Beyond Beer

Washington-based craft distiller Heritage Distilling announced this week its plans to merge with Better World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), to go public in a transaction that has a pro forma enterprise value of over $122 million. If completed, the merger will make Heritage one of the only publicly traded pure-play craft distilleries.

A judge has denied Anheuser-Busch InBev subsidiary Grupo Modelo’s bid for partial summary judgment in its trademark infringement lawsuit against Constellation Brands for the company’s use of the Corona trademark for hard seltzer.

With his latest beverage alcohol play, sports business analyst and CPG investor Darren Rovell is feeling the heat – and he’s excited for it.

American craft spirits are recovering from the pandemic’s downturn, according to new data from the Craft Spirits Data Project.

A U.S. District Court Judge has tossed out a proposed class-action lawsuit filed by an investor against the Boston Beer Company alleging the maker of Truly Hard Seltzer and its top executives failed to disclose decelerating sales of the hard seltzer brand to investors, Law360 reported.

As products made through its beverage-alcohol licensing partnerships gain steam at retail, Coca-Cola has agreed to share profits from those brand extensions with U.S. bottlers, Beverage Digest reported.

In two years, Loverboy has expanded distribution of its hard teas from four states to 44, partially initiated by retail partnerships with Total Wine and Kroger. To support the rapid expansion, the company is focused on “trying to grow into [its] own shoes” in 2023, founder and CEO Kyle Cooke told Brewbound.

Draft sales on the night before Thanksgiving declined -17.1% compared to the same day in 2021, on-premise data firm BeerBoard reported. Drizly reported that ready-to-drink canned cocktails increased sales nearly +40% on the e-commerce alcohol delivery platform this Thanksgiving weekend compared to the holiday in 2021.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears to be cracking down on CBD food and beverage brands as the federal agency sent warning letters last week to five companies selling infused products.

San Francisco-based Cellarmaker Brewing Company has acquired The Rare Barrel and its facility in Berkeley, California. Two days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar, the country has said it will not allow beer sales at the event, walking back previous expectations, The New York Times reported.

Pronghorn, an initiative focused on boosting Black spirits entrepreneurship, announced yesterday new investments in three companies: Tequila with Friends, Den of Thieves and Ego Tequila. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Ahead of last week’s midterm elections, the Brewers Association’s (BA) federal and government affairs teams shared the trade group’s 2023 legislative priorities during a “Collab Hour” webinar.

Trade groups across beer and spirits continue to fight over whether spirits-based, ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs) should be taxed at the same as malt-based alternatives. The argument came to a head this month when Public Sector Consultants (PSC), a Lansing, Michigan-based public policy consulting firm, released a study claiming decreased excise tax rates for spirits-based RTDs have cost consumers more on shelf.