Beyond Beer

Across oversaturated retail shelves, bev-alc brands are under pressure to stand out.

In premium spirits and canned cocktails, brands have learned that calling out unique ingredients and connecting to audiences through their own cultural stories is key to positioning. They’re also balancing bolder looks with conveying brand values, health benefits and taste without over-messaging. Many have gone back to the drawing board, honing their brand prepositions and packaging.

San Diego-headquartered JuneShine is adding another product line to its expanding portfolio, but the latest addition is outside of the beverage-alcohol realm. The maker of hard kombucha, spirits-based canned cocktails and light lagers will expand its repertoire with non-alcoholic (NA) kombucha under the JuneShine brand.

Spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) products will face a challenge to maintain double-digit growth rates in 2025, including a decluttering of items at retail in order for the segment to remain healthy, according to Bump Williams Consulting’s (BWC) monthly report.

Citing concerns over public health, California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed heavy restrictions Friday on “intoxicating hemp products.” Through an emergency regulation, Newsom proposed removing food and beverage products containing hemp extract from stores within the Golden State.

Constellation Brands may have lowered its fiscal year 2025 (FY25) guidance earlier today, but the company has not lost confidence in the continued growth of its beer brands.

Ready-to-drink products have built their brands around different cocktails: Some are sessionable seltzers or old classics, others are obscure cocktails that haven’t yet hit mainstream. But Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, so far, is the only one that has emerged from a ’90s rap anthem.

Earnings calls from Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard echoed other spirit companies struggling to regain their footing in the U.S. as the inventory build-up continues. Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard announced separately it is further bolstering its non-alc portfolio.

Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz has selected the Reyes Beverage Group as its distributor in California, Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina, the multistate wholesaler announced today.

While brewery menus are littered with near beer options and non-alcoholic spirits are making their way onto bar menus as the fastest growing category in the zero-proof set, wine remains one of the most difficult bev-alc formats to bridge the gap between fully dry consumers and the sober-curious drinkers driving category growth.

BeatBox founders Aimy Steadman, Justin Fenchel and Brad Schultz’s ask to wholesalers is to help them build a “flavor wall” at retailers across the country. They described the flavor wall – two to three shelves, featuring assorted flavors of the party punch – during BeatBox’s first large-scale distributor meeting in Houston last week.

The latest data set from NIQ showed a modest improvement in sales growth for total bev-alc in the two-week period before August 10, according to analysis from Goldman Sachs Equity Research.

Spirits, hard cider, mead and braggot producers can now ship their products directly to New York consumers. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S2852A into law Monday, allowing direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping from in- and out-of-state manufacturers.

Stevenson announced the news Friday on LinkedIn, posting a photo of herself with JuneShine co-founders Greg Serraro and Forrest Dein, and writing: “Could not be more excited to join Greg, Forrest and the JuneShine Team! So many exciting things to come!”

Earlier this month, an article in Food & Wine proclaimed craft spirits in crisis, kicking off a tense debate between wholesalers and craft spirit representatives about the root causes of the challenges facing distillers.