Imports

Sapporo USA is adopting the focused strategy many breweries have recently enacted, and taking it to the next level and narrowing its focus to one thing in 2027: Sapporo Premium Beer.

Duvel USA’s 2026 distributor meeting presented a focused plan to build on and refresh its existing franchises, while adding a few new brands where needed – avoiding any bombshell innovation news, such as the 2025 meeting’s Quirk THC Seltzer drop.

August’s beer supply improved to down 1% year-over-year (YoY) due to an imports bounceback, according to the latest report from the Beer Institute (BI).

Craft’s off-premise declines accelerated last month as summer came to a close. As beer enters its slow season, those losses aren’t expected to improve much, but that could change if craft leans into the seasonal anomalies of imports, according to a new report from Bump Williams Consulting (BWC).

New Belgium Brewing CEO Shaun Belongie promised the company’s distributor partners a strategy of “radical simplicity,” with singular asks for its big three brands, rather than a monthly calendar of brand focuses.

July’s big occasions were unable to pull beer supply out of the red, according to the Beer Institute’s (BI) latest economic reports.

Margaritas and beer top the shopping lists of the majority (52%) of Cinco de Mayo celebrators, according to a survey conducted by consumer insights firm Numerator.

Constellation Brands’ beer portfolio ended its fiscal year 2026 (FY26) with depletions growth in Q4 after three consecutive quarters of year-over-year (YoY) losses. That momentum and the energy of its incoming CEO have the company optimistic for growth trends moving into FY27 – cautiously optimistic.

Constellation Brands leaders believe Pacifico and Victoria can be the Mexican beer importer’s next big brands alongside flagships Modelo and Corona. The company has “huge ambitions” for Pacifico, aiming to double its volume to 75 million cases by 2030, Mallika Monteiro said.

Constellation Brands wasn’t immune from the beverage-alcohol industry’s “tough” 2025, beer division president Jim Sabia acknowledged Monday during the opening session of the company’s Gold Network Summit with distributors in Las Vegas.

Determined to find sunshine in the beer category after a year’s worth of gloom, Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) examined growth brands in the import segment in its February report.

Import beer’s unstable 2025 came to a positive end for some top brands this December, according to the latest report from market research firm NIQ.

After a rocky first half, Constellation Brands leadership is “cautiously optimistic” the company’s bev-alc portfolio declines have hit a “plateau.” The company’s beer division (Modelo, Corona, Pacifico and Victoria) recorded improved metrics in Constellation’s third quarter, which ended November 30.

Sapporo-Stone Brewing’s strategy for 2026 is to double the size of Sapporo Premium while tapping into pockets of growth for incremental gains, company leaders shared during a virtual distributor meeting last week.