Brewbound Insiders are digging into the latest non-alcoholic beverage trends, with the arrow continuing to point up for the category as Dry January approaches.

As another Dry January approaches, the non-alcoholic (NA) category has posted “its largest year of absolute dollar growth in five years,” Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA) CEO Marcos Salazar shared during the trade association’s webinar earlier this month.

In October, cider grew its share of beer dollars in Circana-tracked off-premise channels +0.25% month-over-month (MoM) – an improvement over the segment’s typical fall seasonal declines. The trend change is primarily due to the efforts of National Cider Month, according to leadership at Schilling Cider.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Retail Services & Systems, Inc., parent company of national bev-alc retailer Total Wine & More, have finalized a settlement in their dispute over the chain’s participation in the FTC’s investigation of one of its distributor partners.

Year-to-date (YTD) craft beer sales in off-premise retailers have inched closer to flat with one month to go, according to market research firm Circana. Through December 3, craft beer sales in multi-outlet and convenience stores are down -0.9%, an improvement compared to the last four- (-1.6%), 12- (-3.9%) and 52-week (-1%) periods. Craft dollar sales… Read more »

Coca-Cola is bringing another of its juice brands to the bev-alc world. This time, it’s Minute Maid Spiked. The Coca-Cola Company’s bev-alc subsidiary Red Tree Beverages is launching a line of multi-serve wine cocktails under the juice brand in spring 2024.

Craft beer has entered “no to negative growth territory,” Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson said during a year-end webinar last week. “We were in double-digit growth as recently as 2014, 2015, and then we moved into kind of a more developed, slow, single-digit growth rate,” Watson said. “COVID hit, and we had the worst year in craft history in 2020 with a partial bounce back in 2021.

Nearly 5,000 Teamsters members across Anheuser-Busch InBev’s U.S. facilities have voted to authorize a strike if a new contract is not in place when the current one expires on February 29.

Ty Gilmore, president of Tilray Brands’ U.S. beer division, estimated that he receives around two to three calls a day from potential sellers looking to join the Canadian cannabis firm’s craft brewery platform.

Campari has committed to acquiring cognac Courvoisier from Beam Suntory for an initial price of $1.2 billion, amounting to the biggest deal in the Italian spirit group’s history.

Two Massachusetts breweries – Dorchester Brewing Company and Aeronaut Brewing Company – will merge next year under a new parent company, Tasty Liquid Alliance, the two companies announced today.

As 2023 comes to a close, the teams at market research firms NIQ and CGA hosted a webinar Tuesday to give predictions for 2024 bev-alc trends, including shifting consumer behavior, changing demographics, and continued premiumization and flavor-forward trends.

This week’s Brewbound Podcast features interviews with some of Brewbound’s 2023 award winners, including Athletic Brewing founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker; Lawson’s Finest Liquids founder Sean Lawson and CEO Adeline Druart; and BeatBox Beverages co-founder and COO Aimy Steadman.

FIFCO USA-owned Seagram’s Escapes is refreshing its brand family in 2024. Seagram’s Escapes Refreshers will roll out in 15 markets next year, the company announced today. The 5% ABV flavored malt beverage (FMB) is sweetened with cane sugar and fruit juice, according to a press release.