A jury entered a $175.5 million verdict in favor of Ardagh Metal Packaging USA against Boston Beer Company for allegedly failing “to purchase contractual minimum volumes of certain aluminum beverage can containers from 2021 to 2025,” according to an 8K filed by Boston Beer Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

All 514 Eagle Rock Distributing employees in Colorado will be permanently laid off in June following the completion of the sale of the independent Anheuser-Busch InBev wholesaler to Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits.

PepsiCo’s Blue Cloud is leaning into a new model: developing crossover alcohol brands and licensing them to producers such as Boston Beer and FIFCO USA with Lipton Hard Iced Tea.

The brewmaster who helped shape Stone Brewing’s portfolio during the mid-2000s craft ascension and established New Realm Brewing has joined Abita Brewing Company. Mitch Steele, known for helping popularize hop-forward beers, is Abita’s new director of brewing operations.

Dogfish Head is looking to extend its long, strange trip back to growth in 2026. Following the launch of Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale last year – which helped return Dogfish Head to growth – the Boston Beer Company-owned craft brewery is leaning even further into its partnership with the Grateful Dead and releasing a “Volume 2” collaboration: Citrus Daydream Lager.

Dallas-based Four Corners Brewing Company and Oklahoma City-based Coop Ale Works “have combined operations” in a “strategic merger” to create the Frontier Beverage Collective, according to an April 1 note shared with distributor partners and obtained by Brewbound.

The luck of the Irish carried on for the beer category in the week after St. Patrick’s Day. Off-premise dollar sales of beer increased 3.1% week-over-week, to $863.3 million, for the week ending March 21, in NIQ-tracked retail channels. That marked a $33.7 million boost from the $829.6 million in sales the prior week.

Abita Brewing Company’s 40th year could be its biggest since the mid-2010s craft beer boom. The Louisiana craft brewery’s forecast for 2026 is 170,000 barrels – nearly double its previous annual output, Abita president Troy Ashley told Brewbound.

Multi-state distribution platform/consolidator KEG 1 has inked a deal to acquire a “controlling equity” stake in Pine State Trading Co., the fourth-generation, family-owned New England distributor with operations in Maine and New Hampshire.

Perceived value is reality when it comes to beverage-alcohol sales in HMSHost’s more than 1,000 dining venues located in around 80 airports across the U.S., Tyler Pitman, SVP of concept development, brand partnerships and adult beverage shared earlier this month during Constellation Brands’ Gold Network Summit.

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits’ ambitions for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s portfolio aren’t limited to New York. The wine and spirits juggernaut has struck another deal for a red network distributor, this time for the assets of Eagle Rock Distributing Co. in Colorado.

The multi-market deal between Reyes Beverage Group and Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is moving forward as the companies announced they’ve entered into purchase agreements for Reyes to acquire RNDC’s operations in 11 markets.

Another low ABV beer with an explicit target audience made an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank and came out with an investment. Potentially. Beer Girl founder Caroline Renezeder Foulk pitched the three-year-old lager brand to a panel of investment “sharks,” and caught the attention of Uncle Nearest founder Fawn Weaver.

A pair of big red network distribution deals were announced in the last 24 hours. Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to purchase the distribution rights of its brands, as well as “certain craft/NA brands,” from Advance Beverage Company in Bakersfield, California. Meanwhile, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits inked a deal for independent A-B distributor Clare Rose on Long Island.