Distribution

Pac-Northwest wholesaler Columbia Distributing has struck a deal to acquire Point Blank Distributing, adding around 1 million cases to its annual case load of 60 million cases.

Convenience store retailers offered an optimistic outlook on 2026 beverage sales in Goldman Sachs’ Q4 Beverage Bytes retailer survey, which represents roughly 28% of the c-store channel (around 42,000 retail locations).

Days after news broke that it was in talks to sell its business in seven markets to the Reyes Beverage Group, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) announced it has taken new financial support with the approval of its lenders.

Reyes Beverage Group is “in active discussions” with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) “regarding potential business transactions” in six states, as well as Washington, D.C., a spokesperson confirmed to Brewbound today.

December sales reversed trends in different directions – mostly positive – among the top 30 craft brands tracked by market research firm Circana. While overall craft sales were squarely in the red in the multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C) and grocery channel last month, the segment eked out growth in the convenience channel in both dollar sales (+3.7%) and volume (+1.8%) for the four-week period (L4W) ending December 28.

After Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) shed suppliers at an alarming rate last year – resulting in the closure of its California operations – the distributor is being hit with another major loss as Jose Cuervo’s parent company makes its national exit.

A new year means it’s Brewbound’s annual roundtable conversation with our peers in beer industry journalism. This year, the Brewbound team is joined by Kate Bernot, lead analyst for Feel Goods Insights, and David Steinman, VP and executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Here are some news items that were initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter January 5-6, including updates from Uncle Nearest, NIQ, Blake’s Beverage and more.

Columbia Distributing chief strategy officer Jesse Ferber, Bump Williams Consulting president Dave Williams and Hand Family Companies president and CEO J.R. Hand graced the Brewbound Live stage last month to discuss the state of beer, how to strengthen relationships between suppliers and distributors and what industry members are prioritizing in 2026.

We’ve compiled our most read stories of the past year, and one company dominated the headlines (with not the sunniest lineup of news): Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B).

The beer category faces more uncertainty in 2026, according to wholesalers’ buying intentions logged in the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) monthly Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI).

Editor’s Note: The below news items were initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter December 22-26. Not an Insider? Become one today to get earlier access to what’s going on in the industry. CGA: 40% Consumers Plan to Take Part in Dry January; Half of Gen Z to Participate Two-in-five consumers plan to take part… Read more »

Total Wine & More has named retail veteran Ryan Ross its new CEO, concluding a four-month search.

A few major beer category brands are clearly on the nice list this year. In his latest weekly report (data ending December 14), Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon noted that Constellation Bands’ Modelo returned to growth thanks to “perhaps a bit of holiday magic delivering early.”