Boston Beer Company - Samuel Adams

Washington, D.C.-based Soul Mega has won the 15th annual Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream (BTAD) Brewing and Business Experienceship, Boston Beer Company announced Tuesday.

As the FIFA World Cup enters its second week at host cities across North America, craft breweries’ experiences are mixed. The globe’s most-watched sporting event rolled into 11 U.S. cities last week, bringing millions of international travelers and providing craft breweries in host cities with an opportunity for a much-needed boost to kick off the summer.

Sam Calagione is in a creative groove. The Dogfish Head co-founder is on the verge of releasing a collaboration full-proof whiskey in collaboration with Rolling Stone magazine. He recently wrote a column for the magazine on the 1976 overlap of punk, hip-hop and craft beer. And his 31-year-old craft brewery finished Q1 up, still trucking behind its Grateful Dead collaboration beers and spirits-based canned cocktails.

Boston Beer Company claims it didn’t receive a “fair trial” due to “errors” throughout its breach of contract case with Ardagh Metal Group, which last month received a $175.5 million jury award, plus millions in pre-judgment interest.

A U.S. District Court has entered a $175.5 million amended final judgment – plus $15.5 million in pre-judgment interest – against Boston Beer Company for allegedly failing to purchase contracted minimums of aluminum cans from Ardagh Metal Packaging USA between 2021 and 2025, according to a June 1 8K filed by Boston Beer.

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.

The summer selling season is upon us, signaling the start of the beer category’s most important stretch. Encouraging early trends this year have given way to a more cautious outlook. More recent trends “signal erosion from the stronger momentum seen in March and early April,” market research firm NIQ noted in a recent report. As the industry hopes the heat creates a summer thirst, here are eight storylines we’re tracking.

Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz is the dominant brand in the RTD segment. BuzzBallz’ dollar sales increased 65.6%, to more than $569.3 million, in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers for the 52-week period ending April 19.

Boston Beer Company founder and CEO Jim Koch believes “premiumization is still out there and possible” for bev-alc producers. Koch shared the sentiment Tuesday during a fireside chat with Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog while touting the “magic” of ready-to-drink (RTD) offerings and the potential for Lytt, Boston Beer’s new 15% ABV BuzzBallz challenger.

Boston Beer Company is launching LYTT Electric Coolers in five states this month. Lytt is a line of 15% ABV, malt-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) offerings sold in 6.8 oz. single-serve, glow-in-the-dark, resealable, plastic lightbulb-shaped containers.

Breakthru Drivers Strike in Illinois & Missouri; Diageo Beer USA Net Sales +9.1%, Global Net Sales +2.3%; Monster Q1 Alcohol Net Sales -5.9%; Hard Seltzers Increasingly Top-Heavy Market; A-B CMO: ‘25 is the New 21’; Molson Coors Reveals Keystone Light Apple Cans.

RNDC continues to unwind, so BevNET spirits editor Ferron Salniker joined the Brewbound Podcast to break down the latest. In addition to her analysis, the episode features conversations with Eco Beverages co-founder Anna Nadasdy and Russian River Brewing co-owner Natalie Cilurzo.

Ready-to-drink hard lemonade has surged to $1.5 billion in sales, but new styles are squeezing out the segment’s mainstays.

Boston Beer Company has “gotten over the hump as a supplier” and become an “important” part of its wholesalers’ and retailers’ businesses, founder, chairman and CEO Jim Koch told analysts during the company’s Q1 2026 earnings report Thursday evening.