Beyond Beer

As alcohol sales have remained strained for years on end, the emergence of mainstream, legal hemp-based beverages has been a major boon for adult beverage retailers. Jon Halper, owner and CEO of retail chain Top Ten Liquors, is one of them.

The Clean Alcohol Collective (CAC), co-founded by Meredith Mills-Merritt, founder of ready-to-drink (RTD) brand The Original Southside, and Conor Begley, co-founder of Father’s Brewing, launched this month as a coalition of alcohol brands offering greater ingredient transparency and shared formulation standards.

Tobacco crops used to stretch to the horizon in the farmland of Kentucky, but now, many of those fields grow hemp plants. It might not last.

The nomination window is open for the 2026 Keg Champion awards, hosted by the Steel Keg Association (SKA), a non-profit group that promotes the use of stainless steel kegs.

The next evolution in adult non-alc (ANA) will require brands to push flavor to greater heights, invest in retail strategy, and find new occasions.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday directing the U.S. Attorney General to move cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III controlled substance, marking a watershed moment in the history of U.S. marijuana policy and a significant step forward for the nascent THC-infused beverage industry.

This year was not an easy one for entrepreneurs in bev-alc or adult alternatives. Consumers and investors are adjusting their relationships with alcohol, and still doubtful of the emerging adult non-alc industry. But the smartest beverage founders are meeting those challenges by digging deeper into their relationships with the industry, the environment and their communities…. Read more »

Mark Anthony Brands founder and chairman Anthony von Mandl will step down as CEO and has appointed vice chairman Phil Rosse to succeed him, according to a memo shared with distributors today.

PepsiCo allegedly created a soft drink “price gap” with Walmart, creating a system that allowed the world’s largest retail to obtain preferential promotional payments, while those same payments were reduced for Walmart’s competitors, according to court documents unsealed last week.

Thrive Market is going dry. The online grocery retailer announced today it is adding more than 100 SKUs across 20 brands to its adult non-alcoholic (ANA) beverage set, while simultaneously dropping all of its existing alcoholic offerings.

The personal and professional responsibilities of a modern beverage entrepreneur were in the spotlight on Day 2 of BevNET Live LA 2025, as founders and leaders discussed strategies to effectively meet the changing role of running a beverage business.

Amid reported settlement talks with $4 billion activist investor Elliott Investment Management, PepsiCo announced on Monday that it is evaluating an integrated model for its North America supply chain and go-to-market optimization initiatives.

The past year saw some major M&A deals, and day one of BevNET Live Winter 2025 in Marina Del Rey, Calif., served as the perfect platform to sit down with the leaders of Poppi and Health-Ade Kombucha to learn how they steered their businesses to an exit. The annual beverage industry conference also featured no shortage of panels covering investment trends, startup strategy and the ongoing issues in the space from a looming hemp ban to rising costs.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) will acquire a majority stake in party punch maker BeatBox for approximately $490 million, the company announced today.