Two weeks remain in 2022 and the reviews are beginning to filter in. Spoiler alert, it’s not been a great year. Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson ran through the trade group’s annual “Year in Beer” wrap up. Plus, for the last-minute holiday shoppers, how about buying a wholesaler?

Andrews Distributing Company of North Texas has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the assets of Price Distributing Company in Ennis, Texas, the company announced Thursday. The transaction is expected to close today.

As 2022 nears a close, middle tier consolidation has yet to slow down. The latest deal involves self-described “consolidator of beverage alcohol distributors” Keg 1 and its Keg 1 River City LLC subsidiary striking a deal to acquire River City Distributing Company in Louisville, Kentucky.

Several big craft beer deals have gone down in 2022, from the sale of Stone Brewing to Sapporo, to Tilray’s recent acquisition of Montauk Brewing. Those transactions have one thing in common: investment bank Arlington Capital Advisors. Arlington director Ryan Lake broke down the state of beverage alcohol M&A during the Brewbound Live business conference.

Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) has restructured its sales force, cutting “a handful” of sales roles, in order to better focus the company’s efforts on off-premise retailers.

The Consumer Price Index for beer at-home increased +7.7% in November 2022 compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Notably, the CPI for beer at-home is now outpacing the CPI for all products.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been nine days since the 2022 Brewbound Live business conference wrapped up. Months of planning, speaker wrangling and preparation finally turned into two days of business chats, networking and parties. Now that Jess Infante, Zoe Licata and I have had time to decompress, our coverage is beginning to roll out on Brewbound.com.

The beer category’s “level set” expected at the start of 2022 never materialized, and the industry now needs to look to the future and stop benchmarking against the last couple years, Mary Guiver, global principal category merchant for beer at Whole Foods, shared last week during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica, California.

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.

“What do you think?” Asking your teams for their feedback can unlock a new level of engagement with your workforce, Carrie Yunker, Bell’s Brewery executive vice president, shared with business leaders and entrepreneurs during Brewbound Live’s keynote address last week in Santa Monica, California.

Bump Williams Consulting shared the results of its year-end “3-Tier Growth Strategies” survey last week, providing a window into the thinking of brewers, wholesalers and retailers. The survey is centered around one question: “What are your top 1-3 growth initiatives over the next two years?”

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.

Last week’s decision by Qatar officials to ban alcohol sales at stadiums – two days before the first 2022 FIFA World Cup match – could impact the relationship of FIFA and beer sponsor Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) through 2026.

The story of Georgetown Brewing in Seattle is a unique one. A craft brewery dedicated first to draft beer — something that should make its bar and restaurant clients incredibly happy. One that has committed to offer one of its top beers — Manny’s Pale Ale — exclusively on draft.