1. The former heads of Saint Archer Brewing Company have started a beer and wine wholesale company called Scout Distribution. Saint Archer co-founder Josh Landan is joined by the company's former VP Jeff Hansson and marketing manager Anthony Levas on the new project that will serve as both a distributor and marketing consultant. The trio left the Texas-based brewery 18 months after its sale to MillerCoors. Scout will work with its brands to expose them to potential investors and even invest in paid social media posts for them, something Hansson says traditional distributors would never do. – BREWBOUND

2. Canada has suspended a tariff on imported U.S. aluminum cans. The country's brewing industry was facing a shortage following retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. steel and aluminum imports in response to President Trump's tariffs. "It’s very positive for us," said Beer Canada trade association president Luke Harford. "The 473 ml tall cans are all purchased from U.S. suppliers and that particular can is one of the fastest-growing cans." Beau's Brewing Co. founder Steve Beauchesne said the exemption puts Canadian breweries on equal ground with U.S. breweries importing beer to Canada, since filled cans of beer are not subject to the tariff. – FINANCIAL POST

3. Oregon-based Rogue Ales & Spirits owner and president Brett Joyce will step down from his role with the brewery and distillery at the end of the year. Brett Joyce will retain an ownership stake and his seat on the company's board following his departure. General manager Dharma Tamm, who joined the company last year, will take on Joyce's responsibilities. Since peaking at 117,000 barrels in 2014, sales of the 30-year-old brewery's beer fell to 98,000 barrels in 2017. Tamm says he will focus on improving product quality instead of growth and expansion. – BREWBOUND

1. Fallout continues from that journal article earlier this week that predicts future barley shortages and a resulting spike in beer prices due to climate change, however NPR is now trying to put the breaks on the panic. A rep for the Idaho Grain Producers Association suggests that the panic is overblown, saying that farmers always have to adjust to extreme weather events and "I just don't see us being unable to produce however much barley brewers want." And Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch calls the media freakout over the story "a bit myopic" given the myriad ways human activity is affecting the planet, and the many things that may go wrong as a result. – NPR

2. Responding to criticism that it has crossed too many lines with its promotional activities, UK-based mega craft brewer Brewdog is vowing to start getting more mature. But have the brewery already alienated some of their strongest supporters, the rank and file of its Equity for Punks (EFP) investors? That's the question raised in an editorial from The Full Pint, which speaks to multiple Equity Punks, some of whom are just proud to have invested in a company that is continuing to produce "proper beer" for the masses. The biggest recent backlash came from a botched press release (which Brewdog tried to distance itself from) that was offering free beer to Trump supporters. For its part, Brewdog says, "We know some [of our ideas] were just ill-advised full stop." – THE FULL PINT

3. Beer & Brewing Magazine has just released its picks for the 18 best beers of 2018, a full two months and change before 2018 is over. Among the mag's picks are high-profile collaboration brews like Braupakt, a hefeweizen made by Weihenstephaner, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Fort George Brewery's 3-Way IPA, made in collaboration with Modern Times and Holy Mountain. The editorial team also picks a pair of Vermont beers — Hill Farmstead Arthur from Greensboro Bend and vonTrapp Brewing's Oktoberfest from Stowe — as well as a few from California: Alvarado Street's Contains No Juice, Societe's The Swindler, and Bottle Logic Brewing's Fundamental Observation. – BEER & BREWING

4. Convenience stores represent an opportunity for potential new off-premise growth for breweries facing overall slowing sales, according to beer writer Bryan Roth. Beer sales at convenience stores and gas stations were flat halfway through 2018 compared to a 1.1% decline for grocery stores, according to Beer Marketers' Insights. The above premium category, which includes craft beer, grew 8.3% in these stores, while sales of offerings from major beer conglomerates fell. The growth of new packaging formats, including grab-and-go 19.2-oz. single cans, has created new opportunities for craft brands to occupy shelf space in that is typically reserved in these stores for larger beer makers. – GOOD BEER HUNTING

5. Brooklyn-based Other Half is considering a new outlet in the Ivy City district of Washington, D.C. The city's former Pappas Tomato Packaging building is being redeveloped to house a cafe, restaurant, axe-throwing lounge, and Other Half's third location. The New York brewery's new space would include a production area, taproom, and cellar-level storage. – URBAN TURF

4. The country's 26 best selling beers are mostly what you'd expect, but Mexican brands are gaining market share. This year's numbers from Beer Marketers' Insights already told us that the world of Big Beer remains largely unchanged, with the top three bestsellers still Bud Light, Coors Light, and Budweiser. Miller Light stands in 4th place and Corona at 5th, well above popular college binge beers like Natural Light and Busch Light. As investors are noting, the biggest news overall is that Mexican brands are rising in popularity, with Modelo Especial (#7 on the list) now shipping 7.2 million barrels compared to 1.6 million barrels in 2007. – 24/7 WALL STREET

1. Venerable beer magazine All About Beer has apparently shut down after 39 years in print, following months of complaints by subscribers that their magazines never showed up. Launched in 1979 when there were fewer than 100 breweries in the US, All About Beer chronicled the entire rise of craft brewing from the launch of Sierra Nevada through the boom of the last decade. After acquiring Draft magazine last year and turning it into an aggregator website, All About Beer put out just a couple of print issues this year, and its sole employee on the masthead is now publisher Christopher Rice. Rice has not formally confirmed the shutdown, and was still denying the "rumor" just a few weeks ago. – BEERVANA

2. Constellation Brands CEO Rob Sands announced that he is stepping down as CEO next March. Taking his place will be the company's current president and former chief growth officer Bill Newlands. "Bill understands what it takes to succeed in this rapidly evolving market and he’s the right person to lead our company going forward," Sands said in a statement. Sands, who is the third generation of his family to lead the beer, wine and spirits enterprise, will assume the role of executive chairman on the company's board. Constellation, which distributes popular Mexican beer brands Corona, Pacifico, and Modelo among others, is the third largest beer company in the US. – BREWBOUND

3. California is changing the law surrounding brewpub licenses to help close a loophole that some were using mostly to serve hard liquor. California's Type 75 brewpub license, which since 1996 required a brewpub to brew a minimum of 100 barrels of beer on site per year but also permitted a full bar as well, cost a mere $13,000 compared to the $250,000 or more that regular full-bar licenses can cost on the secondary market in San Francisco and Napa. Thus many new SF businesses turned to the brewpub option in recent years, with some barely pretending to brew beer, or opening up full bars long before they were ready to brew. The new law will require Type 75 license holders to brew 200 barrels per year, and have a minimum 7-barrel commercial brewing system located permanently onsite. — BREWERS ASSOCIATION

4. Fans of "Lucha Underground," the uniquely Mexican and American pro wrestling TV show, are complaining that the prominent sponsorship by beer brand Modelo is distracting. Modelo, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev and distributed in the US by Constellation Brands, came to the rescue of "Lucha Underground," which is now in its fourth season on the El Rey network and is facing declining ratings. But some of LU's fans, called The Believers, argue that such "obvious product placement distracts them from full immersion into the fantasy of LU," which involves a "Temple" and "a quasi-Lovecraftian fantasy world in which actual legends of the industry battle fantasy characters invented for the show." – VINEPAIR

5. Portland's Wayfinder Beer has just debuted its first beer in a can, with a Halloween theme: an Italian-style pilsner called Terrfico Horror Pils. Inspired by similar beers he tried at Firestone Walker's Pils & Love fest in July, Wayfinder brewer Kevin Davey set out to create a lager in the crisp, dry style of Italian pilsner maker Birrifico Italiano, who pioneered the style. Italian-style pilsner is definitely trending, with several American brewers giving it a try, and per New School Beer it's "likely to be embraced by brewers for it’s clean dryness yet huge hop bursting aroma." – NEW SCHOOL BEER