NoFo Brew Co. Acquires Fellow Georgia Brewery Tantrum Brewing
NoFo Brew Co. has reached a deal to acquire the land, building and assets of fellow Georgia craft brewery Tantrum Brewing.
Cummings, Georgia-based NoFo announced the deal Monday. Financial details were not disclosed.
With the acquisition, NoFo will take over Tantrum’s 5.3 acre, more than 10,000 sq. ft. building in Cleveland, which it will turn into its own third taproom location. The space will remain open under the Tantrum name until May 15, according to a post on the brewery’s Instagram page. The location is expected to reopen under the NoFo name early this summer, JustDrinks reported.
“North Georgia is a special place for NoFo, and we think our brand will be an excellent addition to White County and the surrounding area,” NoFo co-founder and CEO Joe Garcia said in a press release.
“We, as the Tantrum family and team, are so grateful for the past 4.5 years of support from our customers, with so many great people and friendships made,” Tantrum wrote in a separate Instagram post. “We believe NoFo is the perfect fit to steward this location moving forward and are excited to watch as they continue to push the industry forward.”
Tantrum’s founders also posted a letter on the brewery’s website, noting that the decision to sell was “not an easy decision,” but that it is time for the family to “move in a different direction.”
NoFo was founded in 2019, shortly after Tantrum. The brewery produced 1,200 barrels of beer in 2021, the last year available from the Brewers Association (BA). Production data was not available for Tantrum.
Heineken Q1 Global Beer Volume -3%, HUSA Volume Down ‘Mid-Single-Digit’
Heineken USA recorded low-single-digit net revenue growth and mid-single-digit volume declines in Q1 fiscal year 2023, the company reported Wednesday.
The net revenue growth was “driven by pricing and mix management, more than offsetting” the volume declines, the company wrote in its report. U.S. depletions for Heineken grew low-single digits, “driven by the continued momentum of Heineken 0.0.,” its non-alcoholic extension, which was “up in the mid-teens,” and the launch of Heineken Silver in the U.S. Heineken Silver’s volume overall increased +47%.
Globally, Heineken N.V. revenue increased +9.2%, while volume declined 3%. The Americas increased volume +3.4%, which was offset by declines in the rest of Heineken’s global regions. The company’s global revenue per barrel increased about +12%, while price mix increased +12.1%, “driven by offset inflation across all regions and revenue and mix management.”
Premium beer volume declined -5.7% globally, driven by declines in Vietnam and “stopping sales of Heinken in Russia.” Heineken announced in March 2022 that it would be halting the sale of its brands in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. However, as of March 2023, some of its brands were still being sold in the country due to local bureaucracy “beyond its control.”
Heineken brand volume grew by double-digits in more than 25 markets globally. Heineken 0.0 declined by low-single-digits, with “strong growth momentum in Brazil, the USA, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands,” and offset by declines in Russia.
Net revenue in the Americas increased +14.8% organically, while volume increased +3.1%. Price mix increased +13.6%, “led by pricing in Brazil and Mexico and continued premiumisation of the portfolio.” Beer volume in the Americas increased +3.4% organically, while the company’s premium portfolio volume “grew by high-single-digit.”
Diageo Names New VP of National Beer Sales and VP of Growth & Activation
Diageo announced two internal leadership promotions this month.
Keara Funck, former VP of convenience category, has been appointed VP of Diageo Brewing Company (DBC) national sales after 23 years with the company.
In her previous role, Funck “led the acceleration of Diageo’s growth in the RTD [ready-to-drink] and RTS [ready-to-serve] segments of convenience,” a Diageo spokesperson told Brewbound. Prior to that, she served as spirits VP of sales, overseeing sales in 17 control markets.
“Keara’s career has comprised of both commercial sales and marketing roles, each with increased performance expectations and leadership responsibility,” the spokesperson said.
Diageo has also promoted Takesuke “Take” Naito to VP of DBC growth and activation. Naito has worked within Diageo’s beer division for nearly five years, most recently serving as DBC trade marketing and activation director. Naito also spent 14 years within the U.S. spirits division, holding various distributor management and field market roles, including division sales director, according to the spokesperson.
Both Funck and Naito will report directly to Rodney Williams, who was named DBC president last fall. Both promotions were effective April 1.
White Claw Extends Brand with Spirits-Based RTDs and Bottled Vodka Line
Mark Anthony Brands has expanded its White Claw Hard Seltzer brand and launched White Claw Premium Vodka, a 100% American grain bottle vodka line.
The line includes the original premium vodka offering, Triple Wave Filtered White Claw Premium Vodka (40% ABV), as well as three 30% ABV flavored vodka options – Mango, Black Cherry and Pineapple – inspired by White Claw Hard Seltzer flavors. Each flavor is available in one liter, 750ml and 50ml bottles.
White Claw also announced a new line of spirits-based White Claw Vodka + Soda ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs). The 4.5% ABV, 100 calorie RTDs are made with the brand’s premium bottle vodka and packaged in 12 oz. slim cans, available in variety 8-packs and single-flavor 4-packs. Flavors include Pineapple, Peach, Wild Cherry and Watermelon.
Several of White Claw’s hard seltzer competitors have announced their own spirits-based RTD extensions in the past year, including Topo Chico Spirited (Molson Coors) and Truly Vodka Soda (Boston Beer Company).
Constellation Brands Records $13 Million Impairment on Craft Trademarks, $53.5 Million Loss on Daleville Facility
Constellation Brands provided more information on the $66.5 million in impairment charges related to its craft beer business recorded during the fourth quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, which ended February 28.
Constellation Brands recorded impairment losses of $9 million and $4 million to the trademarks of its Funky Buddha and Four Corners craft beer brands during Q4, the company reported in a 10K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The company said the impairment charges were due to “continued negative trends” for both brands, “including ongoing negative cash flows” that led the company’s management team to “revise our long-term financial forecasts for these portfolios.”
Additionally, Constellation’s long-term financial forecasts for craft beer “determined it was no longer part of the beer asset group.”
“As a result, certain long-lived assets with a carrying value of $59.8 million were written down to their estimated fair value of $6.3 million, resulting in a total loss of $53.5 million,” the company wrote. “These assets consisted primarily of property, plant, and equipment, including the Daleville[, Virginia-based] facility. Our estimated fair value was primarily based on the cash flows expected to be generated by the assets.”
Notably, Constellation struck a deal to sell the 259,000 sq. ft. Daleville facility to New Belgium in late March. The transaction is expected to close by the end of May, pending customary closing conditions.
Constellation acquired Funky Buddha in 2017 and Four Corners in 2018. It acquired Ballast Point for $1 billion in 2015, but sold the brand and its properties to Kings & Convicts for $41.1 million in 2019.
In April 2021, the company wrote off $6 million to the value of Four Corners’ trademark, previously valued at $10 million. Constellation recorded similar impairments to Ballast Point’s trademark before the sale of the brewery.
Breakthru Closes Acquisition of Wine Warehouse
Breakthru Beverage Group has closed its acquisition of California-based beer, wine and spirits distributor Wine Warehouse. The distributor will now operate as Breakthru Beverage California.
Breakthru signed an agreement to acquire Wine Warehouse in January. Read the previous coverage here.