NEWS

While some intoxicating hemp brands are positioning themselves as alcohol alternatives, one early adopter of alcohol-free spirits is joining the fray from the opposite direction.

Check out news items initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter February 9-11, including headlines from the Brewers Association, Colorado and New Belgium.

Heineken N.V. will slash around 7% of its 87,000-person global workforce over the next two years, the company announced Wednesday during its full-year 2025 earnings report.

Bev-alc sales remained slightly positive through the end of January in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels (xAOC + convenience + liquor open state), the market research firm reported this week.

Super Bowl Sunday was a let down for more than just Patriots fans. BeerBoard tracked bars and restaurants saw year-over-year (YoY) declines in both draft beer volume (-6%) and package volumes (-6.2%), the tech and insights firm shared in its “2026 Big Game On-Premise Report.”

Boston Beer Company CMO Lesya Lysyj will step down from her role, effective March 6, according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola are expanding their ready-to-drink (RTD) line with a larger can size, signaling how spirit-based RTDs are searching for incremental growth through convenience retail.

The beverage-alcohol landscape has “radically” changed over the last decade, but small and independent producers – both in beer and hard cider – are primed to take advantage, Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson shared at CiderCon last week in Providence, Rhode Island.

If December’s trends reversed craft beer’s fortunes in the off-premise, January’s easier comps added a strong tailwind. Craft continued to outpace the overall beer segment in the convenience channel, with dollar sales up 5.4% and volume, measured in case sales, up 0.4% year-to-date (YTD) through January 25, according to market research firm Circana.

After laying off more than 1,700 employees as it shuttered operations in California last year, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is making further cuts across the country. The distributor, which has seen an exodus of suppliers over the past year, confirmed the layoffs but did not comment on the scope. “Republic National Distributing Company is... Read more »

The end of January also brought an end to bev-alc’s 2026 growth trends, according to the latest weekly report from Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon.

Hard cider was one of three beer segments to record consistent growth in 2025, escaping the declines that plagued most of the category as beverage-alcohol tackled increased supply costs, consumer purchasing shifts and numerous macroeconomic headwinds.

On a night when 23% of the Super Bowl ads promoted AI, Americana and beer came out on top in USA Today’s Ad Meter rankings.

Creature Comforts co-founder Chris Herron quietly assumed the CEO role of intoxicating hemp beverage brand Climbing Kites a year after joining the company, the company shared last week. Herron’s promotion comes as Climbing Kites prepares to expand its beverage offerings in line with product trends across bev-alc.

I gotta say, putting almost every Super Bowl ad online before the game … kinda kills the fun of watching the game.

The U.S. spirits market continued to face headwinds in 2025, with revenues declining for a second consecutive year, the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) reported Thursday in its annual economic briefing.

Major domestics and regional craft brands are on the shopping lists of New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks fans ahead of the teams’ Super Bowl LX showdown Sunday, according to consumer research firm Numerator.

The Coca-Cola Co. is consolidating many of the emerging, non-sparkling businesses in its portfolio – including brands like BodyArmor, Dunkin’ coffee, and its nascent RTD spirits project, Red Tree Beverages – under its Atlanta-based North American Operating Unit.

A pair of family-operated blue/gold network North Carolina distributors are merging to form United Carolina Beverages.

Determined to find sunshine in the beer category after a year’s worth of gloom, Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) examined growth brands in the import segment in its February report.