Read the latest beyond beer news relating to companies involved with RTD cocktails, hard cider, hard seltzer, hard kombucha, spirits, cannabis, and non-alcoholic products. Take a comprehensive look at developments in these evolving sectors, offering valuable insights into the innovations, trends, and market forces shaping the world of beer and beyond.
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Former Angry Orchard head cider maker Ryan Burk has joined Blake’s Beverage Company as VP of quality and innovation. Burk has been advising Blake’s and its portfolio of brands – Blake’s Hard Cider, Austin Eastciders and AVID Cider Co. – for a couple years, including through the launch of its most recent innovations.
Allagash Brewing is launching its first non-alcoholic (NA) offering this week with the release of Allagash Hop Water. Hop Water will exclusively be sold in 12 oz. can 6-packs at the brewery’s tasting room in Portland, Maine, starting later this week.
The once-booming flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment is “showing some concerning declarations over recent weeks,” Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) founder Bump Williams noted in a recent report. FMB volume gains dropped by half – from +2.2%, to +1.1% – from the four-week period to the one-week period ending May 18, according to NIQ retail measurement data cited by BWC.
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.
A year-long legal dispute between rapper and business tycoon Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Bacardi was finally resolved on Friday when the spirits giant announced it has agreed to acquire the majority of Cognac venture D’ussé, with Carter retaining a significant ownership stake through his company SCLiquor.
Flavor-driven brands dominated the top 25 new beer category products of 2022, according to Bump Williams Consulting’s (BWC) February report. Of the top 25 best-selling new products, 12 were flavored malt beverages (FMBs) and six were hard seltzers. Four imports made the list, as did two craft offerings and one domestic premium.
Mindful drinking, non-alcoholic beer and other alcohol-free leisure beverages are gaining major traction across multiple consumer segments. Best Day Brewing is looking to expand its foothold in the market and broaden consumer awareness thanks to a comprehensive brand build out from Gestalt Brand Lab.
Surreal Brewing, the award-winning non-alcoholic craft beer company from Northern California, is taking its innovative, health-centered non-alcoholic craft beers to “The Buckeye State”, Ohio, with the announcement of its partnership with Heidelberg Distributing Company, a family-owned and operated business for 84 years, servicing more than 26,000 retail and industry establishments across all counties in Ohio and Kentucky.
New non-alcoholic beer brand DrinkSip has set its sights on becoming a top competitor within the fast-growing craft NA beer segment.
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.
Last Call: Self-Distribution Inches Closer in Virginia; NA Beer +26% During Dry January on Drizly; Beast Unleashed Distribution Contract Critiqued
Traverse City Whiskey Co. has broken ground on a new 70,000 square foot distillery in hopes of turning Northern Michigan into a hub for whiskey in the Midwest.
Corvallis, OR. — The #1 independent cidery in the country, the Pacific Northwest’s 2 Towns Ciderhouse announces today their chart-topping, The Bad Apple (10.5% ABV, #1 selling single-serve craft cider in the U.S.), is now available in 4-packs of 12 oz. cans (in 15 U.S. states) for the first time since its original launch in… Read more »
The cider segment has long been dominated by a small sampling of national brands which shape the industry’s perception of the segment’s overall performance. But regional cider brands tell a different story; one of growth, product diversity and changing consumer perspectives.
The pool of craft brewers launching non-alcoholic beers continues to grow. Joining the fray is Hops & Grain founder Josh Hare, who launched Rick’s Near Beer in late 2022.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) may have ceded advertising exclusivity rights to Super Bowl LVII, but the world’s largest beer manufacturer will continue to have an outsized presence during breaks in the game.
Consumers have filed a class action lawsuit against spirits giant Sazerac claiming the company’s malt-based Fireball Cinnamon has misled them because it lacks the whisky base of its parent brand, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.
