Dear Client: A year after acquiring Uinta Brewing, US Beverage is back making moves in the craft beer space, announcing today a sales and marketing partnership with “one of the Hudson Valley’s largest craft breweries,” Captain Lawrence Brewing. Recall, US Beverage is a 26-year-old sales and marketing company for a diverse portfolio of brands, including … Continue reading “US Beverage Strikes Sales and Marketing Partnership with Captain Lawrence Brewing”

Dear Client: As spirits-based seltzer competition heats up this year, Anheuser-Busch is dialing up support for its newer play, NÜTRL Vodka Seltzer, recruiting actress and Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman to help bring the brand’s first national campaign to life. In this wacky new campaign, called “NÜTRL. The One with the Umlaut,” Chloe will … Continue reading “NÜTRL Gets Wacky with SNL Star for First National Campaign”

Dear Client: Athletic Brewing has said it wants to “push the boundaries of what’s possible in non-alcoholic beer,” and this next release from the brewer might be its most experimental brew yet. Indeed, the #2 non-alc beer brand announced today that it has teamed up with Super Coffee, the third-largest bottled coffee brand in the … Continue reading “Athletic and Super Coffee Team Up for “Pre-Workout Brew,” Suped Up”

Dear Client: Coming into its first calendar year as an independent entity following last year’s acquisition of Stone Brewing Co. by Japanese supplier Sapporo, CBD wanted to check in with Stone Distributing Co. to see how it is spreading its wings.  So far, SDC is having a pretty good ‘23.  The SoCal distributor has maintained … Continue reading “Stone Distributing “Fielding More Interest Than Ever” From Suppliers as an Indie Outfit”

Dear Client: As the RTD cocktail segment continues to grow, Anheuser-Busch-owned Cutwater aims to maintain its share of mind among RTD consumers looking to explore the category. Cue its new “Open the Bar” ad campaign, which launches today and highlights different occasions consumers can reach for a Cutwater, where “barriers to easy enjoyment of your … Continue reading “Cutwater Launches “Open the Bar” Campaign as Part of “Leveled Up” Media Investment”

Dear Client: Anheuser-Busch-owned, Cleveland-based brewery Platform Beer Co. has shut down operations — at least, per report by Cleveland.com.  Several industry sources told Cleveland.com that all the brewery’s employees had been laid off, “though the exact number was not confirmed.” The brewery had laid off 17 workers at its Cleveland production facility this past August, … Continue reading “Platform Beer Co.’s “Production and Commercial Efforts” Whittled to Three Beers”

Dear Client: Pardon the pun, but New Belgium has been an absolute force in the convenience channel as of late. And the brand’s remarkable growth in the channel only seems to be getting stronger at the start of this year. The brand is up a staggering 76.2% in volume for the latest four weeks to … Continue reading “New Belgium Cleaning Up in Convenience”

Dear Client: As spirits continue to eat away at beer share — and RTDs battle for more channel access in states across the country — non-alc beer and related segments like hopped waters become even more important in beer wholesalers’ portfolios.   The good news is, such products are slowly but surely growing in share (albeit … Continue reading ” A Handful of Takeaways on the Future of HOP WTR”

Dear Client: The Brewers Association released its annual report this week, summarizing 2022. You can find it here.  BA chief Bob Pease offered some highlights from the year. First, in the “fight for fair treatment for craft brewers,” they submitted comments to the Treasury Department on wholesaler consolidation, “unfair state franchise laws” and “restrictions on … Continue reading ” BA Annual Report Groks 2022 (and Hiked Expenses)”

Dear Client: We’ve heard rumblings of two longtime regional brewers in Northern California coming together, and now it appears to be official: Bear Republic is merging with Drake’s Brewing. The deal entails Artisan Brewers LLC (Drake’s business name) acquiring “all of Bear Republic’s recipes, formulas and intellectual property” and taking over production of Bear Republic’s … Continue reading “Bear Republic Merging with Drake’s, Says SiliconValley.Com”

Dear Client: Amid tough trends for seltzer, and several periods of tough depletion trends, how’d Boston do for Q4/full year?  At first blush, Q4 numbers don’t look bad at all — depletions up 3%, and shipments up almost 17%. But then you realize there was an extra week in this year’s Q4 (14 weeks in … Continue reading “Boston Sees ’22 Depletions Dip Mid Singles; Issues Negative Shipments and Depletions Guidance for ’23”

Dear Client: When sister publication Beer Business Daily grokked Truly Vodka Seltzer’s seemingly quick start a few weeks ago [see BBD 02-07-2023], a Boston Beer spokesperson promised more news to come on the spirits-based Truly from “later this month.”  NOW “TRULY VODKA SODA.” Now, here it is: Ahead of earnings, which we’ll bring you later … Continue reading ” Truly Hoping for a Turnaround”

Dear Client: The next new beer from top 50 craft brewer, Cincinnati-based Rhinegeist Brewing, aims to be one that “any beer drinker can enjoy.”  Indeed, the beer – aptly titled “Beer for Humans” – is described as an “easy hop ale” because it’s all about making things easy – “easy” for consumers to understand, “easy” … Continue reading “Rhinegeist to Cater to the Masses with Launch of “Beer for Humans””

Dear Client: As reported last week in Craft Business Daily, the craft beer segment is off to a less-than-ideal start in scans this year [see CBD 02-07-2023]. And now, a more detailed set of IRI scans for the four weeks ending January 29 gives us a closer look at what’s hot and what’s not to … Continue reading “What’s Hot and What’s Not in New Craft Scans”

Dear Client: It wasn’t long ago that Southern California-based bev alc brand, JuneShine, launched its first ever TV commercial [see CBD 04-01-2022]. Now, less than a year later, the growing better-for-you supplier is gearing up for a Super Bowl spot. The 30-second regional Super Bowl spot, set to air in JuneShine’s backyard of San Diego … Continue reading “JuneShine Using Super Bowl to Debut Its “Please Earth Responsibly” Campaign”