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.
Non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing Company launched a new “Fit For All Times” campaign today, featuring several familiar names, including NFL player J.J. Watt and celebrity chef David Chang – both early investors in the Stratford, Connecticut-based company.
Boston Beer Company is launching a multimillion-dollar, multi-channel marketing campaign to support Truly Hard Seltzer, which it recently reformulated with real fruit juice. In the new ad campaign, Boston Beer, which has leaned on singer Dua Lipa in previous Truly ads, has instead turned to fruit flies to help promote the reformulated hard seltzer brand.
The founders of Sunboy, a spiked sparkling coconut water, initially got together slanging fresh coconuts at events and parties in New York. The two hosted parties on the Brooklyn Bridge selling coconuts from a bicycle, eventually growing the enterprise to offer the experience at food and corporate events. But when the pandemic put those events and that hustle to a stop, Luke McKenna and Yair Tygiel were forced to come up with another product: a hard coconut water.
Last week, many THC-infused cannabis beverage brand leaders received long awaited recognition in the mainstream press when the New York Times ran a feature covering the surging popularity of the emerging category in legal markets. But the piece, titled “Weed Drinks Are a Buzzy Alcohol Substitute. But Are They Safe?” didn’t sit right with many… Read more »
After more than a year under the wing of Molson Coors, spirits-based, ready-to-drink canned cocktail maker Superbird will leave the nest as Molson Coors hands the reins to the brand’s distribution efforts back to its parent company, Casa Komos Brands Group (CKBG).
With tequila and ready-to-drink cocktails becoming two of the hottest alcohol categories, Lance Collins is looking to have a hand in both. As the founder and chairman of tequila soda brand Casa Azul, launching today, the beverage mogul behind Fuze, NOS, BodyArmor and Core is confident his new line of tequila soda will hit the sweet spot for consumers of spirit-based canned cocktails who enjoy the low-ABV and low-calorie qualities of a hard seltzer.
Sonic Hard Seltzer is now the official hard seltzer of the Big 12 Conference with a three-year contract, the brand announced today.
Boston Beer’s head of cannabis, Paul Weaver, discusses the Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea maker’s foray into cannabis-infused beverages in Canada. Weaver shares why tea was the perfect vehicle for a THC-infused drink, how the July launch of Teapot has gone, and how the narrative of cannabis stealing occasions from beer has changed.
With astonishing three-year revenue growth of +13,071%, non-alcoholic craft beer maker Athletic Brewing Company was ranked the 26th fastest growing private company in the country by Inc. Magazine.
Blake’s Hard Cider has invested in a new production facility in Wolcott, New York – a $9 million project to support demand for the Michigan-based cidery’s offerings.
Boston-based Harpoon Brewery launched its first non-alcoholic beer Tuesday: Open League non-alc hazy IPA.
Spirits company The CoreBev Group has partnered with cold brew coffee brand RISE Brewing Co. for its latest canned cocktail launch, Moonlight Barista.
THC-infused soda maker Green Monké has secured an exclusive long-term partnership to co-create beverages with one of the cannabis industry’s best-known brands. Plus, Canadian cannabis giant Tilray has signed on with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits to distribute its forthcoming portfolio of CBD-infused beverages starting this fall.
For the 52 weeks ending July 16, the combined malt- and spirits-based hard seltzer segment reached $4.263 billion, according to Jefferies equity research managing director Kevin Grundy. In the last four weeks, spirits-based seltzer’s share of the business has reached 9.1%. Malt- and sugar-based hard seltzers account for 90.9% of the segment – and their sales are declining.
