NEWS

Wholesalers remain in a holding pattern to avoid end-of-year overstocks, according to the latest Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

Brewbound Live 2025 is your opportunity to hear insights from and interact with two of the largest beer and beverage distributors in the U.S. Hand Family Companies president and CEO JR Hand and Columbia Distributing chief strategy officer Jesse Ferber will share the bev-alc trendlines they’re watching, as well as how they’re approaching their respective portfolios.

Rogue Ales & Spirits, one of the country’s largest craft breweries by volume, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Monday, citing more than $16.7 million in debts.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s will-they, won’t-they $700 million acquisition of party punch maker BeatBox is still awaiting an answer. However, Dan Wandel, Bump Williams Consulting chief strategy officer, indulged what a combination of the two companies would mean for high ABV (8% and up) and flavored beverage-alcohol.

Five Boroughs Brewing will shutter its taproom in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood next month, parent company Barrel One Collective announced Monday. The company cited the brewery’s lease ending as the reason for the closure and emphasized that a search for a new home is underway.

After ranking as the eighth-largest craft brewery by volume in 2024, Athletic Brewing Company is on pace to cross the 500,000-barrel threshold by the end of 2025.

Bev-alc had a “slight bounce” back in the latest week, with dollar sales in Circana-tracked off-premise channels increasing 1% week-over-week (WoW) in the period ending November 16, compared to the week ending November 9, Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon reported. However, bev-alc sales remained in the red compared to 2024.

BevNET spirits editor Ferron Salniker chatted with the creator of St-Germain about how to translate learnings from the bar to RTDs, where to spot opportunities in crowded categories, and how to be a bartender's RTD brand even when selling off-premise.

Frankly, I’m surprised it took until November 2025 – but you can now rate spirits, wine, ANA beverages, RTDs, THC-infused seltzers, coffee, soda and “more” on Untappd. What’s that, Jess? No, I don’t think tomato sauce is on there yet … but we’ll keep you posted.

Pike Brewing (Seattle, Washington) will close Pike Pub and Pike Fish Bar, both located at the city’s iconic Pike Place Market, it announced this week. Details of Molson Coors chief commercial officer Michelle St. Jacques’ separation from the company were laid out in a Form 8-K filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Siebel Institute of Technology, one of the leading brewing schools in the country, will leave Chicago and move to Montreal on January 1, it announced Thursday.

A new report from market research firm CGA is further proof that while beer is seeing red in off-premise scans, the category can find growth opportunities in on-premise retailers.

The Q4 2025 Supply Chain report from Agrowgate paints a picture of a beverage industry entering 2026 with far more stability - yet no shortage of strategic inflection points.

Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) president Dave Williams has a running list on his phone of the specific challenges or obstacles bev-alc industry members are facing today.

The inspiration for Shake Up Cocktails didn't come from a bar or a boardroom ...  it struck at a Midwest state fair.

Nearly a year on the job, new-ish Lagunitas CEO Bernardo Spielmann is seeing opportunities for the legacy California craft beer brand.

Untappd, the Next Glass-owned craft beer rating social platform whose users have anointed some craft brewers and crushed the souls of others, has expanded ratable products to include spirits, wine, adult non-alcoholic (ANA) beverages, ready-to-drink cocktails (RTD), THC-infused seltzers, coffee, soda and “more,” according to a press release.

Canned water brand Liquid Death has signed with four mostly craft-centric distributors in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Liquid Death, which is preparing to launch an energy drink line in early 2026, has signed with Hand Family Companies’ subsidiary Sunset Distributing (California), The Odom Corporation (Washington), Bigfoot Beverages and Summit Beverage Distribution Co. (both Oregon).

There are only two days left to submit your nominations for BevNET's 2025 Spirits Awards! Nominations close this Friday, November 21.

Tilray Brands CEO Irwin Simon’s visits to college campuses and venues across the U.S. “suggest there's more price sensitivity” influencing the decline in consumption.