In fact the trends in food, craft’s largest channel, are pretty much the same as we reported last month: Craft’s up almost 21% in dollars YTD, 19% the latest 13-week period, and 18.4% for the latest 4, the time slice that included Memorial Day sales.

L.A.’s Golden Road and global restaurateur HMSHost have teamed up to release the first craft beer made exclusively for airports, Carry On Citrus Ale, the company has just announced. The citrus-forward ale will be Golden Road’s first brand available outside of its California-only distribution, and will hit HMSHost venues in 16 oz. cans at select airports by July 4.

Could an apple shortage stymy cider’s explosive growth? A Reuters report claims there’s a scarcity of “traditional hard cider” apples, including bittersweet, bittersharp and sharp varieties — the so-called “spitters” too tart or bitter to eat, but that are ideal for cider-making.

Last week we shared Caroline Levy’s bet on the hit-making potential of Boston Beer subsidiary Alchemy & Science, with its strategically placed breweries. Certainly Boston is betting on it: As of its Q1 report, the brewer plans to invest up to $7 million in A&S brands this year, and up to $9 million on its capex.

The Alcohol Beverage Control Division has proposed a new rule where any Arkansas businesses with a retail beer permit will be able to fill growlers, per report by Fayetteville Flyer. Growler fills were previously restricted to local breweries and brewpubs.

One of the nation’s most stringent areas when it comes to alcohol distribution laws has brought forth a surprising development, per report by DC Beer. You might have heard about Montgomery County in Maryland, “a full control jurisdiction.” Since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the county “is the only jurisdiction in the U.S.” that regulates the distribution of all facets in the alcohol industry, including beer, liquor and wine.

We promised to tell you more about SweetWater’s new markets. After a summer opening Memphis, Mississippi and Ohio, they’ll look to key Texas cities in Q4 — Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.