Distribution

Our latest distribution roundup finds Berczy getting in on the hard tea race in the Northeast and Woody Harrelson’s spirits heading into Massachusetts, while prepared cocktails Tequio and DIO sign deals with new distributors as they go deep in California and New York respectively.

The Brewers Association (BA) is prioritizing legislative efforts that widen craft brewers’ market access as the segment faces a challenging sales environment and narrowing distribution routes, BA general counsel Marc Sorini said during a presentation at the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) last month in Las Vegas.

Surfside, a fast-growing line of canned iced tea and vodka cocktails, is getting the summer par-tea started with five new SKUs and a distribution expansion putting the brand in over 40 states, the company announced today.

Two months after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) completed a review of Kroger and Albertsons’ proposed supermarket mega-merger and filed a lawsuit to block the deal, the grocery chains have added more store locations and assets to an updated version of their definitive divestiture agreement with C&S Wholesalers.

“Beer is a culture as much as anything else, and we need to do a better job of reminding policymakers,” Justin Kissinger, president and CEO of the World Brewing Alliance, told attendees Tuesday at the National Beer Wholesalers Assocation’s (NBWA) annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Constellation Brands is expected to be the biggest winner in shelf resets this spring, according to the most recent Beverage Bytes beer distributor survey by Goldman Sachs.

Wholesaler purchasing expanded for the first time in 2024 , with a March Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) reading of 51, the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) reported.

In this latest round of distribution news, we check in with new coconut vodka water, Mother’s Milk and another fruit-infused vodka cocktail named after the same parent, Mom Water, as well as craft distillers Heritage Distilling and Frey Ranch, plus news from rum Coconut Cartel.

As it looks to scale up to meet fast-rising demand for new innovations, Liquid Death announced this morning it has closed a $67 million funding round at a valuation of $1.4 billion.

Two New England craft-centric distributors are expected to merge operations. Craft Collective and Homegrown Distribution, which both have statewide coverage in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, “have reached a tentative agreement to combine operations, subject to regulatory approval,” leaders from both wrote in a letter to suppliers dated today obtained by Brewbound. “The purpose of our… Read more »

Constellation Brands leaders laid out a vision for “dialing up” growth for its portfolio of Mexican import offerings over the next five years during Monday’s opening session of its Gold Network Summit at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Hard MTN Dew is transitioning to Boston Beer Company’s beer distributor network and will expand to all 50 states, outgoing Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said today during the company’s full-year and Q4 earnings report.

As speculated last week, the next challenge for the proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons is coming from the federal government. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced it has filed a lawsuit to block the merger in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, alongside a bipartisan group of nine attorneys generals from Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming.

Eight Elite Light Lager is expanding to Oklahoma this week, its first distribution move outside of Texas since launching in 2022. Entering its third year, the super premium lager brand backed by Monday Night Football broadcaster and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman is now on shelves in the Sooner State via the Molson Coors network.