The Reyes Beverage Group announced plans today to merge operations of its Chicagoland wholesalers — Windy City Distributing and Chicago Beverage Systems — into one company by mid-October.

Molson Coors Beverage Company’s hibernation of the Saint Archer Gold brand is benefitting upstart active lifestyle lager maker Island Brands. In the Southeast, grocery chain Publix has begun filling the void left by Gold with the Charleston, South Carolina-based beer maker’s Island Active — an 88-calorie, 4.2% ABV light lager, which launched in March just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Danny Brager, the long-time leader of market research firm Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice, is exiting the company to pursue other opportunities after nearly 40 years.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were easy to see in Craft Brew Alliance’s latest earnings report. Shipments of CBA products during the three-month period ending June 30 — in the thick of the pandemic and its shut down of on-premise establishments — declined 10.2%, to 206,900 barrels, down from 230,500 barrels in Q2 2019.

The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s Annual Convention won’t be taking place in-person in Orlando, Florida, this October after all. The largest meeting of beer wholesalers in the country will instead go virtual from October 4-7. The NBWA was set to host its Annual Convention in Orlando in early October, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has rendered those plans unfeasible.

The clock seemed to expire last week on Massachusetts craft brewers’ hopes of finally achieving franchise law reform. After finally reaching a compromise with wholesalers after a decade of contentious negotiations, the measure (S. 2841) unanimously passed the Senate but couldn’t get out of the House Ways and Means Committee before the expiration of the legislative session last Friday.

Molson Coors Beverage Company has hired Jennifer Martinez as senior director of corporate affairs. Also, the Breakthru Beverage Group announced that it has acquired the Miller portfolio of brands in southern Nevada, giving the multi-state beer, wine and spirits wholesaler the full Molson Coors portfolio in the state.

In any other year, 10 consecutive weeks of billion dollar off-premise beer category sales would be eye-opening. Consider that in all of 2019, there was just one week — the week of the July 4 holiday — in which beer category off-premise dollar sales topped $1 billion. Now, it’s a footnote in weekly reports.

Kalamazoo, Michigan-headquartered Bell’s Brewery will enter its 42nd state later this year, with the addition of distribution to Oklahoma. Bell’s, the seventh largest Brewers-Association-defined craft brewery, will be partnering with Republic National Distribution Company of Oklahoma.

Bubble NBA basketball is finally here — and two craft breweries are creating beers branded for their respective home teams. Deschutes Brewery will launch Rip City Lager in partnership with the Portland Trail Blazers. Also today, Framingham, Massachusetts-based Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers announced a four-year partnership with the Boston Celtics.

The COVID-19 pandemic cut into Anheuser-Busch InBev’s worldwide volumes and revenue during the second quarter of 2020. The world’s largest beer maker reported that its total volume in Q2 declined 17.1% — as beer volume declined 17.2% and non-beer volume declined 15.5% — while revenue declined 17.7%.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on craft breweries are beginning to be revealed as the Brewers Association (BA) today reported that craft beer volumes have declined around 10% through the first half of 2020.

The streak of consecutive billion dollar weeks for the beer category now stands at nine — and hard seltzers are continuing to push triple-digit growth. For the one-week period ending July 18, off-premise dollar sales of beer, cider and FMBs increased 15.4%, to $1.042 billion, compared to the same one-week period in 2019, according to market research firm Nielsen.

The California distribution shuffle now includes New Belgium. The Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery notified six primarily Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in Southern California and eight Chicago area Molson Coors wholesalers of plans to terminate their distribution contracts without cause.