Import beer’s unstable 2025 came to a positive end for some top brands this December, according to the latest report from market research firm NIQ.

After Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) shed suppliers at an alarming rate last year – resulting in the closure of its California operations – the distributor is being hit with another major loss as Jose Cuervo’s parent company makes its national exit.

Suntory Global spirits has appointed Davin Nugent, a former Anheuser-Busch InBev and Mark Anthony Brands executive, as president of global ready-to-drink (RTD).

A “leading global beverage company” has made a $14 million strategic investment in InvestBev Capital’s flagship Fund V, the private equity firm announced today.

From class-action suits over Fireball to disputes over jalapeño-flavored Tequila, this year’s bev-alc legal drama was, in a word, spicy.

This year’s top spirits headlines capture an industry in transition: major distribution shifts, sudden closures, shocking lawsuits, the race to win an emerging category, and of course, at least one celebrity closing a deal. Here are the top 10 BevNET spirits stories, as ranked by popularity.

Stateside Brands, the company responsible for popularizing vodka-based iced tea, is now adding vodka to another beverage: the sports drink.

The Clean Alcohol Collective (CAC), co-founded by Meredith Mills-Merritt, founder of ready-to-drink (RTD) brand The Original Southside, and Conor Begley, co-founder of Father’s Brewing, launched this month as a coalition of alcohol brands offering greater ingredient transparency and shared formulation standards.

The next evolution in adult non-alc (ANA) will require brands to push flavor to greater heights, invest in retail strategy, and find new occasions.

Los Angeles-based Ikasu Brewing won the 17th edition of the Brewbound Live Pitch Slam.

Eight finalists pitched their brands in the 2025 Brewbound Live Pitch Slam today.

Former Ilegal mezcal COO Michelle Ivey will join Lake Hour as CEO, joining co-founders Wyatt Russell and Richard Peete in guiding the canned cocktail brand.

Spirits and wine ready-to-drink (RTD) suppliers are likely feeling the holiday cheer as they bucked declines across categories for the two-week period ending November 15, according to analysis of NIQ data from Goldman Sachs Equity Research.

If you’re a ready-to-drink or spirits company taking marketing cues from CPG, you may be doing it wrong.