Jessica Infante joined Brewbound in 2019 after nearly a decade in a variety of marketing roles in the craft beer industry. Prior to that, she was a daily newspaper reporter at the Jersey Shore. Jess holds a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication from Emerson College. She is a certified Cicerone and lives in Salem, Massachusetts.
Entering its third summer, Right Coast Spirits’ Italian Ice is riding high. The ready-to-drink (RTD) bottled cocktail more than doubled year-over-year (YoY) during summer 2025, increasing volume 101% compared to summer 2024, Right Coast director of commercial strategy Jon Schwartz told Brewbound.
It rained on many Memorial Day parades in the literal sense during the long weekend, but the less-than-ideal weather figuratively rained on the beverage-alcohol industry’s metaphoric parade too, according to the latest weekly report from market research firm Circana.
Vermont craft brewers are one signature away from expanded self-distribution privileges. The state Senate approved a bill on May 21 that would allow malt beverage manufacturers to self-distribute up to 3,000 barrels of beer under their existing manufacturer licenses.
On the precipice of the all-important summer selling season, Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon reports that beverage-alcohol experts have “questioned the ability” of the industry to close 2026 “with strength,” while he believes it’s possible.
Seven of the 10 largest Brewers Association-defined craft breweries recorded production volume declines in 2025, according to data shared by the trade group in the May/June Issue of The New Brewer magazine.
Beer tops the shopping list for consumers planning to imbibe during Memorial Day weekend, according to insights firm Numerator. Of the 43% of respondents who plan to purchase beverage-alcohol, 75% said they intend to buy beer, followed by spirits (45%), wine (35%), hard seltzer (31%) and ready-to-drink or pre-mixed canned cocktails (20%).
An acquisition that “just feels right to everyone” is in the works in Washington, Bale Breaker Brewing co-owner Kevin Quinn told Brewbound. Yakima, Washington-based Bale Breaker has struck a deal to acquire Seattle’s Cloudburst Brewing as its founder Steve Luke prepares to move to New Zealand, where his wife has taken a job.
Leapfrogging was the theme across beverage-alcohol last week, as several upstarts jumped over their stalwart peers in dollar sales, according to the latest weekly report from market research firm Circana. In the beer category, Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw out-earned Molson Coors’ Miller Lite by $218,720 during the week ending May 10. In spirits, Anheuser-Busch… Read more »
After a dozen years, Minneapolis’ Bauhaus Brew Labs will close its doors in late June, the brewery announced last week.
Bauhaus cited “a number of serious challenges” that contributed to its decision to cease operations, including “substantial cost increases in our supply chain, shifts in consumer preferences away from craft beer, a global pandemic and most recently, a surge in federal immigration enforcement that directly targeted our wonderful city and deeply affected businesses across the hospitality industry,” it wrote on Facebook.
The alleged drains on beverage-alcohol in recent years have been well-documented: health and wellness, legal cannabis, consumers’ propensity for the couch instead of the bar, Generation’s Z disinterest, GLP-1 drugs. But one other driver – consumers’ perceived value for price – may not be mentioned as much as the others, and suppliers can learn from… Read more »
Trends worsened through mid-April for the majority of the 25 largest beer category vendors at off-premise retailers, according to market research firm Circana. Total beer recorded dollar sales gains of 0.9%, while volume, measured in case sales, declined 0.7%, year-to-date (YTD) through April 19 at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C). In the last four weeks (L4W), those metrics decelerated to +0.1% in dollar sales and -1.4% in volume.
Maine Beer Co. is dining out on lunch. Not the meal, but its flagship IPA (7% ABV), which isn’t named for an eating occasion at all, but rather a whale spotted off the Maine coast in 1982. Her dorsal fin was missing a chunk, which had ostensibly become lunch for a shark.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Michelob Ultra was Numero Uno on Cinco de Mayo, according to the latest report from on-premise insights firm BeerBoard.
The convenience channel remained a lone bright spot for craft in the latest monthly report from market research firm Circana. Year-to-date (YTD) through April 19, craft dollar sales at c-stores increased 3.2%, while volume, measured in case sales, increased 0.9%.
