After more than a decade of investing in emerging spirits and adult non-alc brands, Diageo confirmed earlier this month that its venture arm Distill Ventures will cease bringing new brands into its portfolio. What does the wind-down signal for the spirits group and does it say something about the larger spirits industry?
Let’s of course start with a happy March Madness 🏀 to you all, with lo and behold – some nice support for the beer biz so far! B-DUBS is of course out in full force (even though the weird big buffalo at the bar ads still don’t do it for me), and COORS LIGHT, MODELO, CORONA, MICH ULTRA and STELLA have been spending as well already. 👏
Youth soccer games aren’t just a way to get the family outside and to mingle with neighbors – they are also a great place to meet a future business partner. At least, that was the case for Luis Espinoza and Craig Panzer, the founders of Roundhead Brewing, Massachusetts’ first Latino-owned brewery, located in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Brewers Association-defined craft beer recorded a -4% decline in packaged volume in 2024, BA staff economist Matt Gacioch reported this week in the trade group’s annual packaging report.
Constellation Brands chief customer officer Bill Renspie is no longer with the company, Beer Marketer’s Insights reported Wednesday, citing a note to distributors from beer division president Jim Sabia.
Allagash Brewing will celebrate its 30th anniversary this summer, and founder Rob Tod knows where he’ll be and what he’ll be drinking on the brewery’s birthday, July 1 – an Allagash White at the Great Lost Bear, the taphouse that served the first pint of White in Portland, Maine.
St. Patrick’s Day weekend wasn’t necessarily lucky for purveyors of draft beer, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard, which published its annual recap of bev-alc performance at bars and restaurants during the holiday.
As Pepsi closes the deal on its $1.65 billion acquisition of Poppi (VNGR Beverages), the prebiotic soda maker is wrapping up another deal, this one with a class action group of consumers alleging they were misled by the drink’s gut-health claims.
The origin story of Oregon-based 2 Towns Ciderhouse is very similar to the humble beginnings of many craft brewers: childhood friends with a passion for the craft, and a basement. 15 years later, founders Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen have grown the company to be the second largest cider brand in grocery nationwide.
As tariff talks continue to expand, suppliers say they are losing purchase orders, facing the possibility of consumers trading down, and quickly assessing how to position their portfolios.
More Minute Maid Spiked ready-to-drink (RTD) options are on the way from Coca-Cola’s “firewalled” bev-alc subsidiary, Red Tree Beverages.
After a promising week, bev-alc off-premise sales returned to the red, declining -3.8% YoY and -1% WoW, according to the most recent weekly report from Circana (data ending March 9).
The total beer industry ended 2024 in the red, but New England remains a positive beacon, as the region continues to buck trends, Bump Williams Consulting president Dave Williams highlighted earlier this month during a presentation at the New England Craft Brew Summit in Portland, Maine.
Longtime lead lobbyist Katie Marisic has exited the Brewers Association (BA), where she was senior director of federal affairs. Marisic represented craft brewers’ voices and the BA in Washington, D.C. for a decade.
