SipMARGS, a ready-to-drink (RTD) sparkling margarita brand has revamped its liquid and landed $3 million from new investors, including powerhouse social media influencer Alix Earle.

Constellation Brands has “evolved” the playbook for its portfolio of Mexican import brands for 2025 and beyond, leadership shared last week during the company’s annual Gold Network Summit in Orlando.

President Donald Trump is now threatening to double tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, increasing them from 25% to 50%, according to his social media posts. The move is in retaliation for a 25% surcharge placed by Ontario on electricity to the U.S.

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Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers are rolling out to 10 states this month. A collaboration between Kraft Heinz and Harpoon maker Barrel One Collective, the 3.8% ABV vodka-based seltzer has 77 calories per 12 oz. serving, making it “the lowest-calorie ready-to-drink [RTD] cocktail on the market,” according to a press release.

Dollar sales of craft beer declined -4.2%, to more than $596.2 million, year-to-date (YTD) through February 23 in off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm Circana.

Ya gotta love when the CPG industry listens to the demands of the people, and finally cuts out the middleman to make all of our lives that much easier and more fulfilling. Yes, Zoe’s darty crowd will no longer have to mix their CRYSTAL LIGHT and vodka themselves, as the KRAFT HEINZ people have indeed read all of your letters (Zoe, please tell Donny to cool it on the postcards), and finally giving us 3.8% ABV Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers!

The National Black Brewers Association (NB2A) has named two additional board members, in addition to board president Jon Renthrope. Funkytown Brewery co-founder and CEO Rich Bloomfield and Vine Street Brewing co-owner and business development manager Annie McGinnis were named to the board as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

📉 January 2025 Shipments -8.7% YoY; 🫧 Jiant Wants to be Hard Tea’s Olipop; 🌑 Blue Moon Denver Brewpub to Close; 🍹 A Round With Austin Cocktails Founders; 📰 WellBeing Deal; Saugatuck Closures;🥉 Circana: 3 of 10 Segments Post Growth; 🚫 ‘You Can’t Fucking Make Beer Legally in DE’; 🖐️ Constellation’s Rule of Five Hard Punch

Sisterhood is powerful, especially for Kelly Gasnik and Jill Burns, founders of Austin Cocktails. The sisters started the spirits-based ready-to-drink cocktail brand in 2012, helping to spearhead the current wave of canned cocktails.

Molson Coors will close the Blue Moon brewpub in Denver’s River North Arts District at the end of the month, Brewbound has confirmed.

Domestic beer shipments are off to a rough start in 2025. U.S. beer shipments declined -8.7% year-over-year (YoY) in January 2025, as brewers shipped 10.55 million barrels, according to estimates of domestic tax paid shipments from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), shared by the Beer Institute (BI). The decline amounted to more than 1 million fewer barrels being shipped YoY.

The hard tea segment operates similarly to soda, with one or two leading national players, and a handful of regional winners. With that analogy, and Boston Beer Company’s Twisted Tea equating to a Coke or Pepsi, California-based hard tea maker Jiant believes it can be hard tea’s Olipop – a flavor-forward, ingredient-focused functional brand that connects with new and lapsed consumers.

None of beer’s various headwinds – including Tuesday’s tariffs announcement – seemed to dampen Constellation Brands’ spirits this week in Orlando, Florida, during the beer giant’s annual Gold Network Summit with distributor partners.