Brewbound Industry News

Insider’s Week in Beer: Who’s in the Market For ‘the Bentley of Outhouses’?

It’s not too often in life that one gets the opportunity to own “the Bentley of outhouses,” and yet that’s where we find ourselves as January comes to a close.

March Auction Set for Rogue Ales & Spirits’ Equipment

Pieces of Rogue Ales & Spirits’ business will be sold during an estate auction on March 7, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon.

NIQ: 74% of Adult NA Beverage Consumers Are New Buyers; Room for Longtail Brands to Make Impact

The majority of adult non-alcoholic (ANA) beverage buyers are new consumers to the category, suggesting opportunities for suppliers looking to have a greater impact on the category, according to new data from market research firm NIQ.

People Moves: Law Firm ArentFox Schiff Expands Bev-Alc Team; Right Coast Spirits Taps Harpoon Vet Jon Schwartz

Nichole Shustack, Isabelle Cunningham, Helen Plunkett and Michael Rudy have joined the Food, Drug, Medical Device & Cosmetic Practice at ArentFox Schiff, where they will focus on bolstering the beverage-alcohol regulatory practice, the firm announced. After nearly 30 years selling Harpoon and its sibling brands, Jon Schwartz has been named director of commercial strategy at Right Coast Spirits, the joint venture between Harpoon’s parent company Barrel One Collective and FX Matt Brewing.

177 Point Blank Distributing Workers to Be Laid Off; Columbia to Hire Some

Point Blank Distributing will lay off 177 employees once the sale of the Oregon-based distributor to Columbia Distributing is completed in late March, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing made Thursday with the state.

Craft NA Cocktails Are Rising at Top Bars — But Alt-Spirits Are Falling Behind

The best New York bars for non-all (NA) cocktails don’t heavily rely on NA spirits, according to the Inaugural NYC’s Best Bars for NA 2025 Awards.

Iron Hill Bankruptcy Fallout Continues: New Buyer for Some PA Locations and IP; NJ Liquor Licenses Sold

Now-shuttered Iron Hill Brewery’s fate continues to play out piecemeal in bankruptcy court, as the buyer of half of the brewpub’s locations has resold them along with its intellectual property, among other steps taken to liquidate its assets.

Circana: Gen Z Accounted for Just 4% of Alcohol Sales in 2025

Has bev-alc been focused on the wrong generation? The numerous conversations the bev-alc industry has had about Gen Z may be disproportionate to the youngest legal-drinking-age (LDA) generation’s actual impact on consumer trends, according to a new beverage trends report from market research firm Circana.

Brewbound Podcast: Minneapolis’ Insight Brewing on Supporting a Community in Crisis

Minneapolis has dominated national headlines for weeks as area residents protest the Department of Homeland Security’s heightened crackdown on Minnesota’s large immigrant population. Tensions have intensified as agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have killed two American citizens in shootings that have been recorded by observers. Local businesses such as Insight Brewing have taken... Read more »

Modern Times Parent Co. Appoints Wes Van De Vort as CEO; Aims for Profitability with West Coast Focus

Modern Times Beer and Ashland Hard Seltzer parent company Wings & Arrow has named Wes Van De Vort as CEO.

Press Clips: Young Lion Gets New Owner; Ex-Employee Sues Legion Brewing; Samuel Adams Drop a Cherry Bomb

Young Lion Gets New Owner; Ex-Employee Sues Legion Brewing; Samuel Adams Drop a Cherry Bomb; Budweiser Drops Super Bowl LX Ad; People Moves at Holidaily, Bell's; Athletic's Bill Shufelt on Bold Names; Womrtown's Patriot Place Taproom Gets a 'Glow Up.'

After Breakout Growth Year, Hiyo Bets on Focus Over Flavor Proliferation

With Constellation Brands and Live Nation now in its corner, Hiyo is focused on defining the positioning of its relaxing “social tonics."

Oversupply and Oversaturation: Bev-Alc Needs to Stop Blaming Consumers and Look Inward, per Lester Jones

Inflationary pressures, changing consumer shopping habits, immigration enforcement tactics, COVID-19, weather – all and more have been listed as causes for bev-alc’s less-than-ideal last few years. But one of the largest hurdles for the industry might be by its own design, according to National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones.

Great American Beer Festival Reveals New Location, New Schedule for 2026

After 25 years at the Colorado Convention Center, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) will move outdoors, festival host the Brewers Association (BA) announced Tuesday.

BeatBox Parent Company to Lay Off 158 Employees

Future Proof Brands, the Austin-based parent company of BeatBox Beverages, plans to lay off 158 employees following Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) majority share acquisition of the party punch maker.

Chicago’s United Center to Begin THC Drink Sales in February

Hemp THC drink makers RYTHM and Señorita have each inked multi-year agreements with the United Center in Chicago.

Circana Weekly Scans: Beer, Spirits and RTDs All Positive for 3rd Week of January; Wine Offsets Category Growth

Three of beverage-alcohol’s four tracked categories increased dollar sales in the latest scans from market research firm Circana (one-week ending January 18).

Columbia Strikes Deal for Point Blank in Oregon; Picks Up Delicato Wine From RNDC

Pac-Northwest wholesaler Columbia Distributing has struck a deal to acquire Point Blank Distributing, adding around 1 million cases to its annual case load of 60 million cases.

Beverage Bytes Survey: C-Store Retailers Project 2026 Beer Sales +3%; Goldman Sachs Says ‘2026 Could be the Year of Beer Stocks’

Convenience store retailers offered an optimistic outlook on 2026 beverage sales in Goldman Sachs’ Q4 Beverage Bytes retailer survey, which represents roughly 28% of the c-store channel (around 42,000 retail locations).

The Modern Hotel Beverage Program: Lobby Bars, NA Cocktails and Less Draft

Adult non-alc (ANA) cocktails are gaining momentum in luxury hotels, with one major chain reporting a 32% sales increase over the past three years. But functional ingredients and education still create challenges.