Beyond Beer

Editor’s Note: 3 Up, 3 Down with 3 Tier Beverages is a quarterly insights series available exclusively to Brewbound Insiders, via the Chicago-headquartered, bev-alc-focused consulting and data firm. In this latest installment of 3 Up, 3 Down, 3 Tier consultant Danelle Kosmal analyzes data trends in flavor-forward bev-alc, high ABV offerings, pricing and more.

Texas is close to enacting a total ban on THC and THCA hemp products, as a law outlawing manufacturing, sales and possession heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for final approval.

De Soi, the non-alcoholic apéritif brand co-founded by Katy Perry, is turning up the heat with its newest launch, Haute Margarita.

Beverage-alcohol’s embrace of flavor and craft beer’s shifting distribution trends were among spotlighted issues during last week’s Beer Marketer’s Insights Spring Conference in Chicago. Leaders from BeatBox Beverages, Boston Beer Company, Atomic Brands, Columbia Distributing and Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) shared where their business and the beer category is heading. Here are a few soundbites from the conference.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) is shaking up its distribution network for its spirits-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail brands. The moves are concentrated in California, where A-B told Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) it would move the Cutwater Spirits RTD family to Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (SGWS).

Are Californians over tequila? A new report indicates that Californians’ thirst for spirits has declined, fueled by a drop in agave spirit volumes. But that’s not the entire story.

With wind in its sails from accelerating grocery sales, Sapporo has set its sights on multi-channel expansion. The 149-year-old brand has been invigorated in recent years as Sapporo-Stone, the combined entity born from the former’s acquisition of the latter in 2022, takes shape.

Campari America is building on its spritzing success to pursue another trend: adult non-alc (ANA). The Italian spirits group announced today it is bringing Crodino, a zero-proof ready-to-serve spritz, to the U.S. as its first Stateside foray into the growing category.

A heat wave is hitting liquor shelves as spirit brands and ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails aim to spice up sales with new fruit and hot pepper-driven flavors.

What’s the best route from online to on-shelf sales? For many intoxicating hemp brands, the solution appears to be finding space with beer and liquor distributors. Having leveraged DTC distribution to meet the unique needs of the category, hemp brands are now considering how to marry online sales with the larger opportunity within beverage-alcohol retail.

Not that long ago, the idea of buying cannabis online – especially in a drinkable format – would have seemed like an unlikely pipe dream. Now, order-by-mail has become a primary mechanism for distributing intoxicating hemp beverages.

Under new leadership for the first time in more than a decade, the Brewers Association (BA) is “relentlessly focused on members and what their needs are,” CEO and president Bart Watson said last week.

Rhinegeist is ghosting alcohol. The Cincinnati craft brewery will add its first non-alcoholic (NA) beer to its portfolio later this summer. Ghost is an “affiliated brand” that plays on the “geist” name, meaning ghost or spirit, Rhinegeist CEO Adam Bankovich told Brewbound. The NA beer is one of two big portfolio additions for Rhinegeist this year, with Cincy Light’s first line extension, Cincy Light Lime (4.2% ABV), rolling out now on draft.

Tom Holland, actor and co-founder of non-alcoholic beer Bero, discussed the brand’s growth during last week’s Beverage Forum.