Oregon’s Rogue Ales & Spirits launched a line of ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails in key markets, including the Pacific Northwest, last week. Speaking to Brewbound, Rouge’s president, Dharma Tamm, said adding canned mixed drinks to the Newport, Oregon-headquartered craft brewery’s portfolio was a “natural” extension of its business.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Pyramid owner FIFCO USA settles a lawsuit with its Alehouse staff; Manhattan Beer Distributors and its delivery drivers battle over alleged ‘wage theft;’ Left Hand enters the CBD-infused, non-alcoholic drink market; New Delhi bans A-B InBev for three years; and more news bites.

Tickets for the 2019 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) are still available a day after going on sale to the public, despite the event’s history of quick sell outs. The slowdown in ticket sales for the Brewers Association’s (BA) largest consumer-facing event of the year, which takes place October 3-5 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, comes as craft beer volume growth has slowed to single digits over the last four years.

Molson Coors released its second-quarter financial results today, but following news of a shakeup at the top of the company, the focus of the multinational beer manufacturer’s call with investors and analysts was on the future direction of the company.

Molson Coors today announced that CEO Mark Hunter will retire effective September 27, according to a press release issued prior to its second quarter earnings call. Gavin Hattersley, the long-time CEO of Molson Coors’ U.S. business unit, MillerCoors, will supplant Hunter as president and CEO effective September 28.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed retailers to offer discounts on alcoholic beverages purchased in bulk. The order comes two years after Maryland’s Total Wine & More (doing business as Massachusetts Fine Wines & Spirits LLC) successfully challenged the law.

Year-to-date beer category dollar sales are up 3.5 percent, to nearly $19.5 billion, in off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm IRI. According to the Chicago-based firm, three segments — imports (+5.9), flavored malt beverages (+27.7 percent) and domestic super premiums (+12.6 percent) — have achieved nine-figure sales growth through July 14 in its multi-outlet and convenience store universe. In fact, dollar sales of FMBs, including popular hard seltzers, have topped $1.9 billion so far this year.

Next week, Boston Beer plans to launch a national advertising campaign for Truly, featuring comedian Keegan-Michael Key, whom CEO Dave Burwick said will “bring a little bit of personality” to the brand.

Boston Beer Company reported second-quarter depletions (sales-to-retailers) and shipments (sales-to-wholesalers) growth of 17 percent, according to financial results issued after the end of trading today. Through the first 26 weeks of 2019, Boston Beer’s depletions (+15 percent) and shipments (+23 percent) are up due to its Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea brands.

Anheuser-Busch InBev today reported global revenue growth of 6.2 percent in the second quarter of 2019, despite ongoing volume declines in the U.S. A-B, the world’s largest beer manufacturer, recorded revenues of more than $13.9 billion during the quarter, and a gross profit of $8.7 billion. The company credited “healthy volume growth, global premiumization and revenue management initiatives” for its increased revenue worldwide.

It’s an age-old question: What does a “craft beer drinker” look like? According to market research firm Nielsen, which presented findings from its newest “Craft Beer Insights Poll” (CIP) during a Brewers Association-sponsored webinar last week, the average weekly craft beer drinker is primarily male, between the ages of 21 and 44, and makes between $75,000 and $99,000 annually. However, those demographics are beginning to shift among less frequent consumers of craft, with 79 percent of women considering themselves monthly drinkers.

During Episode 44 of the Brewbound Podcast, myself and Chris Furnari, in discussing a story on beer influencers of Instagram, had a conversation that was in poor judgment and poor taste. We missed the mark, and that discussion does not reflect the thought-provoking conversations that we strive to have at Brewbound.

The landscape in the Pacific Northwest has changed considerably since Josh Pfriem, Ken Whiteman and Rudy Kellner opened pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon in 2012. Now on the verge of its seventh anniversary, pFriem is in the midst of a pair of expansion projects that will double its capacity in 2020.

Rumors of a large layoff at Massachusetts’ Lord Hobo Brewing Company began circulating Thursday evening on social media. Reality was much different. Lord Hobo founder Daniel Lanigan told Brewbound that the company cut eight jobs across sales, marketing, production and taproom staff this week, which he classified as part of the “normal course of business.”