While some intoxicating hemp brands are positioning themselves as alcohol alternatives, one early adopter of alcohol-free spirits is joining the fray from the opposite direction.
Check out news items initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter February 9-11, including headlines from the Brewers Association, Colorado and New Belgium.
Heineken N.V. will slash around 7% of its 87,000-person global workforce over the next two years, the company announced Wednesday during its full-year 2025 earnings report.
Bev-alc sales remained slightly positive through the end of January in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels (xAOC + convenience + liquor open state), the market research firm reported this week.
Super Bowl Sunday was a let down for more than just Patriots fans. BeerBoard tracked bars and restaurants saw year-over-year (YoY) declines in both draft beer volume (-6%) and package volumes (-6.2%), the tech and insights firm shared in its “2026 Big Game On-Premise Report.”
Boston Beer Company CMO Lesya Lysyj will step down from her role, effective March 6, according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola are expanding their ready-to-drink (RTD) line with a larger can size, signaling how spirit-based RTDs are searching for incremental growth through convenience retail.
The beverage-alcohol landscape has “radically” changed over the last decade, but small and independent producers – both in beer and hard cider – are primed to take advantage, Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson shared at CiderCon last week in Providence, Rhode Island.
If December’s trends reversed craft beer’s fortunes in the off-premise, January’s easier comps added a strong tailwind. Craft continued to outpace the overall beer segment in the convenience channel, with dollar sales up 5.4% and volume, measured in case sales, up 0.4% year-to-date (YTD) through January 25, according to market research firm Circana.
After laying off more than 1,700 employees as it shuttered operations in California last year, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is making further cuts across the country. The distributor, which has seen an exodus of suppliers over the past year, confirmed the layoffs but did not comment on the scope. “Republic National Distributing Company is… Read more »
The end of January also brought an end to bev-alc’s 2026 growth trends, according to the latest weekly report from Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon.
Hard cider was one of three beer segments to record consistent growth in 2025, escaping the declines that plagued most of the category as beverage-alcohol tackled increased supply costs, consumer purchasing shifts and numerous macroeconomic headwinds.
On a night when 23% of the Super Bowl ads promoted AI, Americana and beer came out on top in USA Today’s Ad Meter rankings.
Creature Comforts co-founder Chris Herron quietly assumed the CEO role of intoxicating hemp beverage brand Climbing Kites a year after joining the company, the company shared last week. Herron’s promotion comes as Climbing Kites prepares to expand its beverage offerings in line with product trends across bev-alc.
