Beyond Beer

Republic National Distributing Company’s (RNDC) portfolio in California has shrunk again, as Gallo moves its popular High Noon Sun Sips ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail line to the Reyes Beverage Group.

Harvest Hill Beverage Company, best known as the maker of kids drink brands SunnyD and Juicy Juice, has agreed terms for its acquisition by Guatemalan business group Castillo Hermanos, in partnership with private investment firm Centervew Capital. Terms were not disclosed, though a report in the Wall Street Journal pegged the deal at around $1.5 billion.

U.S. adult non-alc (ANA) sales may be closing in on the $1 billion mark, but many bars – including some of the country’s upper echelon – aren’t on board yet with slanging zero-proof cocktails.

The Colorado-based Wilding Brands platform has grown again. Denver-based Great Divide Brewing has been acquired by the parent company of Stem Ciders, Denver Beer Co. and several other brands.

Advocating for the federal government to untangle distilled spirits from tariff policy was the major theme at the annual Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) conference in Washington, D.C., last week.

In the latest edition of A Round With … – a weekly Q&A with industry leaders exclusively for Insiders – Tilray Brands North America president Ty Gilmore talked with Brewbound’s sibling publication BevNET about how the company intends to leverage its scale to go deep in hemp-derived delta-9 drinks and how it is navigating the evolving regulatory landscape for hemp products in the U.S.

A year and a half after its sale to Tilray Brands, energy seltzer brand HiBall is returning to retail with a launch in Whole Foods Market stores this spring.

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?

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.

PepsiCo announced this morning it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Poppi for $1.95 billion, officially bringing the CSD giant into the next gen functional soda set.

Adult beverage consumers can now party like Willie Nelson. The country music star and his wellness enterprise partner Long Play, Inc. have partnered with California-based bev-alc maker JuneShine Brands to launch Willie’s Remedy+, a non-alcoholic (NA), intoxicating hemp-based “social tonic.”

Dealing with droughts is part of life in California, but an extension to the state’s self-imposed ban on hemp-derived THC drinks looks set to further stress an already reeling industry. Prior to their scheduled expiration this month, California’s Department of Public Health extended a six-month ban on “intoxicating hemp products” imposed in September for another three months. Now set to expire on June 24, the emergency measure can be readopted only one more time, according to California law.