Distribution

Retailers’ coldboxes are “a battlefield” – particularly in the increasingly crowded beyond beer space – but cider is primed to “thrive,” according to Mary Guiver, Whole Foods Market’s global principle category merchant for beer, during a retailer panel last week at CiderCon 2023 in Chicago.

Allagash Brewing Company is going statewide in Illinois. Plus, Memphis, Tennessee-based Wiseacre Brewing has added statewide distribution in Virginia via Specialty Beverage.

Beer and flavored malt beverage (FMB) sales were up +2% in Q4, while hard seltzer sales declined -3% in the same period, according to the most recent Beverage Bytes survey conducted by Goldman Sachs Equity Research.

San Diego-headquartered Kings & Convicts Brewing, which acquired Ballast Point from Constellation Brands in late 2019, will vacate the Encinitas taproom and Miramar production facility it took over from Molson Coors in January 2022.

Seattle, Washington-based Schilling Cider is deepening its presence in Colorado and will transition to the Molson Coors distribution network in the state beginning February 1.

Looking to capitalize on Pennsylvanias’ fond memories of Jersey Shore vacations, Cape May Brewing will expand its Keystone State distribution this year. The Cape May, New Jersey-headquartered brewery will begin selling its products in the counties surrounding Pittsburgh, Scranton and Harrisburg.

Craft beer dollar sales at off-premise retailers reached more than $4.74 billion in 2022, a -4.7% decline year-over-year (YoY), according to the market research firm IRI.

Total beer category dollar sales at off-premise retailers reached more than $44.6 billion in 2022, according to the market research firm IRI.

Breakthru Beverage Group has signed an agreement to acquire Wine Warehouse, a California-based beer, wine and spirits distributor.

Following the news of spirits giant Sazerac’s transition from wine and spirits wholesaler Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) to several beer wholesalers, the producer is suing its former distributor for nonpayment of $38.6 million.

The state of middle-tier operations was among the focus areas of Beer Business Daily’s 2023 Beer Industry Summit this week in West Palm Beach, Florida. Leaders from five wholesalers offered insights on taking on non-alcoholic beverages, SKU rationalization, convergence, and trade down.

Non-alcoholic beverage boutique Boisson has partnered with alcohol e-commerce platform Drizly to offer its catalog of over 125 NA brands to consumers across the country.

Seven beer category segments were represented among the top 25 new beer brands in 2022, creating a list of “innovation leaders [that] are much more diverse this year,” Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) noted in its January 2023 report.

On the heels of moving its portfolio of brands to beer wholesalers in Washington state and Colorado last August, Sazerac Company announced last week a major change to its route-to-market in several states.