Flash News

Edited by Jim Attacap

flash news - may 2024

FLASH NEWS

Stock Tip

Some analysts like Tilray Brands (NASDAQ:TLRY) as one of the most undervalued craft beer stocks While the company, like most cannabis stocks, is arguably overvalued, with slim-to-no moat, Tilray’s craft beer forays have gone largely unnoticed. Last year, the company bought eight craft beer brands from mega-distributor Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD), including Shock Top and HiBall Energy. Without a nationally legal cannabis infrastructure in the states, many competitors can’t actively build a network in most states that includes marketing, distribution, legal compliance, and more, Tilray as the fifth-largest craft beer distributor after the move, T is expanding its revenue opportunity and effectively subsidizing its penetration into areas otherwise unfriendly to its cannabis concept through craft beer sales. As states begin to legalize cannabis they will be ready and far ahead of any competitors. Note: Beer Nexus does not endorse the buying/selling of any stock.

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More Legal Jousting

Constellation Brands and Anheuser Busch InBev's Grupo Modelo sparred again over the definition of beer at a U.S. appeals court, as Grupo Modelo seeks to revive a lawsuit claiming Constellation's Corona and Modelo hard seltzers violate its trademark rights. Judges at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan grilled attorneys for both sides over the scope of the term "beer" in the companies' distribution contract. The panel appeared inclined to favor Constellation's interpretation and uphold the verdict. Modelo said that Constellation's distribution agreement only allows it to sell beer and malt beverages with Modelo's branding. Constellation argued that the agreement's definitions of "beer" and "malt beverages" also cover its hard seltzers. A federal jury in Manhattan agreed with Constellation last year that the contract encompasses its Modelo-branded drinks. A ruling is expected in late May.

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Beer v. Heavy Metals

Scientists have figured out a way to use the leftovers from brewing beer to remove heavy metals from electrical recycling waste. The metal waste that comes from the recycling of electrical products is notoriously difficult to treat, as the mixture of metals is complicated to separate. Now, however, brewer's yeast may be used to filter out the metals from the electrical waste streams, according to a new paper in the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Compared to processes such as chemical precipitation, biosorption using spent brewer's yeast presents a cheap and environmentally friendly approach. While there are other methods of filtering out heavy metals, including using biological materials called biosorbents to mop up the pollution, and chemical precipitation, these approaches have several downsides, such as producing hard-to-remove or toxic byproducts themselves.

Brewer's yeast is a byproduct of the beer-making process, and is the same ingredient used to make Marmite. It is cheap, widely available, and can even be reused. It can filter out heavy metals using a process called adsorption, which arises due to electrostatic interactions between the surface of the yeast and metal ions. By changing the pH of a solution of yeast and metal, the yeast can adsorb more, or different, metal ions.

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We're Number One!

For the third consecutive year, USA Today has named Grand Rapids Michigan as the #1 city for beer in America.

Since first receiving the title of America’s best “beer city” in a nationwide poll in 2013, Grand Rapids has been on a winning streak, securing an array of ale accolades. With more than 40 craft breweries scattered within a 30-minute drive, the city offers beer enthusiasts a large selection of craft beers. Each brewery boasts a distinct lineup of brews and experiences. The rise of the craft brewery industry in Grand Rapids is relatively recent. In 1996, there was not a single brewery in the Grand Rapids area. Beer tourism now accounts for a $38.5 million regional economic impact to the greater Grand Rapids area, supplies nearly 400 jobs and over 9 million dollars in earnings, according to Experience Grand Rapids.

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"Beerpocalypse"

A number of important regional brewery favorites of varying sizes, including Chicago’s Metropolitan Brewing, New Jersey’s Flying Fish, Denver’s Joyride Brewing, Tampa’s Zydeco Brew Werks, and Cleveland’s Terrestrial Brewing, have filed for bankruptcy. It's a sort of beerpocalypse that does not appear to be slowing down as another regional favorite brewery, 7 Mile Brewery of Rio Grande, NJ has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Deadwords and Persimmon Hollow, two Florida breweries also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late in March.. Both of those beer brands are trying to stay open but it's a longshot. .

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Ads Revived

In 1975, Miller Lite sparked a debate where iconic stars disagreed for decades: what's the best thing about Miller Lite? Does it Taste Great, or is it Less Filling? To revive the iconic dispute, Miller Lite is introducing a new generation of All Stars who will go head to head in a new, modern evolution of the campaign, To celebrate the return of the Great Taste, Less Filling campaign, Miller Lite is dropping Beer Tapes for nostalgia-loving fans to get in on the great beer debate. Miller Lite Beer Tapes are a double feature set - one a real playable VHS that brings fans along an interactive experience to join the debate, unlocking the chance for beer on us for a year. The second feature is a VHS-shaped novelty glass that fans will be able to get their hands on and drink out of (yes, a literal drinkable VHS

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Fridays

TGI Fridays® announced today that it has reached agreement on exclusivity and on a non-binding basis for a proposed all-share acquisition by UK-based hospitality business, and the brand's largest global franchisee, Hostmore plc. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, would create a global hospitality brand, offering the casual restaurant pioneer operational and financial flexibility, increased scale and capital to deliver continued revenue and an exceptional experience for TGI Fridays Guests. TGI Fridays reported $1.4bn in total systemwide sales in 2023 alone. Upon completion of the transaction, the new combined entity would be named TGI Fridays plc and listed on the London Stock Exchange as "TGIF" with both US and global operations of the brand remaining in place at the company's Dallas headquarters They have over 600 restaurants in 44 countries.

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CHEERS

The Creating Hospitality Economic Enhancement for Restaurants and Servers (CHEERS) Act would give tax breaks to businesses that use energy efficient draft lines and keg equipment. It has bipartisan support in the House. Craft beer is often sold in reusable kegs, so they hold a lot more beer compared to bottles and cans, and it means lower production costs because packaging and shipping is much easier. From production to consumption, draft beer is much more energy efficient.

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QUICK HITS

Beer sales at bars and restaurants have declined in both dollar sales (-0.7%) and volume (-5.7%) in the 12-month period through the aPRIL 2024. Within beer, below premiums, imports and flavored malt beverages are outperforming the category – though all have recorded volume declines.
Deschutes Brewery announced today a new addition to its non-alcoholic beer lineup in the form of Fresh Squeezed NA IPA—the alcohol-free version of its flagship Fresh Squeezed. It joins Black Butte NA, and it’s the first NA beer to be made entirely in-house.

Elysian Brewing is expanding its “Space Dust” line with the addition of a new year-round beer inspired by its flagship Space Dust IPA — Juice Dust Juicy IPA. Like its predecessor, Juice Dust is 8.2% ABV with 73 IBUs; what sets it apart is a different malt bill and the addition of orange juice during brewing.
The Great American Beer Hall, scheduled to open in late summer 2024 in Medford, wil be the largest in the country. It’s massive at 22,000-square-foot taproom-style beer hall and 8,800-square-foot outdoor beer garden. Interior and exterior mezzanine levels round out the facility’s design.
Hard MTN Dew is transitioning to Boston Beer Company’s beer distributor network and will expand to all 50 states, The move marks the end of distribution by PepsiCo’s Blue Cloud Distribution.
Before kicking off his summer tour, noted Miller Lite fan Luke Combs toured the Miller Brewery where he shotgunned a beer, quoted Superbad and met an employee with one of his lyrics tattooed on his arm.
California's No. 1 craft brand is Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., known for Torpedo and Hazy Little Thing IPAs. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, was ranked as California’s favorite beer. California’s second-favorite beer is Stone IPA..
In a just released poll, Samuel Adams was named the top craft brewery brand in 22 states.
Nonalcoholic beer has gone mainstream. Budweiser Zero is the official beer of the seventh-inning cutoff time at baseball games in Canada, and Corona Cero will be featured as a leading global Worldwide Olympic Partner
A new report says that beer aromatics and head retention are dictated by the chemistry of many components: grain, malt, hops, the percentage and type of carbonation, and even the glassware used to serve the final product. So many things can affect head retention, but the main one starts with the grain bill.”
Many people may think of hamburgers, fries when they think of McDonald's in the United States, but the fast-food chain serves customers beer in nearly a dozen other countries, including France, Germany, South Korea and a just openned in Portugal.
Modelo Especial remains the best-selling beer in the U.S. and its sales are up 12% so far in 2024, compared to a year ago.

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flash news - april 2024

FLASH NEWS

Less Beer For Zs

New research shows that the Generation Z crowd now on campus seems to be drinking far less beer and booze than previous generations .And this isn’t just a random blip in the numbers: “Younger adults are drinking less alcohol — and it has been moving in that direction for two decades. Researchers found that 28% of college students in 2023 reported that they abstained from alcohol. In 2002, the number was 20%. Young adults not in college were even more likely to avoid alcohol. Nearly 35% of this group in 2023 reported that they did not drink beer, wine or spirits. The number was about 24% in 2002. Decreases in alcohol consumption by Gen Z coincide with an uptick in cannabis use, according to numerous reports. The rise coincides with increased legalization of cannabis and a lower feeling of risk.

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Buy Low, Sell High

Investors are warming to beer stocks as a relatively cheap way to benefit from growth in alcohol brands, particularly in emerging markets, as easing cost pressures help brewers close the gap on the spirits giants that have outshone them for years. While spirits companies enjoyed record growth during a post-pandemic boom in expensive liquors, brewers like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Heineken have struggled with huge spikes in costs of everything from energy to barely. This slashed margins and hurt sales as they hiked prices to cover their bills, and accelerated a shift from wine and beer to spirits in Western markets.But now brewers are set for a recovery in margins as inflation eases, and are raising growth ambitions. While Heineken, the world’s No.2 brewer, recently disappointed markets with its cautious guidance, it still expects to sell more beer in 2024 and could see strong profit growth.

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Number 1

O’Brien’s Pub in Kearny Mesa, long recognized as one of San Diego’s oldest craft beer bars, was named the No. 1 beer bar in America on Friday in a USA Today 10Best poll. Founded in 1994 and specializing in serving both Belgian and rare beers, O’Brien’s is co-owned by Tom Nickel and Tyson Blake. O’Brien’s Pub was ranked No. 4 in last year’s 10Best poll, and Nickel said that he and Blake were both surprised and thrilled to have made it to the top of this year’s list.

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Happy Birthday Old Timer

As Pabst Blue Ribbon celebrates its 180th anniversary, the beer brand announced the return of its two-day music festival, Project Pabst. After a seven-year hiatus, Project Pabst is returning to Portland, OR, this summer. Project Pabst will be held in Waterfront Park on July 27 and 28, Project Pabst is a 21+ event. Pre-sale tickets start at $99, with general on sale tickets being $115.But Project Pabst isn’t the only celebration. “We’re rolling out special 180th Pabst Blue Ribbon anniversary packaging to celebrate the milestone later in the year, as well as dedicated PBR 180th anniversary themed marketing,

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Fastest Growing

Metal, glass, and liquid cartons are projected to be the fastest-growing materials used in the craft beer and spirits market through 2027. This comes as consumer demands for ready-to-drink, e-commerce, and variety and multipacks have moved the market to a projected 1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) or 78.1 billion unit sales from 2024 to 2027. Metal already represents the lion’s share of craft brew and spirits packaging—followed by glass, then rigid plastic,

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Less Premium

It seems beer is becoming the choice of cash strapped consumers. Diageo has some evidence to back up that assertion. Last year punters in Latin America were buying fewer premium spirits in favor of beer, while in the United States, growth of its Guinness brand outstripped that of tequila and vodka. Last week, Carlsberg, also noted drinkers’ changing habits, and upped its medium-term sales guidance from 3% to 5% to 4% to 6%.

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$10 Beillion Debt

Anheuser-Busch InBev beat sales estimates and raised its annual dividend by 9% last month, but its shares slipped over 3% as investors weighed the absence of a new share buyback, poor U.S. sales and the impact of hyperinflation in Argentina. Investors in the world's largest brewer are hungry for returns after years of focus on debt reduction as AB InBev tried to pay off an acquisition spree. That spree built it into a global beer behemoth, but also left it with debts of over $100 billion that it struggled to reduce as quickly as hoped, limiting its ability to return cash to shareholders.

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Spirts Beat Beer Again

The spirits industry held its market share edge over beer and wine for the second straight month in 2024, even as it showed little growth, according to new data released. Vodka remained the top-selling spirit so far in 2024, while the second-highest selling category, tequila and mezcal, gained even more of a lead on American whiskey. Tequila and mezcal, blended whiskey and American whiskey are among the fastest-growing spirits categories by revenue.

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QUICK HITS

Roth Brewing Company LLC of Raleigh, N.C., which produces Gizmo beer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 8. In its filing, the company checked the box that indicates that its debts are less than $7.5 million and it chooses to proceed under Subchapter V of Chapter 11.
A just released report to stockholders from AB/InBev says that still continuing backlash over a partnership with a transgender social media influencer cost the world’s largest brewer as much as $1.4 billion so far. The company claims they are winning back customers currently but did not release any statistics to back their claim

Teamsters are calling for a boycott of Molson Coors’ products as workers continue to strike at the beer giant’s Fort Worth production brewery. Members of Local 997 have been on strike since February 17, seeking pay raises, retirement benefits and the end of tiered health care.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) Teamsters have ratified the union’s new five-year contract with the world’s largest beer manufacturer. The contract was approved with 86% of the vote, It offers “significant job security for all 5,000 Teamsters” at A-B’s 12 U.S. breweries
Hard MTN Dew is transitioning to Boston Beer Company’s beer distributor network and will expand to all 50 states, The move marks the end of distribution by PepsiCo’s Blue Cloud Distribution.
Grand Rapids (Michigan) was named the number-one beer city in the U.S. by USA Today "thanks largely to the presence of the world-renowned Founders Brewing Co. and several other brewing operations around town, most notably the Belgian-inspired Brewery Vivant.”
Corona Cero will be the first-ever beer to be globally sponsored in the ypcoming summer Olympics.
American Farmland Trust (AFT), a national nonprofit that helps to keep American farmers on their land, launched a new U.S. Farmed certification and packaging seal for products that derive at least 95 percent of their agricultural ingredients from farms in the United States. Anheuser-Busch, is the first-to receive the seal.
Discount grocery chain Aldi is once again selling beer at stores in New York state. The company, based in Germany, has begun stocking shelves in New York and other Eastern states.
The new Dolphy Day IPA that debuts nest month is expected to help Le Moyne College (NY) generate money for its wellness programming and scholarships. The beer is a collaboration with Meier’s Creek Brewing Co.
Hawaii’s largest craft brewer, Maui, has just installed a new high-speed canning line to complement new cartoning capabilities after a switch from plastic carriers to multipack cartons proves popular with consumers.

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flash news - march 2024

FLASH NEWS

Shrinking Footprint

AB InBev shrank its footprint even further on March. 1, just five weeks after shuttering Goose’s Clybourn (Illinois) taproom, and half a year after offloading a bunch of brands to Tilray. Then A-B’s Golden Road announced the closure of their Sacramento taproom. The day after that, Anheuser-Busch announced that they’d be shuttering Miami’s Wynwood Brewing, with some of their beers moving to Veza Sur, a brand created by A-B in 2017. Interestingly, Veza Sur was originally positioned as a collaborative project between Colombia’s Bogota Beer Co. and 10 Barrel, which is one of the brands that A-B sold to Tilray last year.

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Bell's Expands

Bell’s Brewery Inc. is investing $2.6 million to boost packaging automation capacity its Comstock Township brewery east of Kalamazoo as a way to produce more variety packs of its popular beers. The investment includes an additional $500,000 project to reduce waste at the production facility. These latest investments come just months after the company wrapped up an 18-month expansion project that doubled the brewery’s canning capacity.

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Free Beer

Health care workers who stand to lose their jobs near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, can get free beer at Leinenkugel's Leinie Lodge. Two complimentary crowlers of Leinie’s Red Lager or Jacob Spring Brewery Ale are being offered to those who show up at the lodge with their work badges from HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, or Prevea’s western Wisconsin offices. Beers are available while supplies last to those over the age of 21.

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Publix Beer

Wegmans and Whole Foods offer things like happy hour, beer and wine on tap, live music, and other attractions to make the shopping experience enjoyable. Now Publix, the most popular and plentiful grocery store in Florida, has a good reputation for how it treats its employees. With over 800 locations around the Sunshine State, the grocery store is the largest employee-owned company in the country, Now, in select locations, they will be offering wine, beer, and kombucha on tap.

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Football Beer

After being one of the final holdouts in the SEC, Georgia will open beer sales to all fans at home football games in 2024. The move comes five years after the SEC lifted its ban on alcohol sales at conference events. Georgia and Auburn were the final two SEC schools to not sell beer to the general public at football games. Auburn has not formally announced whether it will do so this fall but has been slowly moving in that direction, selling beer at basketball games in Nov. 2023, becoming the final SEC school to sell alcohol at athletic events.

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Best Maros

The best macro beers, according to survey of 100 brewers throughout the US:: 1. Miller High Life; 2. Modelo Especial; 3.Narragansett; 4. Presidente; 6. Pacifico; 7.Coors Banquet; 8, Budweiser; 9. Guinness

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Volume Down

Last year beer consumption dropped to its lowest volume since 1999. More than 95 percent of breweries in the U.S. are quite small, and if you're one of those small breweries and you run a tight ship, you'll most likely be ok moving forward in the rest of 2024. However If you're the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and you lost 26 percent of the volume on your most important brand in the past 12 months (Bud Light), then you're singing a different song at this point. Luckily, Bud Light’s problems are not craft beer’s problems.

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Michelob Ultra Challenge

Two Boston Beer Company vets are trying to shake up the low-calorie beer industry. Todd Simon, a former Boston Beer brand strategist, and David Sipes, a brewer with 17 years of experience brewing Samuel Adams beers and making Angry Orchard ciders, have teamed up to form a new company challenging the Michelob Ultras of the world.

The company is Lonsdale Brewing Co. and the beer is Hero95, a light lager with just 95 calories and 3.6 grams of carbs. Hero95 is produced with Munich malts and noble hops. Sipes describes the brew as having “a really nice biscuity flavor and just a touch of perceived sweetness from the malts, though it’s actually quite dry.” The beer clocks in at 4 percent alcohol by volume. six-packs have a suggested price of $10.99 to $12.99, as well as on draft.

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QUICK HITS

Midwest IPA will now be a year-round offering from Great akes Brewing. It launches this March in 12 oz. Can 6-Packs, 19.2 oz. Cans, Draft, and select Variety Packs. It has7.0% ABV and is brewed with a blend of Triumph, Strata, Cascade, and Citra hops.,
Bud Light's revenue was down 13.5% from the previous year and the beer brand lost about 26% of its sales by the end of 2023 . The decline remains steady for the early part of 2024

Zydeco Brew Werks to close its main brewery The craft brewery and restaurant said in a Facebook post that it will close its Ybor City location in Tampa on March 1 after nearly eight years of operations.
In the beer category, last year's favorites like Modelo Especial, tequila, ready-to-drink cocktails–and non-alcoholic beverages, too–all look to have staying power. Sales so far in 2024 have remained steady while craft beers sales continue to be soft.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%, the super premium Italian beer brand from Asahi Europe has today announced a new global partnership with Ferrari. The multi-year partnership will see Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% enter a new racing chapter alongside Scuderia Ferrari and Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series, continuing the motorsport sponsorship journey.
Pilsner Urquell, which is the official partner of the Czech Olympic Committee, will henceforth withdraw from all sponsorship related to the 2024 Olympics. A decision which was reportedly due to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) choosing to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the sporting event.
For most of 2023, Guinness was the most popular beer in the US. Now, the first poll of 2024 data reveals a new No. 1. Remember this is NOT measured by sales, it is the result of a survey of beer drinkers. Here are the top five. 5. Modelo, 4. Samuel Adams, 3, 3. Heineken, 2. 2. Guinness, 1. Corona
A new survey of Cicerones listed these as the worst things you should never do related to beer. Here are the top three: Never serve it in a frosted glass. Never served flat beer, Never use an improper glass for the style.
Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, operates a dozen locations as far away as Birmingham, Alabama. Last year, Denver Beer Co. has just debuted its fourth and fifth Colorado outpost, while Dust Bowl Brewing in Turlock, California, opened its fourth California taproom. Brewery taprooms have officially entered their chain era.
Despite the hazy IPA onslaught, a new survey says America’s favorite beer style remains the lager. Seeking wider audiences, craft breweries are making approachable pilsners and light lagers. The trade-off is a production process that can take over a month, crimping production of ales that can be made and sold in just a few weeks.
Research from the Oregon Health Authority found that an increase in a state's excise tax on beer and wine would likely have a muted impact on heavy drinking, but could raise millions in tax revenue for the state. This directly contradicts proponents of anti- drinking advocates.

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flash news - february 2024

FLASH NEWS

Another One Bites The Dust

A number of local and regional breweries have filed for bankruptcy in 2023. That's at least partially because overall interest in beer has fallen. Now, Flying Fish Brewing Co., a Pennsylvania brewery that operates in South Jersey, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a deal fell apart that would have seen the company sold to Cape May Brewing Co. Flying Fish "listed $1.3 million in assets and $9.3 million in liabilities in its Chapter 11 petition, which was filed in late December in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. The company is owned by Elk Lake Capital, a capital investment firm in Scranton that acquired Flying Fish in 2016,

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Alcohol Taxes Cut

A decision by the Thai government to cut alcohol taxes has been made in an effort to boost tourism in the country. The move, which has been approved by the cabinet, will see import tariffs on wine exempted, which are currently at 54% and 60% of their declared value. In addition, the excise tax on wine will be reduced from 10% to 5% and locally produced alcohol from 10% to 0% in order to assist small-scale firms. According to the Bangkok Post, the new tax rules will take place shortly. The latest move will impact the country’s coffers though, as last year, the government collected almost ฿178bn (£3.9bn) in alcohol, beer and other beverage taxes. This included ฿64.17bn (|£1.4bn) from alcoholic beverages, ฿86.5bn (£1.9bn) from beer and ฿26.95bn (£584m) from other beverages. Currently, the excise tax is a two-tier system with wine priced at more than ฿1000 being hit with a 10% tax and 0% below that price point. But as the tax is also applied to ABV, all wines are taxed at ฿1500 per litre for 100º of alcohol content. This has now been cut to 1000 baht. A separate tax on volume is also applied to local alcohol based on volume at ฿150 per litre for 100º of alcohol content, still remains.

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New Regs in Alaska

New Alaska alcohol regulations, developed to level the playing field for local brewers, means big beer will be given restrictions from entering into exclusive deals with bars and stores. The regulations will bring Alaska into compliance with federal laws, but could be used as a structure for other countries and regions looking to mirror a model that doesn’t squeeze smaller brewers out of the market. Alaska brewers have said that the law is coming into force because industry heavyweights with deep pockets have historically had an unfair advantage because they could give bar owners expensive new draught beer kit for free with the caveat that only their beers are sold on tap, essentially tying up all of the lines, a move also being seen across Britain. Similarly, retailers could get free prizes and inducements that required them to put certain products in their refrigerators or on prominent shelves, pushing out smaller breweries entirely. The changes now state that bars could no longer receive free draught beer systems from manufacturers and wholesalers, but they could still get them cleaned for free. Additionally, retailers would be restricted to accepting free prizes up to US$400 for contests, and there would be similar restrictions on promotional displays and stores would be prohibited from signing exclusive agreements with one manufacturer for shelf space or presentation of products.

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Edinburgh’s Last Major Brewery Sold

Heineken has sold Edinburgh’s historic Caledonian Brewery site to the property developers Artisan Real Estate. The historic 1.9-acre brewery in Shandon(UK) will be turned into new homes. Prior to Heineken closing the Caledonian Brewery in 2022, it was Edinburgh’s last major brewery and had been founded in 1869 The brewery reportedly used traditional brewing methods and open square fermenters and direct-fired copper kettles. Despite passing through a range of ownerships during the past two centuries, the brewery was most recently operated by Heineken from 2008 after it had been acquired as an assets of then owner Scottish and Newcastle. However, last year when Heineken first placed placed the site on the market, it left the historic buildings vulnerable to property developers.

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Historic Glassware

Made famous by its brewing industry, Czech glassware has just been added to the World Heritage list by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The uniqueness of Czech glass can be seen in many forms, especially in bars within the country, often sporting decoction brewed lagers. According to reports, unlike in other countries, Czech glassmaking uses many techniques beyond simple glass blowing.

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Due Date, Bew Date

According to a recent survey commissioned by Samuel Adams and conducted online by The Harris Poll, only 17% of Americans 21+ who had a pregnant partner say they stopped drinking while their partner was pregnant. So, to help expecting dads and non-carrying mothers pace through each trimester, Samuel Adams introduces ‘Due Date, Brew Date’ to reward those who give up alcohol in support of their pregnant partner. Have a Due Date? It’s time to start planning your Brew Date! Head to @samueladamsbeer on Instagram, comment on the Due Date, Brew Date post, and you may win a 40-week supply of Samuel Adams non-alcoholic Just the Haze to enjoy the flavor of beer without the buzz. The brand is even throwing in a 6-pack of Samuel Adams Boston Lager to cheers making it to your Brew Date - oh, and to celebrate the new addition to your family.

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QUICK HITS

For the first time since 1999, beer shipments in 2023 fell below 200 million barrels. Yet even as overall volume consumption declined, the largest beer makers remain financially resilient thanks to prices that climbed alongside — or even surpassed — broader inflation
Fidens Brewery said the brewery, which produces its beer in a Colonie (NY)industrial park, has had visitors from the Netherlands, Japan and China, after trying Fidens beer in their home countries. How’d the get it? The “black” (secondary market in beer continues to thrive.

Tilray's Net revenue from the company’s alcohol business increased 117% to $47 million last quarter. The growth came after Tilray acquired eight beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV making it the fifth-largest craft brewer in the US.
A brewery and a creamery in Oregon partnered up to craft blue cheese beer. Rogue Creamery and the Crux Fermentation Project collaborated to create Coolship Beer No. 6, aged in oak barrels for nearly two years
Pilsner Urquell, which is the official partner of the Czech Olympic Committee, will henceforth withdraw from all sponsorship related to the 2024 Olympics. A decision which was reportedly due to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) choosing to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the sporting event.
Gottlieb Heileman, founder of G. Heileman Brewing Company, died in 1878. His wife, Johanna, stepped into the role of CEO, making her the first-ever female CEO of an American brewery. She maintained the position for the next 34 years. The brewery will release a special beer in her honor this spring.
Anheuser-Busch InBev will be the first beer brand to ever sponsor the Olympics The International Olympic Committee said the team-up will go from the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer games to Los Angeles 2028 Summer games. The IOC specifically highlighted Corona Cero (non-alcoholic) as the beer of choice for the partnership.
Buffalo Brewing Co. used a Mason jar filled with clean snow from the latest storm to create its recipe for Golden Snowbeer.. If they say so.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a bill that will ease strict restrictions on the way craft breweries in the state can operate their taprooms. Now craft breweries can host an unlimited number of special events in their taprooms, coordinate with food trucks and restaurants to offer food service and sell snacks.
A former server has filed a lawsuit against Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) alleging the craft brewery platform violated federal and state labor laws by undercompensating tipped employees and requiring them to do untipped and unpaid tasks

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flash news - january 2024

FLASH NEWS

BrewDog Censured

BrewDog has been censured by the advertising watchdog for misleading claims about the climate credentials of its beers. The brewery claimed its beers were carbon negative in an advertisement. In the ad the company urged consumers to drink its beer to protect their descendants from the climate crisis. It described the beverage as “Beer for your grandchildren” and claimed BrewDog was “the world’s first carbon negative brewery”.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld two complaints that the brewery failed to explain its claims that the beer was in fact carbon negative, meaning the process of making the drink sequestered more carbon than it emitted. The ASA also ruled against the brewer over a promotion that claimed “solid gold” cans worth $20,000 had been hidden in cases of beer. In fact, the cans were made largely of brass and coated with gold plating three-thousandths of a millimeter thick.

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Happy Birthday

In the early 1900s, most Americans enjoyed their beer in a saloon or taken home in bucket. But as a market developed for “bottle beer,” Miller brewers crafted a crisp, refreshing, effervescent beer to be known as Miller High Life. Within three years, the new beer earned the nickname “The Champagne of Bottle Beer” and this January 1, the beer will celebrate its 120th birthday, remaining an iconic American brew. When it debuted, High Life was merely one of many brands brewed and sold by Miller. Other Miller brands during the early 20th century included Buffet, Münchener, Bock, Export, Porter, and Extra Pale Bohemian. High Life was intended to fill a particular niche in the Miller portfolio at the time - what we would now call an “above-premium” brand. In 1904 a case of Miller High Life bottles cost $1.80—the equivalent of $62 today. Its nickname or course, is “the champagne of beers” Why? Well, the earliest High Life bottles featured tapered, sloping shoulders, which resembled champagne bottles, plus, Miller’s golden color and high carbonation, both readily apparent in their clear bottles, encourage comparisons to champagne. That paired with the fact that High Life debuted close to New Year’s Eve also bolsters the connection with champagne, the classic New Year’s beverage.

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flash news - december 2023

FLASH NEWS

New Study - Eat Then Drink

Your age, weight, whether you’ve eaten food recently, medications, liver disease and the time between drinks determins how long alcohol stays in your system. A new study says that the ability to metabolize alcohol slows as you age. Alcohol will have heightened effects on those with lower weights and smaller body sizes. A shot of liquor is estimated to metabolize in an hour, a pint of beer in two, a glass of wine in three, and several drinks hours.

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500th Beer

In early Dec. 2023 Troegs, the Hershey-based brewery will launch its 500th Scratch beer - the Double Perpetual IPA. According to the brewery “Cycling through copious amounts of Cascade, Chinook, Nugget and Citra hops, this bigger, bolder version of Perpetual IPA boasts sticky notes of citrus fruit and pine.” It was created in the Scratch Lab, a 3-barrel nano-brewery that replicates the temperature controls, pressure,etc. of Tröegs’ 100-barrel brewhouse.

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It's A Knockout

UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization, and Anheuser-Busch have announced a new multiyear marketing partnership. Effective January 1, 2024, the brewer will become the exclusive “Official Beer Partner of UFC.”

Analysts doubt it will help the extreme drop in Bud Light sales caused by the boycott.

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Unhealthy Additive

Restaurants and consumers in South Korea have quickly lost their taste for Tsingtao beer, after a video that appeared to show a brewery worker urinating into a tank at one of the firm’s plants in China. A number of restaurants, had applied for refunds on shipments of Tsingtao, but added that the beer’s South Korean importer had turned down the requests. A sustained drop in sales in South Korea would pose a problem for Tsingtao, which had the largest market share of any imported beer in the country. China is the second-biggest beer importer to South Korea after Japan,

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Beer Makes Coffee

Stone brewing will release of its full line of specialty coffees, bringing a "bold and bitter twist" to morning routine. Available online now, the Stone Brewing Coffee collectionwill hit stores nationwide in early 2024. The coffee is based on Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, and Stone Xocoveza.

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Can Demand Slows

Beer cans supplier Ball Corp missed third-quarter sales estimates o hurt by slowing demand for its beverage cans

The world's largest supplier of beer cans is navigating a challenging macro environment with consumers cutting down on discretionary spending, which has impacted Ball's customers and suppliers, sales and production volumes.

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Sam Battles Cider

A beer battle is brewing in Boston involving the makers of Sam Adams and Downeast Cider. Boston Beer, the parent company of Sam Adams, is suing its rival Downeast Cider. Boston r says a former employee downloaded confidential market plans, pricing guides and other data to a thumb drive just before quitting and then shared those secrets when they started working at Downeast.The employee worked in senior managerial roles at Sam Adams for eight years, according to the company. Both Downeast and the employee in question deny the allegations.

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Delivery Please

New Jersey residents can get beer or wine delivered to their door, just in time for the the holidays. State regulators approved permits for DoorDash and Instacart to deliver drinks, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control confirmed. The permits allow for deliveries only at residences and rule out college campuses, hotels and BYOB restaurants.

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QUICK HITS

Beer and Brewing magazine’s top ten beer cities in the US for 2023 (2022 rank is listed in parentheses)

U.S. Cities 1. Chicago, Illinois (2) 2. San Diego, California (4) 3. Portland, Oregon (5)

Recently wildfires in Maui ripped through the town of Lahaina. The Kokua Session IPA ‘s sales proceeds will go toward the victims of the wildfires. It's part of Maui Brewing Company's Kokua Project. The goal is to raise $1,000,000 through the one beer brewed by many. More breweries are welcome to join the project.
Britain's beer drinkers have been named the most generous in Europe in a new report. Eighty two per cent of Britons said they were more likely to get a round in for their friends than split the bill. A further 77 per cent said that they would buy someone a drink regardless of whether they thought they would get one in return.
Florida has made it nearly impossible for someone to legally sell a beer keg to a recycling yard unless he or she can prove ownership of the stainless steel container. Empty keg theft has become a major problem there.
Thanks to inflation the average person in Colombia must work for 1.75e hours for a beer; South Africa, the average

worker has to work for just over an 1.33 hours to buy a beer. In Italy, it's just 15 minutes.

Forget Dry January. The stats are just in on Sober October. It's a hit. Non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits sales have increased 32% so far this year in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandise stores over the 52-week period ending Nov. 21, compared to the previous year.
'Metropolitan Brewing, one of Chicago's oldest craft breweries (it opened in 2008-2009) has filed filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy largely because it cannot afford to pay the back rent it owes its lenders.
New research now says that a shot of liquor is estimated to metabolize in an hour, a pint of beer in two, a glass of wine in three, and several drinks could take multiple hours. alcohol can even be detected at the roots of your hair for 90 days after someone has stopped drinking.
Heineken, the world’s second-biggest brewer, saw volumes fall 4.2% year-on-year and revenue nudge up by 2% as it said sales had begun to be impacted by its higher prices.-

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flash news - november 2023

FLASH NEWS

"Gobsmacked"

The price of a single pint of beer at a pub in a Sydney tourist hub has left Australians "gobsmacked". A consumer shared a photo of the beer (brewer unknown) on X and its accompanying $17.80 (Australian) [$11.42 USD] price tag “$20 pints [$17 USD] are just around the corner,” he captioned the photo. The price included a 15 percent surcharge, he added, without which the beverage would’ve cost $15.13. [$9.71 USD]. The price, he declared, was “tough to swallow”. However it's still better than many US bars that are now charging $8 - 9 for a twelve ounce pour.

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Name Change

, LightSky, the slim-can offshoot of Blue Moon was a big success when it hit shelves in 2020, helping to protect the brand’s flank from the then-surging hard seltzer segment while carving into Michelob Ultra territory, but it’s lost a little luster lately. Now, in an effort to simplify the line and zhuzh up LightSky to attract the next generation of drinkers, the brewer will lop off the back half of the extension’s name. As of March 2024, when the rollout arrives in stores, Blue Moon LightSky is dead! Long live Blue Moon Light!

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New "Global Brand"

Anheuser-Busch InBev (has elevated its low calorie lager Michelob Ultra to the status of "global brand", according to a recent investor presentation, positioning it to better compete with Dutch rival Heineken. The world's largest brewer previously bestowed that title on just three of its biggest-hitting labels, Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois. But presentation slides included Michelob Ultra, already a big hit in the U.S., in the group. The moves see AB InBev squaring up with rival Heineken, whose new light beer Heineken Silver is looking to win share in in the critical U.S. market, and whose Heineken 0.0% is the global market share leader in the no-alcohol category. As for Ab/InBev Alcohol-free version, Corona Cero, meanwhile, will be its number one focus in the no-alcohol category

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150th Anniversary

One hundred and 50 years ago this fall, a once-penniless German immigrant named Adolph Coors brewed his first beer in Golden with Rocky Mountain spring water. The birth of Coors in 1873 launched a global beer empire, transformed the brewing industry and created a Colorado mystique that defines the state to this day. The brewery in the foothills west of Denver, the second-biggest in the world and largest in the U.S., producing 10 million barrels a year

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African Grain - Brooklyn Beer

Brooklyn Brewery announces the launch of Fonio Rising a distinctive craft beer made with the climate-resistant, ancient West African grain fonio, meticulously brewed in collaboration with purpose-driven food business Yolélé, whose mission is to bring underutilized African ingredients like fonio to global tables. Known as the "seed of the universe,” fonio - a grain in the millet family, which has thrived in West Africa for over 5,000 years - has gained significant attention recently for its exceptional nutritional profile and culinary versatility, and even recognized as part of the UN’s declaration that 2023 is “the year of the millet.” Brooklyn is the first brewery to use it on a large scale.

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Budweiser Stops Abusing Clydesdales

Anheuser-Busch will no longer cut the tails off their iconic Clydesdale horses after facing pressure from animal rights activists. The company has just announced it is ending a practice known as tail docking, a practice that "traditionally has been performed to prevent the tail of the horse from interfering with harness and carriage equipment," according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. .The practice of equine tail docking will not be used any longer, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Buschsaid, while noting that "the safety and well-being of our beloved Clydesdales is our top priority." If so, why did they only stop after much public pressure?

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Oktoberfest Statistics

An estimated 7.2 million people attended the world’s largest celebration of beer from September 16th to October 3, 2023, the highest level of attendance ever. While this year’s edition was also the longest, extended by two extra days to end coincident with the German Unity Day national holiday, attendance was up substantially from 2022 (5.7 million people) and 2019 (6.3 million). The festival was not held in 2020 or 2021.Surprisingly, the record number of attendees w ere not as thirsty for beer as in prior years. An estimated 6.5 million measures of beer were served — less than one per person — compared to 7.1 million in 2020 and 7.3 million in Instead of beer, sales of non-alcoholic beverages was up 50% and sales of food was up 15%.

Other fun facts from the 2023 edition of Oktoberfest: security confiscated 115,600 Maßkrüges (beer steins) from sticky-fingered souvenir seekers 3,250 items were turned in to the lost and found (which included 640 wallets, 580 items of clothing, 520 ID cards, 400 smartphones, 380 bank cards, 200 keys, 310 pairs of glasses, 120 bags, 40 umbrellas and 60 pieces of jewelry), 2.8 million kWh of electricity was consumed, 300 tons of garbage was collected

the ambulance station dealt with 7,620 patients, there were only seven lost children.

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The Zatec/Saaz Exception

Since 2005, the average annual hop yields across most of Europe have declined as much as 19%, but had remained stable in the Czech Republic. The earlier ripening also led to a decline in the average content in the hops of the acids that give beers their bitterness – down between 10.5% in Zatce in the Czech Republic and 34.8% in Celje, Slovenia, researchers have just reported.. "The increasingly frequent droughts and heat waves are negatively affecting yields and alpha content in all hop-growing regions of the EU. The only exception is Zatec/Saaz in the Czech Republic, where yields are slightly increasing thanks to the adaptation measures already taken, The researchers simulated future crops and climate conditions and estimate hop harvests that are 4% to 18% smaller by 2050 and a continued 20% to 31% decline in the acids in the hops needed for bitterness Hop production in the U.S. faces similar situations, Mozny said, But beer lovers in the U.S. don't need to start hoarding their favorite quaffs just yet. U.S. hop producers have been developing hop varieties that are resilient and have continued to increase hop production.

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Genetically Engineered Beer

Researchers from Jiangnan University have found a way to keep beer fresher for longer, by genetically engineering lager yeast to produce certain compounds that prevent staleness. Unless you’re slurping it straight out of the brewer’s conditioning tank, there’s a good chance your beer is at least a few weeks old. Unfortunately, we live in a world where beer needs to be packaged, transported, stored, sold and bought before it can be consumed. Throughout that whole process, beer is constantly undergoing certain chemical reactions. The end result is a stale beer, with a more papery flavor and less fizz than a fresh one. In past research, scientists have found that these flavors are associated with an increase in compounds called aldehydes. These are produced during fermentation, and their levels only increase with age. One way to counter it is a molecule called NADH, which boosts enzyme activity to break down aldehydes. beer produced by the edited yeast was found to have between 26.3 and 47.3 percent less acetaldehyde – a type of aldehyde – than the control beer brewed using regular yeast. Levels of other aldehydes were also reduced, while there was an increase in sulfur dioxide, an antioxidant that’s known to help slow staleness.Importantly, the researchers also found that the components that provide flavor and aroma were only changed marginally. That’s good news for beer connoisseurs.

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QUICK HITS

Anheuser-Busch is dangling big incentives/payouts to distributors to keep its beers on store shelves following Bud Light’s disastrous tie-up with Dylan Mulvaney as retailers begin reassigning their cooler space.
A 2-pint mug at the recent Oktoberfest celebration in Munich costs between $13.45 to $15.90 this year, an increase of around 6% from last year.
The NY-based company Constellation Brands— which also brews Corona in Mexico and distributes it across the US — said its beer sales grew by 12% in its most recent quarter ended Oct.. 31 compared to a year ago.
One of Denver’s first LGBTQ+ bars has just shuttered its doors after being “suffocated” by homeless encampments crowding the city. The Triangle Bar lost roughly 50% of its business in the last several months — owners attributed the tavern’s floundering to downtown Denver’s unrelenting homelessness problem.
The percentage of weekly craft beer drinkers who also report drinking certain other types of alcohol at least once a week has increased in the last 12 months: Flavored malt beverages had the biggest gains (+7%), with domestic non-craft beer (+2%) and spirits (+2%). Weekly wine drinking fell significantly (-7%) as did hard seltzer (-1%) and hard cider (-2%).
As a collective “category,” craft Light Lager represents about 1% of craft beer sold in chain retail, a percentage that has been steady for a few years.
In the latest 52-week period craft beer volumes declined -6.7% in national chain retail tracked by market research company Circana, while overall beer is -3%.
'Wallenpaupack Brewing's Pumpkin Ale has been voted the best fall seasonal beer in USA Today's 10Best.

They describe it as "a balanced pumpkin ale brewed with real pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg."

The Coors brewery in the foothills west of Denver —is the second-biggest in the world and largest in the U.S., producing 10 million barrels a year.
Brooklyn Brewery has taken a minority stake in Boulder, Colorado-based non-alcoholic (NA) hop tea maker Hoplark as part of a Series A funding round, the two companies announced

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flash News - october 2023

FLASH NEWS

Anti-Beer Drug

In the past year, prescriptions for both the diabetes drug Ozempic and its weight-loss counterpart Wegovy have skyrocketed, despite the fact that each costs about $1,000 a month and some health insurers recently stopped covering them. Both drugs contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide, which belongs to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 (aka "glucagon-like peptide 1"). These drugs regulate your blood sugar and make you feel satisfied after eating. Ozempic is approved for treating diabetes and, in some cases, excess weight. With the drug's surge in popularity, doctors and patients have begun to notice a striking side effect of these drugs: They appear to reduce people's cravings for beer, alcohol cocktails, nicotine and opioids. In fact, Ozempic's potential to reduce alcohol consumption is now so well known that some people are seeking out the drug to help with their drinking. They may also reduce some types of compulsive behaviors, such as gambling and online shopping. If you like beer don’t take this drug unless strongly recommended by your doctor or bartender.

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Belgium Beer Shrine

A major achievement for the hundred or so brewers in Belgium involved with a long awaited project is about to be realied: the inauguration o October 6 of Belgian Beer World located at the building that formerly housed the Brussels Stock Exchange. For more than ten years, the brewers and the city of Brussels have been talking about this "temple of beer". Now it's a reality. It's a12,000-square-metre interactive experience. The historical aspect will, of course, be covered, particularly through unusual stories. The brewing process will be explained in detail, with multi-sensory workshops to give visitors the chance to experience the multitude of aromas and flavors in beer. At the end of this "authentic, high-tech" experience, visitors can head to the large rooftop bar to sample some of the beers.

The design of Belgian Beer World required a budget of €10 million.

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Guinness Returns to Russia

Guinness could soon be sold in Russia once again, according to reports stating a Kremlin agency has approved its importation. Despite the claims being made, Guinness owner Diageo that an about-turn has not been made from the company’s end and Diageo has reiterated its stance on imports to Russia saying "Diageo is not either directly or indirectly importing or selling any products in Russia." However Guinness is being made available in Russia, likely from Russia’s access to parallel imports where a Russian company has a registered declaration issued by the respective accreditation body and then certified for this activity by Rosaccreditation, the state authority to assist in importing otherwise unobtainable alcohol into Russia.

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Heineken - New Plant in Mexico

Heineken has revealed that it plans build a new €430 million (US$457 million) brewery in Mexico’s Yucatan state. he brewery, which will be based in Kanasin, will be Heineken’s eighth in Mexico and, according to local reports, will brew the brands Tecate, Dos Equis, Indio, Bohemia, Amstel Ultra, and Sol as well as create 2,000 jobs.

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Still The King

Tracking beer sales by style, Watson Research reports that IPAs rule, selling 35 million barrels in the fthree quarters of 2023. While second place is occupied by the catch-all “seasonal beer” category (14 million barrels), third and fourth went to imperial/double/triple IPAs and hazy IPAs, roughly 10 million barrels apiece. Fifth is Witbier/Belgian wheat/white ales, with just over 10 million barrels — but sales of this style fell nearly 1 million barrels since last year.

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Sale Compete

Heineken has finally sold off its Russian business for €1 - $1.07 - nearly a year and a half after first pledging to do so. The Dutch brewer said it will take a loss of €300m on the division, which is being offloaded to Russia's Arnest, which makes aerosol cans. Heineken's Dolf van den Brink said: "It took much longer than we had hoped." The chief executive and chairman added: "[But] this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner." For €1, Arnest will buy seven breweries and take on 1,800 workers with guarantees to employ them for the next three years. The manufacture of the Amstel beer brand will be phased out over six months, joining Heineken lager which the company said w as removed in 2022.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin seized Russian assets owned by Carlsberg and French yoghurt-maker Danone.

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Price Hikes In The UK

A pint of beer might cost more during peak hours at some pubs owned by Britain’s largest pub company, which has in recent weeks adopted surge pricing. About 800 of the 4,000 pubs owned by the company, Stonegate Group, are either using “dynamic pricing,” in which prices rise at times of increased demand, or may use it in the future to help cope with higher costs for staffing and licensing requirements, Maureen Heffernan, a spokesperson for Stonegate, said, the average price for a pint of draft lager was 4.31 pounds (about $5.37), up from 4 pounds a year earlier, according to Britain’s Office for National Statistics.

Customers have become accustomed to surge pricing across various industries, including retail and travel. But some Britons said applying it to pubs went too far. Tom Stainer, the chief executive of Campaign for Real Ale, which represents pubgoers in Britain, called the new pricing policy an “unhappy hour surge” and said it would not help bring consumers back to pubs.

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Alcohol Limits Change?

President Biden’s alcohol czar, Dr. George Koob just said that the USDA could revise its alcohol recommendations to match Canada’s guidelines which urge residents to limit their alcohol consumption to two drinks per week. Since the 1990s, the US has recommended women limit themselves to one drink per day and men to two drinks per day. However, this guidance is up for review in 2024.

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#1 Again!

Countries that drink the most beer per capita in 2023 according to just released data. The Czech Republic led the world for the past few years and show no slowing down. They are favored again for 2024.-Beer is more than just a drink in the Czech Republic, it is a part of their history, culture, and national identity. Beer is literally cheaper than water in the Central European country and a half liter of the beverage costs just over $1 in most places.

5. Germany - 92.4L; 4. Romania - 95.2L; 3. Poland - 96.1L; 2. Austria - 96.8L; 1. Czech Republic - 181.9L

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QUICK HITS

The average case price for beer in grocery stores has increased +16.7% since 2020, with consumers now paying more than $4 more in 2023 than they were pre-pandemic, according to this monthl's industry update release.
Dutch brewer Heineken announced disappointing earnings and cut its financial outlook posting a 9% drop in net profit in the three quarters due to a downturn in what is normally its most profitable region, Asia Pacific. Demand in Asia Pacific in the first nine months of 2023 was worse than expected, with a 13% drop in the volume of beer sold.
California has leveled the playing field between large and small breweries. Small breweries will now be able to produce cider and perry under the same roof. thanks to a bill just signed by the Governor.
The world’s top 50 most valuable beer brands listed in a new report- Number one is Heineken. It is the world’s most valuable beer brand, valued at US$7.6 billion. Heineken achieved a price premium in 2023 adding to profits..
Miller Lite and Coors Light beers has just reported its single best quarter of revenue since its 2005 merger. The combined US sales of its two flagship beers outsold Bud Light by 50% in the third quarter and were 30% higher than Modelo Especial
According to Untappd, the highest-rated porter in America released in 2023 is Phase Three’s BA Pressed with coffee and coconut.
Kevin Hart's tequila brand Gran Coramino reached a sponsorship deal with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.

Celebrity liquor brands and sports teams/stadiums are trying to get fans to switch to liquor which has a higher profit margin than beer.

A new report found that about 80% of beer sales take place at retailers or other locations where consumers take the product home; while 20% of sales occur at bars and restaurants where customers drink the product on site,

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flash news - september 2023

FLASH NEWS

Blockbuster Deal

Tilray Brands is acquiring eight craft brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev in a blockbuster all cash deal announced today. Tilray – the Canadian cannabis firm that is quickly shedding that standalone image – will acquire the following brands once the deal closes later this year:

· Shock Top;

· Breckenridge Brewery (Littleton, Colorado);

· Blue Point Brewing Company (Patchogue, New York);

· 10 Barrel Brewing Company (Bend, Oregon);

· Redhook Brewery (Seattle, Washington);

· Widmer Brothers Brewing (Portland, Oregon);

· Square Mile Cider Company (Portland, Oregon);

· HiBall Energy (which A-B discontinued in May).

The transaction will encompass “current employees, breweries and brewpubs associated with these brands,” Tilray said in a press release. Those companies will join an existing craft beer portfolio that includes SweetWater Brewing, Montauk Brewing, Green Flash, Alpine Beer Co. and the newly created Good Supply lager brand, as well as Breckenridge Distillery. Post-acquisition, the sales volume of Tilray’s craft portfolio is expected to make it the fifth largest craft brewery in the U.S., with 5% share of the market, the company said. Pro forma revenue for Tilray’s craft beer portfolio is projected to top $250 million. The deal is expected to “triple” the size of Tilray’s beer business, from 4 million cases to 12 million cases annually, Ty Gilmore, president of U.S. Beer at Tilray Brands, said in the release.

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2023 Bourbon County Stout Lineup

Goose Island has just announced this year’s lineup of the Bourbon County Brand Stout beers they’d be releasing on Black Friday this year. Barring any late-breaking selections, just six options will be on hand when November rolls around. 2023 sees the release of the Bourbon County Stout Original (of course) as well as just two barrel variants: the Eagle Rare 2-Year Reserve and Angel’s Envy 2-Year Port Cask Finish. We’re also getting three adjuncts: Bananas Foster, Backyard Stout, and Proprietors. The Proprietor’s includes raisins, cassia bark, brown sugar, toasted rice, and natural flavors for what they’re describing as a Rice Pudding Prop.

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New Gallop Poll

A new Gallup poll shows more people believe alcohol is bad for your health, with 39% of Americans saying one to two drinks is unhealthy. That's an 11% increase from 2018 and a record-high number. The survey also showed the younger you are, the more likely you are to believe booze is bad. However the poll also showed that more Americans than ever are hitting the hard stuff, drinking booze such as bourbon and vodka as opposed to wine and beer, The number of drinkers preferring hard liquor — 31% — is the highest figure ever recorded in Gallup’s tracking of booze preferences of US adults since asking the question in 1993, besting for the first time the 29% of Americans who drink wine. Beer still remains the most popular alcoholic beverage, with 37% of drinkers saying they consume suds most often — but hard liquor is helping to close the gap.

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NFL Team Backlash

The Washington Commanders are facing pushback from some fans after announcing they renewed their partnership with Anheuser-Busch, making Bud Light the official beer partner of the team. Anheuser-Busch had terminated its partnership with the Commanders in 2022, but is now back with the team following a change in ownership as Josh Harris took control last month. Why the team and Anheuser-Busch partnered up once again following the split was unclear. The brand and company faced backlash from many people who called for boycotts of the once-popular beer. Bud Light has seen a decline in sales over the past few months. “Woke team goes with woke beer, makes sense,” one user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote in response to a post promoting the partnership. “This has got to be the worst marketing move ever! Here, I thought this new ownership was going to do things differently. Nope, right back to the same backward thinking!” another commenter wrote.

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Molson Coors Score

Molso Coors has emerged as a new winner amid an ongoing brewing industry shake-up with its best sales numbers since the two companies merged in 2005. Fresh off those rising sales numbers the company announced that it will diversify its offerings by acquiring whisky maker Blue Run Spirits. This latest move is in line with Molson Coors’ desire to grow its offerings beyond beer. According to a release from the company, compared net sales revenue grew by 12.1% to $3.26 billion on a constant currency basis this year. The increase was attributed to an increased demand for premium light brands in the U.S., as well as strong performances by its flavor and above premium options.

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Cask Festival

If you’ll be in the Chicago on Nov. 3 or 4 you might want to go to The Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer. FoBAB is the world's largest and most prestigious barrel-aged beer festival and competition. Hosted annually by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild (ICBG), FoBAB invites breweries from all over the world to Chicago to showcase their rarest, most innovative wood and barrel-aged brews. All beer, cider, mead, and perry featured at FoBAB has been aged in a wooden barrel or come into contact with wood during the aging process. Breweries also compete for top honors in the National Barrel-Aged Beer Competition.

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More Rupee

Rupee Beer is on a mission to bring Indian inspired beer to the world and announces its further expansion of the south region with the addition of South Carolina. Rupee Beer, named Best Beer for World Food is specially brewed to pair with Indian & spicy flavors by world renowned master beer brewer and Indian chef. It is the first Indian-inspired beer to bridge the gap between world cuisine and craft brewing, with placement now for the first time at select TraderJoe’s, Whole Foods, Costco & Total Wine locations. Rupee is growing with its multi award-winning Basmati Rice Lager at 4.75% ABV, and Mango Wheat Ale at 4% ABV. Both skus are currently available across 18+ states.

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Recycled Beer

You wouldn’t know if you tasted it, but Epic OneWater Brew is a beer with a peculiar ingredient: it’s made with water recycled from the showers, sinks and washing machines of a residential building. The beer is safe to drink, thanks to a series of treatments that include microfiltration and ultraviolet light, and it is meant to bring attention to the issue of water scarcity and reuse. “Buildings globally use 14% of all potable water,” says Aaron Tartakovsky, CEO and co-founder of Epic Cleantec, the San Francisco-based water treatment company that just made the beer in collaboration with a local brewery. “Almost no buildings reuse that water — that’s what we’re trying to change.” The beer is a Kölsch-style ale — a crisp, light-bodied drink originating from Germany — and was made with recycled graywater from Fifteen Fifty, a 40-story luxury apartment building in San Francisco. But it’s not for sale, as regulations prohibit the use of recycled wastewater in commercial beverages. At least for now.

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QUICK HITS

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery – in Baltimore – has donated $50,000 to the Brewers Association of Maryland (BAM). Open Gate has also agreed to host the inaugural Guinness OGB Beer Festival, organized by BAM. The festival will take place August 3, 2024 – the same day as Open Gate’s sixth anniversary.
With more beer drinkers worldwide reaching for non-alcohol options, Molson Coors Beverage Company is set to introduce Staropramen 0.0 across the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and parts of Central and Eastern Europe.
Sol, the Mexican beer brand that claims the country’s No. 1 chelada, is set to debut a new chelada variety pack this month that includes Sol Chelada, Limon y Sal and Mango y Chamoy variants, as well as its namesake lager. It seeks to capitalize on the popularity of cheladas with growth this year up 19% year to date
Molson Coors will launch Peace Hard Tea™, a new product with The Coca-Cola Co.. Peace Hard Tea is inspired by Peace Tea®, The Coca-Cola owned fruit iced tea beverage that’s proved popular among legal-age Gen Z consumers, particularly in the Southeast United States.
Peace Hard Tea, a non-carbonated, 5% alcohol-by-volume beverage, is slated to hit shelves around Labor Day in the Southeast. It will be sold in convenience stores in 24-ounce single cans in three flavors: More Peace More Lemon (lemon tea), Freedom of Peach (peach tea), and Really Really Razzy (raspberry tea).
Men accounted for 65% of the total oz. alcohol beverages poured and spent an average of $14.72 per bar visit so far this year. They preferred (in order): IPA, lager, cider, wheat beer, sour, stout, pilsner, blonde, pale ale and fruit beer.
Women poured more than 10.84 million oz. of alcoholic beveragest and spent an average of $12.24 per bar visit this year. They preferred (in order): cider, IPA, lager, sour, wheat beer, hard seltzer, white wine, blonde, fruit beer and stout.
More than 55 million oz. of beer, wine, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails and more were served from iPourIt self-serve walls in the past 12 months, according to the beverage technology company’s “Annual Pour Report.”
University of Southern California (USC) Athletics has proudly introduced its inaugural official craft beer, Stone Fight On! Pale Ale.

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flash news - august 2023

FLASH NEWS

Insect Beer

La Grilla beer is being tested out in small batches in Querétaro, Mexico by a local craft brewery and a company that makes gluten-free and bread products using insects.The creators wanted to prove that insects can become part of our diet even in drinks while maintaining taste. They found that pulverized crickets when lightly toasted have a very similar taste to barley and rye, and began substituting them in the production of a malt/porter beer.

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Yeast Gene Discovered

A yeast gene that assists in amplifying beer’s haze has been discovered by the research and development team at Omega Yeast Labs. The gene, named HZY1, was identified by a team led by Dr. Laura Burns. With the current heightened craze for hazy IPAs in the US and UK, could potentially offer the brewing sector an additional tool for flavor experimentation. Dr. Burns pointed out that “hazy beers usually have a different grain bill to bright beers [using more oats or wheat] and this is the main cause of haziness” and noted that “it’s proteins in suspension. Yeast does contribute, but it’s mainly grains” querying: “So is this for brewers who want hazy without the addition of other grains.

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Anchor Brewing Closes

San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Company, one of the oldest craft breweries in America, is closing down after 127 years. The brewery, which produced Anchor Steam beer and Liberty Ale – which it claims is one of the first versions of the now infamous America pale ale style – was originally founded in 1896, and claims to be the first craft brewery in the entire country. In 2017, it was sold for $US85m to Japanese brewing giant Sapporo. Last year there was concern when Sapporo bought fellow Californian craft brand, Stone Brewing, in a US$165m deal. Brewing operations have already ceased, but packaging and distribution will continue until the August 1 while the firm goes through liquidation.

The company also acknowledged while it had been unsuccessful in the past year in finding a buyer, it could be picked up during the liquidation process. Some employees have explored forming a group to by the brewery.

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Best Liked Beers

Guinness, Corona and Heineken were named the three “most-liked” beers of 2023. YouGov survey results saw Guinness, Corona and Heineken win approval from 58%, 53% and 51% of Americans respectively, but reports inoted how Bud Light had dropped off the top ten list entirely with the data showing it placing at number 15. For the survey, YouGov is said to have polled a nationally representative sample of 1,468 Americans Guinness brand became named as the most popular pint in Britain after Diageo revealed in its first-half fiscal results that showed how the Irish stout had overtaken popular value lager brand Carling for the first time.

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Dramatic Decline In Beer Sales

Delhi saw a sharp 52% year-on-year drop in beer sales last month, which the state’s excise department is chalking up to exceedingly hot weather. But last month’s sales dip is part of an ongoing decline for beer in India’s capital territory. However, beer sales have experienced a significant decline throughout the first five months of this year, suggesting the summer heat is not solely to blame, Idustry sources cited multiple reasons for the decline, including less variety and brand push, a lack of availability of chilled products in shops, less stock in stores and companies diverting products to states with higher margins.

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QUICK HITS

A food coloring leak from a Japanese brewery left a flowing river blood red in color. The river in Nago City, Japan's Okinawa, turning into a deep crimson color, alarmed locals and visitors. The leak reportedly started in one of the cooling systems of the brewery.
Jason Kelce loves to mark special occasions — the NFL Draft, World Series games and Super Bowl parades, among many more — by chugging beers. Now, the Eagles’ All-Pro center and bearded Everyman is back downing cold ones for a good cause.
Kelce recently hosted his third annual charity bartending fundraiser in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, where the Philadelphia icon served as a guest bartender. Prior to Kelce tending bar, he tentered a beer chugging contest and finished a pint in 5.7 seconds) which he claimed was an NFL record.
Shelby Houlihan is the first woman to break the 6-minute barrier in the beer mile as part of the 2023 Beer Mile World Classic — Legends & Elites Race. Jim Finlayson of Canada set a new 50+ beer mile world record in 5:44.
Scientists have just competed studies that show slugs ca garden pests, fall for the beer trap. This simple yet innovative technique showed that slugs are drawn to the yeast that beer contains, so by strategically placing shallow containers filled with the beverage around your garden, they become traps that divert the slugs.
British consumers are staying home and drinking more beer, according to fresh analysis of the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics That has led to the closing of many pubs throughout the U.K.
Modelo Especial held its title as the top-selling beer on a dollar basis in the U.S. for the third month in a row in July. The drink outpaced all rivals, including Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light, which has been the top-selling beer in terms of sales dollars and volume since 2001.
The most recent data shows that Modelo Especial saw an 11.4% increase in dollar sales and a 5.7% increase in volume in the week ending July 29. Over that same time, Bud Light saw a 28.5% decline in sales dollars and a 32% dip in volume.
Sales of Michelob Ultra fell by 4.3 percent in the week that ended July 31 compared with last year, and Busch Light was down 8.5 percent, the New York Post reported. Both brands are, like Bud Light, owned by the Anheuser-Busch brewing company.
Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, the revolutionary philanthropic program aimed at providing mentorship and access to capital to food and beverage entrepreneurs nationwide,announces the winner of its 12th Brewing & Business Experienceship. Chicago's Funkytown Brewery is welcomed to the coveted class of emerging craft brewers to receive support and unique experiences on behalf of Samuel Adams.

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flash news - july 2023

FLASH NEWS

New Warnings

New health warnings by Ireland set to be the world’s strictest on beer, wine and spirits have sparked alarm from alcohol-producing countries that argue the labels would impose an obstacle to trade. The U.S. and Mexico have raised concerns over the legislation. Argentina, Australia, Chile, Cuba and New Zealand have also expressed reservations about the law, which Ireland just passed. While the European Commission gave Ireland the green light, at least nine wine- and beer-producing member countries opposed the measure. The labels, which go into effect in 2026, will highlight the risk of liver disease, cancer and the risk of drinking while pregnant in big red letters on every container of alcoholic beverages. The level of unease among alcohol producers reflects concerns that they could be targeted like the cigarette industry was with graphic pictures of diseases. Nine countries including France, Italy and Spain had sent the European Commission a letter asking that the European Commission check the legality of Ireland’s law.. The law also requires a crossed-out image of a pregnant woman drinking as well as information on how many calories and how much alcohol the beverage contains.

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DeClaw Acquired

Baltimore-based DuClaw Brewing has been acquired by New Jersey brewery River Horse, the company said. River Horse, based in Ewing, will expand its brewery's capacity to accommodate DuClaw's national distribution, The mid-sized brewery was founded 25 years ago, and has since expanded to taps in 21 states and across the globe, the company says. It's just the latest news to rock Maryland's beer scene, with Flying Dog's acquisition last month by a New York Brewery, and the beloved Guinness Open Gate Brewery announcing the closure of its manufacturing facility in Baltimore County.

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Beer Shipping Law

Representatives Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) introduced the USPS Shipping Equity Act (HR 3721). The bill has been introduced nearly every Congress for the last 10 years. This legislation would end the Prohibition-era ban that prevents the United States Postal Service (USPS) from shipping alcoholic beverages to consumers, and would let it ship directly from licensed producers and retailers to consumers over the age of 21, in accordance with state and local laws at the delivery location. This bill is critical in leveling the competitive playing field, increasing consumer and manufacturer choice, and generating millions of dollars in revenue per year for the financially strapped postal service.

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Sales Report

In the last 52 weeks (through July1), beer increased dollar sales +3.8% in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels Comparatively, spirits increased dollar sales +2.4% and wine declined -1.7%. A similar story is playing out in the on-premise. In the same period beer dollar sales increased +13.6%, while spirits dollar sales increased +10.8%.

Beer’s dollar sales gains in both the off- and on-premise could be due to price increases. However, what should be “comforting” for beer industry members is that the category is starting to outpace spirits in volume gains in the on-premise, increasing volume +0.9% in the last 3 months while spirits volume declined -1.7%.

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Bud Light Now #2

Bud Light has lost its spot as the No.-1 selling U.S. beer. It only represented 7.3% of U.S. retail-store beer sales in the four weeks ending June 30 compared to 8.4% for Mexican lager Modelo Especial. The shift comes as Bud Light continues to face a consumer boycott fueled by rage over the company's marketing partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Modelo’s performance has been on the rise for years under Constellation Brands, which in 2013 acquired the brand in the U.S. market from Anheuser-Busch's parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev. AB InBev continues to own the brand in markets outside of the U.S.

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Stand With Beer

The Beer Institute, the oldest national trade organization representing the beer industry, launched StandWithBeer.org, an educational platform to showcase the economic and social impact of the $409 billion American brewing industry, including its initiatives to promote moderate consumption and nutritional transparency. The platform also sheds light on how large liquor companies inflate their bottom line by exploiting loopholes in our tax code.

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QUICK HITS

Diageo is set to make pints of alcohol-free Guinness 0.0 available on draught in pubs across Ireland this summer. It has only been sold in cans in Irish bars up until this point. Diageo has its teams working to install separate pipes for the 00 brand into venues that want to stock it.

The combination of two of New Jersey’s largest craft breweries is off. The transaction announced in April that would combine Cape May Brewing, the Garden State’s largest craft brewery, and Flying Fish, one of the oldest, is now offically off. No reasons were given and they did not repsond to BeerNexus inquiries.

Cape May Spirits Co., sister company to Cape May Brewing (New Jersey’s largest brewery), is entering into the spirits industry with a new line of canned cocktails: Beach Blends is a RTD premium vodka brand in 2 flavors.

Ireland does not actually have the top spot when it comes to the countries that drink the most Guinness. In fact, the UK is the undisputed king of Guinness drinking with one out of every 10 pints sold in London being a Guinness. The UK is followed by Ireland, Nigeria, the US and Cameroon.

New Zealand’s oldest man has revealed that the secret to his long life is to regularly enjoying “popcorn and a beer”. The World War II veteran, named Jack Coe, was born on the 11 June 1916.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. CEO Jeff White has announced his retirement from the Chico, California-headquartered craft brewery. Brewery founder Ken Grossman will step in as interim CEO as a search for a new CEO begins.

An extensive survey of beer distributors found that 62% believe that the boycott of Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light brand may be permanent. AB representatives had no comment.

Modelo Especial has increased sales by $333 million since 2022. In comparison, $297 million worth of Bud Light was sold for the same period. The report also said that younger generations "are now more inclined to seek out imports, even if the price point is higher, Dollar sales of Bud Light at U.S. outlets had dropped by more than 24 % this year.

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flash news - june 2023

FLASH NEWS

Trappist Brewery About To Close?

Stift Engelszell, an Austrian Trappist brewery located in northern Austria, could be the next Trappist brewery to close its doors. Four monks and 10 staff members who remain at the abbey have indicated a desire to leave as they say the operation has become unsustainable, The abbey, founded in 1925, said hat it can no longer maintain the Trappist standards for its brewery. To be considered an official Trappist product, the beer must be created entirely by monks at the abbey, according to the International Trappist Association. The abbey’s brewing operations began in 2012 when Austria-local brewer Peter Krammer partnered with the abbey to launch brewing operations. The brewery currently offers five Trappist-certified beers: Gregorius, Nivard, Benno, Weisse Hell, and Zwickl. Beyond Engelszell, there are currently just nine other functioning Trappist breweries in the world. The U.S.’s only Trappist brewery — located in Massachusetts — closed last year, and other breweries voiced concern over more possible closures due to shrinking abbey populations. Five Trappist breweries are located in Belgium, the Netherlands, England, and Italy.

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FX Matt Buys Flying Dog

F.X. Matt Brewing Co. the 135-year-old family-owned brewery has acquired Flying Dog Brewing of Frederick, Maryland. Flying Dog will move all production to its Utica, NY F.X. Matt facility. where they have been contract brewing many of Flying Dog’s beers over the last 10 years. Flying Dog, was founded in 1990 in Colorado. and is known for its controversial labels and free speech battles. The brewer won a six-year lawsuit against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission after it denied Flying Dog’s “Raging Bitch” beer label on decency grounds. The decision had significant implications as it limited the government’s authority to regulate profanity and indecent graphics on alcohol beverage labeling and packaging. Matt as the No. 14 biggest craft brewer and Flying Dog is No. 34.

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Miller Lite Goes Woke

Miller Lite faced fresh criticism after a "woke" advertisement resurfaced in the wake of the Bud Light controversy.

The Miller Lite advertisement included a litany of bleeped-out curse words and a strong condemnation of old beer advertisements that leaned on bikini-clad women as a selling point in addition to chastising beer drinkers who support such ads. Miller might be the target of the same reaction Bud Light got for it's transgender spokesperson and for dispraising their core of male drinkers.

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Bud Revese Backlash

The nation's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group is taking action against Anheuser-Busch over its handling of the conservative backlash to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, accusing the multinational beer company of caving to political pressure. The "Human Rights Campaign" informed the Bud Light maker that it has suspended its Corporate Equality Index score – a tool that scores companies on their policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

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Harley Davidson Beer

Budweiser and Harley-Davidson are coming together for the first time in their histories to provide fans with a limited-edition can. This launches coincides with Harley-Davidson’s 120th anniversary. The cans feature both Budweiser and Harley-Davidson logos. Inspired by the hand-drawn blueprints from the origin of each brand, the cans include the words “Kings of our Craft” to honor the quality and leadership that both Budweiser and Harley-Davidson bring to their respective industries, the companies say. The phrase “Brewed and built in the USA” also runs across the bottom and celebrates Budweiser and Harley-Davidson’s heritage as American-made. The cans will be available wherever Budweiser is sold, while supplies last.

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Two New Dale's

With the brewery’s legacy dating back to 1997, Oskar Blues Brewery honors its founder, Dale Katechis,with two new beers named after him. Through the years, Oskar Blues is synonymous with Dale’s Pale Ale, the first canned craft beer. Now they are rleasing these new year-round beers – Dale’s American Light Lager and Dale’s American Double IPA. Along with the debut of these two new beers, all three Dale’s have received a brand refresh. All three beers are now packaged in a bold red, white & blue label that gives the beers a bit more prominence on the store shelf.

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Fireston-Walker - 10,000 Beers!

Back in 1996, the first beer ever brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing was Double Barrel Ale, or more commonly known today as DBA. At this time, the brewery was located in an out building on the Firestone family vineyard. Then in 2001, the brewery moved 90 miles north to Paso Robles. Now 22 years since this move, they have just brewed the 10,000th batch of beer. To celebrate this occasion, the brewery made a special batch of imperial DBA and then aged in former bourbon barrels to create Double DBA Batch 10,000.

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QUICK HITS

Despite having 60 craft taps the Rec Room in Charleston, SC sells more Pabst Blue Ribbon PBR cans (for only $2.50), than any other bar in the USA! They average between 110 - 120 cases a week.

Danish brewer Carlsberg, after 11 years in the courts, has only now reached a settlement with German authorities and agreed to pay a 50 million-euro ($55 million) fine over the alleged formation of a cartel.The case was concluded at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

Heineken NV, the world's second-largest brewer, said it will invest 1.5 billion reais ($300.8 million) in Brazil as part of an expansion plan for Amstel, Devassa and Heineken brands. Brazilian beer drinkers are among the world's biggest consumers of Heineken,

Nearly a quarter of consumers (22%) in a new survey by e-commerce alcohol delivery platform Drizly, plan to reach for ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs) the most this summer, a -17% decline versus 2022,

Bravus, America’s first brewery dedicated solely to producing premium non-alcoholic craft beer, has announced its continued national retailer expansion, launching at Whole Foods Market, Wegmans, and Publix, while increasing its footprint at Target.

Athletic Brewing Co. will be available on JetBlue flights by July.

Founders has announced it was closing its Detroit taproom as an employee filed a lawsuit alleging race-based workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. The company claims the timing is just an unfortunate coincidence.

Boston Beer struggling - Depletions for the first quarter decreased 6% from the prior year, reflecting decreases in the Company's Truly Hard Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Samuel Adams, and Dogfish Head brands, partially offset by increases in its Twisted Tea and Hard Mountain Dew brands.

Cheers to Pittsburgh for being named the "No. 1 Beer City in America," according to a new study. which analyzed various data including the number of bars, breweries and how affordable beer is. In Pittsburg a beer costs an average of $4.40 compared to New York City, where the average daily beer costs $6.21 — the most expensive.

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flash news - may 2023

FLASH NEWS

Tesla Beer

Few brands are big enough to sell three beers for nearly $100. Elon Musk’s Tesla may be one. The electric car company has launched a limited edition “GigaBier,” a pilsner-style brew made in Germany. Presented in a glossy black sleeve, the bottle is designed to emulate Tesla’s Cybertruck. The beer — brewed in Berlin, where Tesla runs one of its gigafactories — ships to 17 countries in Europe, including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland and Norway. A pack of three costs €89 ($97).

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Yeast That Tastes Like Hops

Synthetic biology has created microbes that produce drugs, flavors, aromas and fuels. Research scientists have just used the same tricks, with the help of CRISPR-Cas9, to get yeast to produce the flavor of hops. They added genes from mint and basil and used the yeast to brew a beer that tasters said had notes of 'fruit-loops' and 'orange blossom,' with no off flavors. The yeast will help brewers avoid expensive, highly variable and water-guzzling hops.

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Conservative Beer Scores

Conservative Dad's Ultra Right Beer, which launched immediately in mid-April after Americans began boycotting Bud Light for its controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, is expected to smash all sales projections. After only being in business 12 days, Ultra Right will surpass $1 million in sales by May1, gaining over 10,000 customers and selling 20,000 six-packs since their launch. The price for a six-pack stands at $19.99, but the company is looking to lower costs as soon.The conservative beer, brewing with Big Kettle Brewing in Gwinnett County, Georgia, also generated $70,000 in shirt sales since its launch.

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Probiotic Beer

When it comes to foods that are a good source of probiotics, we often think of things like yogurt and dark chocolate. Beer, though? Not so much, as the hop acids in most beers tend to kill off probiotic bacteria. That isn't the case with a new beer, however,just created by Food Science and Technology professor Chan Mei Zhi Alcine, at the National University of Singapore. The specialty beer incorporates the probiotic strain Lactobacillus paracasei L26. The "good bacteria" was initially isolated from the human intestine, and is able to neutralize toxins and viruses, along with regulating the immune system. Like other probiotics, it's also good for the digestive system.

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Frozen Foam Chills Beer

Japanese beer maker Kirin has developed a method for cooling the beer directly and, more importantly, keeping it chilled for much longer. The company's new Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft stays at a low temperature thanks to a specially-developed machine that dispenses a topping of frozen beer foam like soft serve ice cream. To make the topping, regular Ichiban beer is frozen to -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) while air is continuously blown into it. Once the topping is placed onto regular, unfrozen beer though, it acts as an insulating lid and keeps the drink cold for 30 minutes. A side effect of this process (or bonus, depending on how you like your beer) is a creamier taste and texture for the beverage overall. Best of all though, it doesn't dilute the beer's flavor as it melts, the way ice would. Kirin's Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft will launch in May.

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Mexican Beer Sales Drop

Corona and Modelo maker Constellation Brands (STZ) reported a 15% year-over-year plunge in its beer segment's operating profits for the just-completed quarter. The culprit: across-the-board inflation. "Benefits from favorable pricing were more than offset by increased COGS [cost of goods sold] driven by higher packaging, raw materials, incremental depreciation, and logistics costs, and increased SG&A [selling, general and administrative] driven by increased headcount to align with the momentum of our beer brands," Constellation Brands said on its earnings release. Constellation isn't alone in feeling the inflationary sting on beer input costs. Budweiser giant AB-InBev (BUD) saw its operating profit margins fall to 24.6% in its most recent quarter from 25.7% last year

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QUICK HITS

A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer is deceptively labeled because it is fermented and lacks tequila.
Amid conservatives’ call to boycott the Bud Light brand for a marketing activation with social media influencer and transwoman Dylan Mulvaney Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light’s vice president of marketing, and Daniel Blake, group VP of marketing for mainstream brands at ABI, were both placed on a leave of absence from the company,
In the last month Bud Light’s off-premise volume sales declined at an even steeper rate (-21.1%). Both Coors Light and Miller Lite’s off-premise dollar sales increased +17.6%, Coors Light increased +10.6% and Miller Lite increased +11.5%.
Ready-to-drink canned cocktail (RTD) brand Sauza Agave Cocktails, the first joint venture from Boston Beer Company and Beam Suntory, has been discontinued due to poor sales.
Imports have been one of the few beer segments to consistently record off-premise growth over the past year, and a similar story is playing out in the on-premise, according to NIQ’s on-premise market research arm, CGA.
More than half of beer category volume growth in the on-premise in the past 52 weeks was attributed to imported beer growth (52%) versus growth from other beer segments (48%). Total beer, flavored-malt-beverage and cider volume increased +3.5% year-over-year in the period, while imported beer volume increased +9.5%.
Athletic Brewing, the country’s largest dedicated non-alcoholic craft brewery, will match the first $100,000 donated to the Michael Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling’s (MJF) second annual fundraising campaign. Founded by Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver, the MJF provides scholarship funds for Black brewing students.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer both at home (+6.1%) and away from home (+5.5%) outpaced overall inflation (+5%) in April 2023 compared to April 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics .
Heineken USA (HUSA) will halt shipments of all draft products to five states for the next year. Those states include Vermont, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

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flash news - april 2023

FLASH NEWS

A Refresh To Help Sales

The hard seltzer craze is letting up, and that's forcing a pivot. Boston Beer Company announced it is giving its 7-year-old Truly brand a "refresh" in order to keep up with changing consumer tastes. Truly packaging will say "now more refreshing" and "made with real fruit juice." Additionally the Truly Iced Tea packs are being discontinued.

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Boycott Called For

More than 10,000 people on Twitter asked for a boycott of Dutch beer company Heineken. Heineken had vowed to pull its business from Russia after the country invaded Ukraine. However a new investigative report from the Netherlands-based showed Heineken’s Russian arm "launched 61 new products 'in record time' and sold 720,000 hectoliters more beer and soft drinks." Heineken was quick to respond to the controversy - "We’re working hard to transfer our business to a viable buyer in very challenging circumstances.”

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Draught Relief

Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt offered some help to pubs recently by increasing "draught relief", making the rate of duty on draught beer and cider up to 11 pence lower than the charge on cans or bottles bought in a super- market from August. The measure will coincide with a rise in alcohol taxes in line with inflation, ending a freeze that has been in since 2020, and will result in no change in the duty paid on a typical pint poured from a tap in a pub, the government said. Other groups dispute that and say a big price rise is coming.

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Bud Big In China

Budweiser Brewing Co APAC .Asia's largest beer company by sales, said it will expand into more Chinese cities with its premium products as it sees a rebound in demand after the country lifted its COVID-19 curbs. Budweiser APAC, which has more than 50 brands, is pinning its hopes for growth in China on the premium segment, which accounts for 16%-17% of the overall beer market, a share the company expects will double.

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Prices Climb

Over the last three months the average price of a 24-pack of 12 oz. beer went up nearly 8%, per NielsenIQ data.

AB InBev's brands saw some of the highest price increases. Under its portfolio, the price of Bud Light went up 8.9% year-over-year followed by Budweiser, up 8.7%, Stella Artois up 8.2%, and Michelob UItra, up 6.7%.

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Historic Low In Canada

Canadians appear to be losing their taste for alcohol, according to findings in a new report that showed beer and wine sales at historic lows. Over the last year volume of beer sold per person in Canada slumpedby its largest margin since 1949. Stricter drinking guidelines and a new alcohol tax sent signals that it will get even lower. Meanwhile, ciders and wine coolers, also known as alcopops, have claimed the majority of that lost market share. Their total value in sales were up by 13.5%

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That's Really Old

Archaeologists have just uncover 5,000-year-old tavern and "beer recipe" on tablet in Iraq and the remains of a tavern. They hope will illuminate the lives of ordinary people in the world's first cities. The U.S.-Italian team made the find in the ruins of ancient Lagash, which was already known to have been one of the first urban centers of the Sumerian civilization of ancient Iraq. Beer was by far the most common drink, more than water, for the Sumerians

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Bill Gates has bought 3.76% stake in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV (HEIO.AS), although the billionaire founder of Microsoft has previously said he was "not a big beer drinker."

Jim Beam, in partnership with Boston Beer Co.. is debuting a new line of ready-to-drink cocktails called "Kentucky Coolers, aiming to "bring the power of Jim Beam's southern welcoming ethos to drinkers nationwide .

Despite sluggish sales, Boston Beer's executive officers will all receive raises in 2023 and most will receive a portion of their 2022 bonuses, CEO Dave Burwick’s base salary will increase +3% from 2022, to $860,503.

Firestone Walker’s iconic Parabola imperial stout is back with a new vintage that was aged in a rare blend of spirits barrels from Blanton’s and W.L Weller distilleries. This release is also accompanied by the small-batch “Paraboloid,” which was aged in 20-year-old Elijah Craig bourbon barrels. The 2023 Parabola is rolling to all FW markets in 12-ounce bottle and draft formats. Parabola maintains a perfect 100-point rating on Beer Advocate.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has given label approval for Voodoo Ranger Hardline Tea and Voodoo Ranger Hardcharged Tea, likely due to New Belgium still working out the brand’s name. The hard iced tea “with a shot of lemon flavor” is 7% ABV and will be packaged in 24 oz. cans

People talk a lot about local beer, but the latest statistics continue to show that for the most part beer is produced locally with ingredients that are sourced globally,

This summer Guinness will open its second U.S. taproom, in Chicago

Yuengling’s brief time in Texas has yielded mixed results, and its recent push into the Midwest faces stiff segment-wide headwinds…

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flash news - march 2023

FLASH NEWS

Sam Adams Changes Recipe

As part of its "relentless pursuit of better beer", the Boston Beer Company is remastering Samuel Adams Boston Lager – the flagship beer that helped lead the American craft beer revolution – to develop a smoother, brighter Boston Lager. When it was first launched, Samuel Adams Boston Lager was voted "Best Beer In America" four years running at the Great American Beer Festival and went on to help spark the craft beer revolution. So, why change a classic? The recipe hasn't totally changed. Boston Lager Remastered still uses Founder and Brewer Jim Koch's great-great grandfather's mid-19th century original recipe and is "evolving" the brewing process to reduce filtration by adding a traditional German practice of biological acidification, resulting in what they say is a brighter, easier-drinking beer

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New Old Cans

Natural Light’s new cans will soon look a lot like their old ones. Drinkers will soon notice a retro-inspired makeover that mirrors the budget beer brand’s 1979 design, featuring a throwback logo, crest and colors. It’s part of a broader campaign to mature the beer’s identity, which is synonymous with college-aged drinkers. When the retro design was tested in North Carolina and South Carolina, the response was “completely off the charts,” The beer had the “best rate of sale that we’ve seen in years,” said VP of Marketing Eric Stowe, "compared to its current silver, red and blue branding, which has been in use for more than a decade."

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0.0 Lawsuit

.To use the "non-alcoholic" label, a brew only has to be less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). But not all terminology is the same: For a drink to be labeled "alcohol-free," the alcohol level has to be literally 0.0 percent ABV.

As a result, the labeling for Heineken 0.0 — the Dutch brand's "alcohol-free" beer that launched in the U.S. in 2019 — would seem cut and dry. Beyond stating 0.0 percent ABV, the product is labeled with the phrase "alcohol free." But a new lawsuit suggests that the beer shouldn't be called "0.0" at all. A Louisiana woman is suing Heineken USA, saying that Heineken 0.0's label is misleading because it actually contains a tiny 0.03 percent alcohol. So much for rounding down. The plaintiff Kathleen M. Wilson argues that "Heineken 0.0 does contain alcohol in the amount of less than 0.03 percent alcohol." Heineken 0.0's own F.A.Q. age, the brand states that it "contains an extremely small amount of alcohol, maximum 0.03 percent ABV." The lawsuit continues, stating, "There are consumers who do not wish to ingest even the minuscule amount of alcohol contained in the product. Consumers should be given that option by being fully informed of the ingredients (i.e. alcohol content) in the product even if it contains less than .03 alcohol." The brand explains that 0.03 percent ABV is a "comparable or lower level of alcohol vs. other food products such as bread, bakery products and juices, bananas [sic] due to the natural fermentation of the ingredients (cereals, fruits)."

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Pullback

Short’s Brewing Co. pulled distribution from New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut last year and stopped selling much in Florida and New Jersey, even though it hasn’t formally pulled out. It ditched glass bottles in favor of cheaper labeled cans. It cut its line of hard seltzers and stopped brewing the Arcadia brands it revived in 2020.

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Undergraduate Brewers

Blue & Gold Brewing LLC, a student-run business venture launched as part of an undergraduate applied learning program in Marquette University’s College of Business Administration, has just unveiled ’77 Golden Ale to be released and sold on National Marquette Day, March. 4. This Marquette-affiliated craft beer is the product of a unique collaboration with Marquette alumni brewing leaders from Broken Bat Brewing Co., Gathering Place Brewing Company and Good City Brewing Co. Revenue from product sales will be split among the student-run venture and the participating breweries, with proceeds benefitting Marquette’s student-run ventures program.

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Beer Protest

Hindu and Buddhist leaders want a New York brewery to change the name of its Nirvana IPA, complaining that the moniker is disrespectful to their beliefs.“Upset Hindus and Buddhists are urging Cooperstown, NY based Ommegang to apologize and withdraw its ‘Nirvana’ beer,” according to a statement issued by Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism and Buddhist minister, Matthew Fisher. Owned by Duvel Moortgat of Belgium, Ommegang said in a statement, “The name “Nirvana IPA” is intended to celebrate the atmosphere in which we hope beer lovers will enjoy the beer, which is that of tranquility when the noise and cares of the world fall away.

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NA Beers Hydrate

Nonalcoholic beer seems useful for hydration. In a new study, 50 male athletes drank nonalcoholic beer 45 minutes before a draining workout, they wound up less dehydrated afterward than after drinking beer, and similar to drinking water, but with a better ratio of sodium to potassium. Drinking the nonalcoholic beer “could help maintain electrolyte homeostasis during exercise,” the researchers concluded.

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German Beer Recovers!

German beer sales rose in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions weighed on brewers in the previous two years, but the long-term trend remains downward and the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar didn’t get the taps flowing, according to official figures released Wednesday. The Federal Statistical Office has just released a report that said tGerman-based breweries and distributors sold about 8.8 billion liters (2.3 billion gallons) of beer last year, a 2.7% increase compared with 2021. Beer sales inside Germany — more than four-fifths of the total — were up 4% to 7.2 billion liters (1.9 billion gallons). That was still 5% lower than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. Exports were down overall. While German brewers shipped around 805 million liters (213 million gallons) of beer to other nations in the European Union, a 7.8% increase, exports to other countries dropped 12.4% to about 716 million liters (189 million gallons).

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Constellation Takes A Hit

Constellation Brands, the owner of the Corona and Modelo beer brands and various wine and spirits brands, such as Svedka Vodka, was among the first CPG companies to report earnings in the new year and it proved to be a controversial quarter. Shares declined 10% after it reported last week, which was the biggest one-day decline since March 2020. It appears that inflation cut into the company’s beer sales, which occupy a premium position relative to most other mass produced brands. Specifically, the company’s volume of cases sold to distributors increased 5.7%, which was a slowing from 8%-9% growth the previous four quarters. In addition, management expects its margins to remain below its targeted levels.

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All Day All The Time

Mahou USA-owned Founders Brewing will introduce the All Day Variety Pack next month. The pack includes flagship All Day IPA, All Day Haze, and two new offerings: All Day West Coast, a new seasonal rotator, and All Day Crimson Sky, which is exclusive to the pack. It will be available in 12-packs of 12 oz. cans. All Day West Coast, a 4.7% ABV West Coast-style session IPA, will launch in its own 12 oz. can 15-packs and 16 oz. can 4-packs in May. Craft variety packs increased both in dollar sales (+6.4%) and case volume (+2.5%) in the 52 weeks ending Feb.1 at off-premise multi outlet grocery and convenience stores. They accounted for 7.33% of craft off-premise dollars.

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Another Charity Beer

Rhinegeist Brewery will launch Beer for Humans, which the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company has dubbed an “easy hop ale,” next week. Beer for Humans (4.8% ABV) will become the flagship of Rhinegeist’s extensive philanthropic program, which donates beer to about 300 organizations annually, as well as offers volunteer hours, event partnerships and other forms of relief. The beer will be available on draft and in 12 oz. 6-packs and 15-packs, the latter being a packaging format first for Rhinegeist. Beer for Humans will roll out on February 27 to Rhinegeist’s footprint, which includes Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Houston, Texas.

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QUICK HITS

All Springdale beers are no more. The alel arm of Jack's Abby Craft Lagers announced this week that the Springdale project, began in 2016, has been discontinued, brewery co-founder Sam Hendler said.

Three Floyds Brewing will roll out Zombie Ice, a double pale ale that the Indiana-based craft brewery describes as “a bolder spin” on flagship Zombie Dust. Zombie Ice is 8.5% ABV with 55 IBUs and is made with “an unholy amount of Citra hops.” The beer is available in 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 19.2 oz. single-serve cans and on draft

Hop supply in the U.S. has outpaced hop usage for more than six years, a disparity that is “unsustainable” and will ultimately be corrected with reduced crop in the future, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson warned

Fast-growing non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing’s valuation is at just under $500 million, according to a new Forbes profile

Non-alcoholic (NA) adult beverages increased share of dollar sales on Drizly +56% in January 2023 versus January 2022, according to data from the alcohol e-commerce platform. The number of NA brands within Drizly’s catalog also increased from about 70 in 2021 to more than 125 in 2023

Beer prices this year have jumped 11% from a last March,. While wine and spirits are up 4% and 2%, respectively according to thea new report from the Brewers Association..

Keeping alcohol consumption to one or two drinks a day lessened the odds of developing dementia, according to a study of nearly 4 million South Koreans. However, drinking more than two drinks a day increased that risk, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
People who drank heavily — three or more drinks a day — were 8% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia, a just released study found. f heavy drinkers reduced their drinking over time to a moderate level, their risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s fell by 12%, and the risk of all-cause dementia

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flash news - february 2023

FLASH NEWS

Inflation Hitting Beer

Inflation may finally be hitting a staple long been considered recession-proof: beer. During the last 12 weeks of 2022 and first of 2023, beer prices at retail (not including bars and restaurants) rose a "much higher than normal" average of 7%, During that time period, there was also a decline in volume of beer sold. Domestic super-premium beers such as Michelob Ultra saw sales rise 0.8% throughout the year, but fell off 2.3% in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Similarly, sales of imported beers such as Corona and Heineken rose 4.2% in 2022, but dipped 0.5% in December. That suggests beer shoppers may have opted to buy less beer – a six-pack or 12-pack instead of something larger – or maybe bought a cheaper brand. For instance, lower-priced "below premium" beers such as Budweiser and Miller High, malt liquor and single-serve beers (16-ounce, 19.2-ounce and other tallboys) saw gains in December,

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Superstar's Recovery Beverage

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Dončić just had one of the best on-court performances in NBA history. But his post-game quote was just as good. Dončić, who led the Mavericks to an improbable comeback victory for an overtime win over the New York Knicks, finished the game with a career-high 60 points and a career-high 21 rebounds. He also added 10 assists, which gave him the first-ever 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history. Dončić was asked about his performance, and he seemed surprised by his own accomplishments. He then explained that he was "tired as hell" and that he needed a "recovery beer" following the win. The 23-year-old Slovenian-born superstar, is well known to enjoy a beer on occasion..

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Iconic Beer's New Recipe

Getting a facelift at 32 years old may sound odd, but that's exactly what New Belgium Brewing's flagship beer needs, according to the Fort Collins-born brewing giant. Fat Tire — a mainstay for the brewery since it was first concocted 32 years ago in the basement of New Belgium founders Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch — has officially been reimagined. Now known as Fat Tire Ale, it has a new recipe, new packaging and new title: America's first certified carbon neutral beer. The overhaul has been in the works for about a year, Fat Tire's revamped recipe has sought to keep the beer easy to drink, with a subtle caramel and floral aromas and a light bitterness, according to a news release from the brewery. By using most of the same malts and yeasts as the original recipe called for, Fat Tire Ale has similar attributes to its predecessor, Fat Tire remains New Belgium's historically bestselling brand — and was the nation's 16th-best-selling craft beer brand last year

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Thirty Year First

For the first time in over 30 years, Molson Coors Beverage Co. returns to the Super Bowl ad lineup after Anheuser-Busch decided not to renew its exclusive rights to the game. Molson Coors revealed that it would highlight two of its core brands in Miller Lite and Coors Light in the 30-second television spot during the big game. Molson Coors is a beer behemoth with more than 120 brands in its portfolio. But two of the best known, Coors Light and Miller Lite have been waging a friendly competition within their parent company’s walls for the chance to be featured in the 30-second ad. According to CNN, the going rate for a 30-second commercial during the last Super Bowl was $7 million. The winner of the Miller Lite vs. Coors Light battle won’t be revealed until the commercial airs on Feb. 12, when the Super Bowl comes to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Until then, drinkers will see the two brands making their cases on other platforms like social media and print ads.

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Openings Slowdown

in 2023 the smallest number of new breweries in over a decade will open, the Colorado-based trade group Brewers Association predicts. About 9,500 breweries operate in the U.S. now, the association says. Whether there are too many companies making craft beer is ultimately a question of locality, says Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association. Customers ultimately determine whether there’s too much beer in their town.

“There’s an old phrase in the wine industry that I feel like I’ve heard more in beer recently," he says. “How do you make a small fortune in beer? You start with a large fortune."

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Kirin Expanding

Kirin Holdings Japan's second-largest brewer by sales, has just announced it is looking to buy factory facilities in North America to maintain strong growth in the region's craft beer market, its chief executive said. Kirin has seen sales volumes in the North American craft beer market climb by double-digit percentage figures since completing its acquisition of Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing in 2020 and Bell's Brewery in Michigan in 2021. Kirin had craft beer sales of about 60 billion yen ($454 million) in 2022, accounting for 3% of global sales.

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Malthouse Take Over

Malteries Soufflet, a branch of French agribusiness group InVivo, said it had signed an agreement to take over Belgian malthouse Castle Malting, one of the oldest producers of the beer ingredient in the world.

When InVivo announced the takeover of its peer Soufflet early 2022, it said it aimed to become the world's largest malt maker within five years by doubling the size of its malt business through external growth.

Castle Malting, called "La Malterie du Château" in French, is located near the castle of Beloeil in southern Belgium. Established in 1868, it is the oldest malting plant in the country and one of the oldest in the world.

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One Of Top Ten Festivals in World Ended

The annual Oregon Brewers Festival, long considered one of the nation’s premier beer events of the year, has been canceled. After thoughtful and thorough consideration, the Oregon Brewers Festival team has decided to cancel the July 2023 event. In an official release the festival organizers said: "We’re disappointed to share this news, but we know that it’s the right thing to do. After three decades of producing OBF, we’ve developed a solid understanding of what it takes to give our attendees a great festival. And it’s clear when those factors aren’t coming together for a successful event. Higher costs, lower attendance, and extreme weather are just a few of the challenges that we’ve been discussing—but that’s far from an exhaustive list. We’ve enjoyed some incredible high points, meeting travelers from all over the world, welcoming 80,000 attendees one summer that contributed over $25 million to the local Portland economy. It was named one of the world’s top 10 beer festivals, right alongside the Munich Oktoberfest:

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QUICK HITS

The number of brewer’s notices issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) increased by 732 in 2022, the smallest increase in the last decade.

Off-premise beverage alcohol dollar sales spiked during Christmas week, when they reached a record-high $1.74 billion. On-premise establishments across the U.S. posted double-digit increases during the Christmas and New Year holidays, according to CGA, NielsenIQ..

Yuengling has just announced a partnership with Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB)—a nonprofit organization that inspires and equips Texans to keep our communities clean and beautiful. As part of the partnership, Yuengling is donating $1 per Yuengling Traditional Lager case sold in Texas, up to $50,000, to KTB.

Lawson’s Finest Liquids 2023 distribution calendar features debut of several brand-new beers including an all-new year round IPA this spring. Also recipe development is underway on three all-new specialty beers for release later this year: a fruited Gose, a higher-ABV IPA and a nitro stout offering.

California’s Southwestern College’s Fermentation Science Program have collaborated with NOVO Brazil Brewing to create Tzunúm, an Australian Pale Ale. Tzunúm marks the first time students of the program have brewed outside of the classroom and in a professional brewery.

Brewhound.com named Georgetown Brewing of Washington as the Large Brewer of the Year and Métier Brewing as a Rising Star. Georgetown is the 25th largest Brewers Association-defined craft brewery by volume.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Coors Brewery’s founding in 1873.

Starting Feb. 1, 2023, the Brewers Association will increase membership dues for brewery members. It’s the first dues increase in 18 years.

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flash news - january 2023

FLASH NEWS

Special Award

The inaugural 2022 U.S. Open Director’s Award for humanitarian efforts within the brewing community has just been awarded to Lana Suitankova and Yuri Zastavny for raising thousands of dollars for Ukrainian relief. Suitankova was the first Ukrainian cicerone and international beer judge. She and the publishers of Ferment Magazine created “Drinkers for Ukraine” to fund Ukrainian relief. Zastavny owns the Pravda Beer Theatre, a brewery located in Lviv, Ukraine. After Russia invaded, Yuri switched his bottling line from bottling beer to bottling Molotov Cocktails. Yuri also started the fundraiser “Brew for Ukraine,” where he released his beer recipes to the World’s Brewers to fund Ukrainian relief. To support Lana and Yuri’s efforts, the U.S. Open Beer Championship created two new categories in the 2022 competition, Ukrainian Golden Ale and Resist Ukrainian Anti Imperial Stout. All entry fees were matched by the U.S. Open and donated to help Ukraine relief.

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What Is Beer?

A Manhattan federal judge has rejected a request from Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA's Grupo Modelo to hold Constellation Brands Inc liable for allegedly selling Corona-branded hard seltzer without its permission. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Modelo is not entitled to an immediate pre-trial win in its trademark case against Constellation, the U.S. distributor of its Corona beer. Kaplan also denied Constellation's bid to end the case early last month. The decision sets up a jury trial that could turn on how the companies defined the word "beer" in a trademark licensing agreement. Constellation said the agreement's definition of "beer" also covers hard seltzer, while Modelo said no reasonable jury could find that it encompasses hard seltzer. The trial should take place by February, 2023

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Carlsburg Buys Brewery

Danish brewer Carlsberg said it has just agreed to buy Canadian Waterloo Brewing for a total equity value of around 144 million Canadian dollars ($106 million) in cash. The deal is part of Carlsberg's strategy towards 2027 to grow in categories beyond its core beer market, adding products like cider, seltzers and premium brand beers. The deal, still subject to approval by Waterloo's security holders, is to close in the first half of 2023. Boards of both companies have approved the transaction and Waterloo's board recommends shareholders to vote in favor.Waterloo shareholders will receive 4 Canadian dollars (CAD) in cash for each share held.

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High Expectations

Mexico's craft beer industry should grow by over 10% in 2923, the country's brewing association ACERMEX said, even as it faces sky-rocketing costs and competition from European-owned heavyweights. ACERMEX expects craft beer production in the country to reach about 34 million litres (59 million UK pints), with close to 90% consumed locally, or in the same state in which it was brewed. The trade group estimates Mexican craft brewers in 2022 produced 30 million litres (53 million pints) of the estimated 13.5 billion litres of beer brewed nationwide. ACERMEX data shows this earned them almost 2 billion pesos ($100 million) in sales.

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Goodbye Glass

Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC) just announced it has officially phased out all glass bottle packaging for aluminum cans with cardboard wraps – transitioning AVBC’s beers into the most sustainable beer packaging possible.

Why cans? Aluminum is endlessly recyclable, and even better, recycling a can uses 90% less energy than glass bottles. And because cans are lighter and ship more efficiently AVBC has been able to reduce its trucking by almost 60% by switching from glass. Aluminum cans also keep beer fresher by allowing a more airtight seal and blocking all UV light. Anderson Valley Brewing Company is available in 39 states

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Just Say No

Asahi Europe & International has announced the launch of its alcohol-free beer, Asahi Super Dry 0.0%, in the UK, Ireland, Australia, France, Sweden, USA, Canada. Asahi Dry is the number one selling beer in Japan. The launch is yet another step towards Asahi Europe & International’s Legacy 2030 ambition that 20% of their portfolio will comprise of alcohol-free products by the end of the decade, Asahi Super Dry 0.0% will initially be available to buy across the UK and Ireland from January 2023, Australia, France, Sweden, USA and Canada from March 2023, and New Zealand from April 2023.

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More NA Good News

Consumption of no and low alcohol drinks is set to increase by a third by 2026, spurred on by growing consumer demand, new research has found. No and low alcohol beer, cider, wine, spirits and ready-to-drink (RTD) products grew by more than 7% in volume across 10 key global markets in 2022, according to a new study published by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. The pace of the category’s growth over the next four years is also expected to surpass the growth experienced over the last four year period. Volume CAGR is forecast at 7% between 2022 and 2026, compared to +5%, 2018-22. Non alcoholic products are set to spearhead this growth, and are expected to account for over 90% of the forecast total category volume growth.

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USA Wins!

In the recent The Brussels Beer Challenge, European Beer Star Awards and the Japan International Beer Cup saw big wins from US beers with 85 medals being gained for American craft brewers across the three global competitions.

At this year’s 11th Brussels Beer Challenge, EDP members were awarded 25 medals in total: seven gold, nine silver and nine bronze as well as Fremont Brewing Co’s Legend Cold IPA which was voted ‘Best American Beer of the Competition.’ At the European Beer Star which celebrates the traditional European art of brewing and is limited to beer categories that originate in Europe, EDP member breweries won 25 medals in total including eight gold, eight silver and nine bronze. At the Japan International Beer Cup, hosted by Japan’s Craft Beer Association, American craft brewers won 35 medals including five gold, 14 silver and 16 bronze, and two best in category.

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Surplus Bakery Bread Beer

England’s Toast Ale, the social enterprise brewery that uses surplus bakery bread, has raised over £2 million from investors including the National Geographic Society, Heineken International and sustainable business-leader Paul Polman. All investors have committed to Toast’s investment model named ‘Equity for Good’ which requires shareholders to reinvest any capital gains on selling the shares into social impact businesses and funds, ensuring the value created is invested for good. As part of the agreement, investors also do not receive dividends, as all Toast’s distributable profits go to charity. Toast has collaborated with 86 breweries supporting them to use surplus bread in their brewing. However, the industry has not yet fully embraced the circular economy due to challenges such as the food safe sourcing and effective processing of bread, and the efficient use of bread in the brewhouse.

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QUICK HITS

Bell's Brewery is expanding its Two Hearted portfolio, and a tweak to the label. The brewery, completing its first full year under Lion ownership, will release a new Hazy Hearted IPA, a version of Two Hearted IPA, and a Hearted IPA Variety Pack that will include Big Hearted, an imperial IPA at 9.5% alcohol by volume.

Lagunitas’ brewery and taproom in Seattle will close, permanently, effective January 8, 2023. Sources said the reason was that the location has been losing money for nearly 2 years.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer at-home increased +7.7% in December 2022 compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It is the highest increase for any individual commodity.

Cape Beverage Distributing is thrilled to announce the addition of Yardley, Pennsylvania-based Vault Brewing Company to its distribution portfolio. Cape Beverage will begin distributing a number of different brands from Vault Brewing across the Northeast with an emphasis on New Jersey retailers starting January 1, 2023.

North Carolina’s Asheville’s craft beverage scene is about to get the addition of a downtown hard seltzer bar. Holy Water Hard Seltzer Brewpub will occupy t ground level of the Thirsty Monk pub in downtown Asheville in the new year with plans to serve award-winning, cocktail-inspired Holy Water hard seltzers.

Weyerbacher Brewing Co.'s second bankruptcy case in three years is resolved, and the Easton PA business is preparing to reopen under new ownership. Savant Beverages LLC

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flash news - december 2022

FLASH NEWS

Dr. Pepper Beer?

Athletic Brewing just received a major investing boost from Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP). The conglomerate announced that it is investing $50 million in the non-alcoholic brewery, solidifying a minority equity stake in the brand. This is the second recent indication of KDP’s interest in the non-alcoholic beverage space, as it also acquired zero ABV ready-to-drink cocktail brand Atypique recently. The brewery announced with does not mean they will be making a Dr. Pepper beer..

Athletic Brewing, founded in 2017 by Bill Shufelt and John Walker, has already demonstrated quick growth as a category leader. The company recorded $37 million in sales last year, with $75 million raised in investments. Among numerous other recognitions, including a No. 26 spot in Inc.’s Top 5000 list, Athletic Brewing was named a VinePair Next Wave Award recipient in 2022 for its innovations in the brewing space.

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Judge: Hard Seltzer Isn't Beer

Constellation Brands must face a lawsuit claiming that its Corona hard seltzer violates an agreement with AB InBev-owned Grupo Modelo, a Manhattan federal court has just ruled. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said he was unconvinced by Constellation's argument that the terms of its contract to sell Modelo's Corona beer in America also allowed it to sell Corona-branded seltzer. Modelo sued Constellation last year, arguing Constellation's sales of Corona Hard Seltzer breached their licensing agreement and infringed its trademarks. It said their agreement only allowed Constellation to sell beer, not seltzer, under the Corona name. Constellation told the court that the agreement's definition of "beer" also covers hard seltzer and asked to dismiss the case before trial. Kaplan rejected Constellation's motion and said Modelo's interpretation of the agreement to exclude seltzer would be "at least a reasonable reading."

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Tom Elway's Bar

Tom's Watch Bar announced that two-time Super Bowl Champion and nine-time Pro Bowler John Elway has made a significant investment in the bar - the country's newest and unique super sports bar concept. Elway also joined the company's Board of Advisors. Tom's Watch Bar's central oversized "stadium" screen, surrounded by hundreds of high-definition screens provides 360-degree viewing, making every seat at Tom's the best seat in the house. Sports fans have the option to enjoy premium sound or personalize their sound and listen to the play-by-play for their favorite game. One screen will show clips of Tom's best players. The one with his worst plays is permanently out of order.

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Yeast Market Explodes

The global specialty yeast market is estimated to be valued at USD 3.2 billion in 2023. It is projected to reach USD 4.6 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 7%, in terms of value between 2022 and 2027. The market is gaining momentum as specialty yeast products continue to find increased applications across food, beer, beverages, feed and other industries. Additionally, the rising innovation in the specialty yeast market and rising consumer awareness regarding natural ingredients and to pursue ingredients with multiple functional abilities have contributed to the growth of specialty yeast market in recent years.

Based on species, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae segment accounts for the largest market share and it would dominate the market in terms of value during the forecast period. Saccharomyces cerevisiae are commonly used as a preferred yeast species in brewing because it offers robustness and has the ability to withstand stressful conditions along with offering other desirable characteristics such as high fermentation efficiency and high growth rate due to which they find extensive applications across food & beverage industries.

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No Beer At World Cup

The decision by Qatar officials to ban alcohol sales at stadiums – two days before the first 2022 FIFA World Cup match – could impact the relationship of FIFA and beer sponsor Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) through 2026.A-B is seeking a $47.4 million deduction in its $112 million sponsorship deal for the 2026 World Cup, The more than decade-long planning of this year’s global soccer tournament has been fraught with multiple changes to the host country’s alcohol policy. While Qatar does not ban alcoholic beverages, it does severely limit where they can be purchased, strictly regulating the sale to hotel bars and other limited locations.

The government said that the prominent presence of alcohol at stadiums during the monthlong World Cup would unsettle the local population and thus represent a potential security problem. But it also highlighted an issue that has stalked the buildup to the first World Cup in the Arab world, and that is expected to be contentious throughout the tournament in Qatar, a conservative Muslim country where access to alcohol is tightly controlled.

Budweiser’s contract with FIFA not only gives it sales exclusivity but also requires the company to provide vast quantities of beer for FIFA’s partners and hospitality guests. There was a stream of allegations that members of FIFA’s leadership had been bribed to select Qatar to host the 2022 tournament. FIFA’s leadership was eventually removed, but the World Cup remained with Qatar. Note: in France, in Spain, in Scotland, alcohol is banned in stadiums but not for religious reasons.. The 2026 World Cup will kick off in June 2026, hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

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QUICK HITS

A decorated army veteran who owns a brewery, tackled the shooter who killed five in a Colorado Springs club Richard Fierro, 45, was at Club Q celebrating a birthday with family and friends when he found himself one of two people who subdued the attacker armed with an AR-15 style rifle and wearing a flak vest. Mr. Fierro owns Atrevida Beer Co., which opened in January 2018. BeerNexus salutes this hero who saved many lives.

Europe’s most indebted brewer is seeking to buy back bonds in a move to further reduce its large debt pile. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV will spend as much as $3.5 billion buying back dollar and pound denominated notes through Dec. 24. The Belgian brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois net debt stands at $76 billion

The 34-year-old Brooklyn Brewery (NY)announced it will move to Greenpoint-Williamsburg NY in summer 2024. They will also open a new 41,000-square-foot space inside the planned eight-story commercial development area. The new location, four blocks from its old spot, will grow the brewery’s footprint by about 11,000 square feet and let it hire at least 40 new employees, Rent is $75 per square foot in the 30-year lease, which includes options to renew.

If you shop at Publix, how about a glass of wine? The Florida-based grocery store chain is now offering a program known as "Publix Pours," an in-store bar for customers. The in-store bar includes draft beer, wine, premium coffee, tea, on-tap kombucha, acai bowls and smoothies to let customers "sip while they shop."

Put down your Activia. There may be a more enjoyable way to support gut health — with beer. According to a just released research from Amsterdam University, strong beers can be “very, very healthy” for gut health when consumed in moderation. Research revealed that strong Belgian beers l have more probiotics than their weaker counterparts

Boosted by the growth of its flagship Allagash White, Allagash Brewing Company bucked the craft beer segment’s trajectory (-3%) to reach +6.2% dollar sales growth in 2022, the company reported.

Fort Collins, Colorado-based Odell Brewing Co. laid off nine staff members last week, about 5% of its workforce.“With the industry facing unprecedented challenges and our volume falling short of 2022 goals, we made the difficult decision to adjust our staffing to match our 2023 forecasted volume,” said company CEO.

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flash news - november 2022

FLASH NEWS

Fresh Hop Airlift

Fresh hop ales are one of the most celebrated beers in American craft beer, but unfortunately, they remain a rarity for much of the world. Brewed with whole wet cones within 36 hours of harvest, they represent hops in their most natural form and when used immediately can produce some of the most interesting and complex beers in the US. Fresh hops are typically purchased by breweries located closer to the source, hop farms of the Pacific Northwest where 75% of the nation’s hops are grown. And because they’re so highly perishable fresh hops must be delivered from bine to brewer in 36 hours. This fall, Alaska Air Cargo delivered the industry’s first and biggest fresh hops run to breweries in Maui and Anchorage within 24 hours of harvest – this was a huge logistical feat that brought a favorite seasonal beer well beyond the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in history brewers on the other side of the globe have access to hops in their purest form. Yakima Chief Hops just announced that they recently exported the largest shipment of freshly harvested hops from the Pacific Northwest to South Korea in just one day for the first time in brewing history.

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Ressession Resistant Beer

Premium-priced Corona and Modelo beers are darn near recession resistant, contends Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands."Consumer demand has been very strong," Newlands said. "We have the benefit in this industry in this category of being somewhat recession resistant And we have seen no slowdown at a consumer level of purchasing against our brands." To Newlands' point, Constellation's beer business — led by brands Corona, Modelo and Pacifico — outshined its wine business handily in the most recent quarter. Sales for the beer segment surged 15% while price increased helped support 25% operating income growth. Beer depletions — a metric on beer companies tracked closely by Wall Street — rose a solid 8.9% from a year ago and far ahead of most beers.

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The King Goes Zero

The king of beers will be nonalcoholic at this year’s World Cup. The soccer tournament starts in November in Qatar, where alcohol is legal but restricted in public spaces like stadiums. Sponsor Budweiser is taking the opportunity to showcase its nonalcoholic offering, Budweiser Zero. The company has big plans for no- and low-alcohol products, aiming to grow them from 6% to 20% of global volume in the next few years. It’s jumping on the growing trend for alcohol alternatives, which seem to be everywhere now. You’ve got your nonalcoholic beers (craft ones too), faux Champagnes, mock mezcals and phony Negronis in cute, little single-serving bottles.

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British Beer Woes

The price of a pint of beer and glass of wine in Britain is set to increase after the new chancellor scrapped the freeze on alcohol duty. Jeremy Hunt tore up former prime minister Liz Truss's economic plan on Monday in an effort to ease the worries of of the financial markets. . Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: “The chancellor’s decision today to reverse the alcohol duty freeze is a huge blow to brewers and pubs. "The freeze would have delivered a £300m saving to our industry at a time when we desperately need any relief we can get, to help to keep a lid on spiraling costs and keep the price of pint affordable for pub goers this winter.

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Beer Carriers Destination

Efforts to reuse plastic beer can carriers are taking off. A Vermont system known as the Reusiverse has collected an estimated 75,000 four-pack carriers since launching last year. Co-founder Ben Kogan, CEO of Reusable Solutions, estimates that number will hit 100,000 by the end of the 2022. Any carriers collected in Vermont that aren’t suitable for reuse are ground up to make resin for outdoor sporting equipment or are used in their original form for trail markers by local hiking groups. The carriers are durable enough to be reused tens or even hundreds of times over, according to assessments by those collecting them. The Reusiverse program is not currently set up to generate revenue; the costs to maintain it are covered by sponsors. including Lawson’s Finest Liquids.

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Yuengling Expands Despite Drop-off

Following last year’s launch into Texas, Yuengling will hit Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma in January 2023 via the Pennsylvania brewery’s joint venture with Molson Coors. Yuengling’s traditional lager, light lager, golden pilsner and Flight will be included in the three-state roll out. Yuengling’s off-premise dollar sales in Texas since beginning to cycle its August 2021 launch are down -54% over the six-week period at the end of Oct. 2022, , The company’s dollar share of beer through 2022 has also continued to decline weekly from 1.7% in the first week of January 2022 to 1.4% for the week ending November 1, 2022. Yuengling’s offerings are sold in 22 primarily eastern states.

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United Breweries, India’s largest beer manufacturer and part of the Amsterdam-based Heineken group, has announced the launch of Heineken® Silver, that provides "Indian consumers with a premium beverage that is truly designed for everyday social occasions." Heineken® Silver uses their famous A-yeast and pure malt.

California is home to nearly 600 breweries across the state, having far more craft breweries than any other state in the country. Among these regions, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Fontana take the top spot for the most.

In general, men's stomachs may be more affected by alcohol intake than women, indicates new research from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke. The study — which included 7,876 cis men and 12,749 cis women — found a link between beer consumption and waist circumference in the men, but not the women.

When you think of beer, you wouldn’t necessarily think of India. That’s about to change this year. Rupee Beer has announced it will enter the US market. First areas to receive the light lager brew will be distribution across New York, Washington D.C. & Virginia. More to follow soon.

The average price per case of craft beer is up +4.6% year-to-date and “continues creeping into the $40+ per case range,” according to NielsenIQ data through October 31. The average price paid per unit is up +2% compared to a year ago, the firm added.

Pernod Ricard is boosting its agave portfolio with another tequila. The global wine and spirits company announced it had acquired a majority stake in Código 1530, co-founded by famed country music singer George Strait.. It’s not beer, but come on, it concerns George Strait

Founders has announced their All Day Series is going to expand again in 2023 with a new summer seasonal. Additionally, they will be offering two configurations of an All Day Variety Pack, which will include All Day brands alongside new offerings.

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flash news - october 2022

FLASH NEWS

Reebock Beer

Reebok, the iconic shoe manufacturer favored by athletes and fashionistas is trading the "shoe game" for the "brew game." Reebok has partnered with Boston's Harpoon Brewery for a release of Rec League Pale Ale dubbed, "The Reebok Edition." This collaboration gives the active low-cal NEIPA a bit of a facelift, all for a good cause. portion of the proceeds from all Rec League x Reebok beer sales will be donated to BOKS, a free physical activity program designed to get kids active and establish a lifelong commitment to health and fitness.

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Leffe Backlash

Leffe is owned by InBev Belgium, the European operating arm of the global Anheuser–Busch InBev brewery giant. Marketed as an abbey ale, Leffe Beer has not been brewed at the Abbey of Leffe since the abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution. Instead, Leffe Beer is mass-produced at the Stella Artois Brewery industrial complex, and brewed all over the world. One of the places that Leffe is is currently being brewed is Russia, as part of a joint venture between AB InBev and Turkish beer producer Anadolu Efes. But outrage is growing as the beer is still being produced at Russian breweries months after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. AB InBev’s plans to cut ties with Turkish beer producer Anadolu Efes have yet to happen, and now Leffe is facing world-wide calls for a boycott… The Leffe backlash is happening in spite of Anheuser-Busch’s anti-war efforts to date, which include providing critical assistance to its 1,800 employees and their families in Ukraine, the donation of two million cans of emergency drinking water, and partnerships with other companies and non-profits providing food, blankets, and medical supplies to Ukraine and surrounding refugee relief areas.

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Hop Harvest Down

Europe was plagued by soaring temperatures and drought this summer and that doesn’t bode well for one of the world’s largest hop producing regions. Estimates suggest that hop harvests this year will be substantially lower than average in Germany and the Czech Republic, bringing more woe to brewers across Europe. Germany, the world’s second biggest producer of hops, is projected to experience an 18% drop in its annual yield compared to 2021.

Spalt, which is just south of Nuremberg, Germany has the severest predicted drop, with a 32.6% deviation from the average crop. Hallertau (in Bavaria), which produces almost a quarter of the world’s hops according to some estimates, is also expected to produce an 18.5% below average yield. The Czech Republic’s forecast of a 4.7 ton hop harvest is a 3.6 ton drop from last year’s record crop.

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World Cup Beer Deal

Organizers of the World Cup in Qatar have finalized a policy to serve beer with alcohol to soccer fans at stadiums and fan zones in the Muslim-majority country. FIFA said Saturday fans will be allowed to buy Budweiser beer with alcohol within the eight stadium compounds — though not at concourse concession stands — before and after games, and during evenings only at the official “Fan Festival.” That is being held in a downtown Doha park. Game tickets promising access to Champagnes, wine, liquor and beer for hospitality clients at Qatari stadiums have been on sale since February 2021 as part of corporate packages offering “premium beverages.” Budweiser has been the exclusive World Cup beer brand since 1986 and parent company AB InBev renewed its deal through 2022 with FIFA in a 2011 signing after Qatar was confirmed as host. FIFA said Saturday that Budweiser with alcohol will be sold “within the stadium perimeter prior to kickoff and after the final whistle.” “Inside the stadium bowl ticket holders will have access to non-alcoholic Budweiser Zero,” soccer’s world body said. “At the FIFA Fan Festival, Budweiser will be available to purchase from 6.30 p.m." Alcohol is more available in Qatar than some Middle East states though it is served only in hotel restaurants and bars that have licenses. It is illegal to consume it elsewhere.

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Bud Light Digital Fandom

In partnership with the NFL, Bud Light is launching "Bud Light x NFL Ultimate Fandom," a new NFT collection which will provide diehard fans an opportunity to engage with Bud Light and their favorite team at a whole new level. Each collectible is designed to replicate Bud Light's limited-edition NFL packaging across all 32 teams in a digital world. Owning one of the new "Bud Light x NFL Ultimate Fandom" digital collectibles will automatically unlock entry into a survivor pick'em tournament where fans can compete to win a number of prizes, including NFL jerseys, a year's worth of beer, and even tickets to Super Bowl LVII. The new collection will go on sale later this season, but 21+ NFL fans can sign up now to learn more about it at: budlight.com/nft.

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Popcorn Beer?

Garrett Popcorn and Revolution Brewing are selling a beer made with caramel popcorn. Garrett, the brand known for its mix of cheddar and caramel kernels, is partnering with the best-selling craft beer brand to produce CaramelCrisp Caramel Popcorn Ale. The brown ale release slated for Saturday, October 1. According to a brewery spokesperson, Revolution Brewing will use 450 pounds of caramel popcorn and 1,200 pounds of brown sugar for every 120 barrels of the 7 percent ABV beer. The two brands are neighbors in Avondale, Illinois. The beer, which could become an annual offering, will be poured at Revolution’s taproom and brewpub, and bars and stores across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin

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Fort Worth brewery Martin House, known for its creative beers flavored with Best Maid pickle juice and other novelties, has debuted a new sour ale inspired by the flavor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. According to a press release, the brewery’s latest creation is called Fiery Crunchy Cheese Bois, a spicy sour ale that clocks in at 5.2 % ABV.

Copenhagen-based global beer company Mikkeller has announced it will close its only U.S. brewing facility in San Diego, citing “two years of COVID and the difficult current rising cost environment

Oktoberfest is back in Germany after two years of pandemic cancellations — the same bicep-challenging beer mugs, fat-dripping pork knuckles, pretzels the size of dinner plates, men in leather shorts and women in cleavage-baring traditional dresses. However inflation has caused higher prices for everything since the last time it was held in 2019

Busch Light’s best-selling package is a 30-pack of 12oz cans—which has grown its retail sales +1.9% over the last 52 weeks. But single, 25oz cans have actually shown the highest percentage growth (+10.6%) among Busch Light packages during this timeframe. Not to be outdone, six-packs of 16oz Busch Light cans have grown at almost the same rate as that 30-pack (+1.7%).

Natural Light, Keystone Light, and standard Busch beer all have had a sales decline or remained flat in the first half of this year versus the first half of 2021, even as inflation reaches historic levels. (Busch Light has posted 29 weeks of consecutive market share growth within the value category.)

The Boston Beer Company and PepsiCo’s HARD MTN DEW flavored malt beverage posted chain retail sales of $20.7 million in the first half of 2022, equivalent to Yuengling Light Lager’s sales during the same period. Modelo Especial was +17% in chain retail during the first half of 2022. Michelob Ultra increased +7%. New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA improved +22%. Molson Coors’ Topo Chico Hard Seltzer Variety Pack surged +119%.

Nationally, Miller Lite has signed on as the lead beer sponsor of ESPN’s fantasy football app and its “Fantasy Focus” podcast, part of a 20% spend increase this season. Miller Lite, part of the Molson Coors beer family, will also is a sponsor of “Fantasy Pros” podcast, and it’s re-upped its partnership with sports betting platform Draft Kings as well.

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Flash news - september 2022

FLASH NEWS

Beerflation

While Hank Williams Jr. might have sung about "A Tear in My Beer," inflation is making it a reality for many Americans. When you only have $5 in your wallet, do you choose a premium beer or two economy beers? It's a question more shoppers are facing as inflation impacts food budgets. Major beer brands Molson Coors, Heineken, AB InBev, and Constellation Brands continue to see demand for premium beer products; it appears that consumers have not downgraded to economy beers. Choices like Modelo Especial, Corona, and Heineken continue to show resilient sales numbers. Beer falls under the "affordability factor" according to economists. So, while consumers may not be toasting the economic downturn, they appear to be keeping their glasses full in some fashion.

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Another Shortage

A nationwide shortage of carbon dioxide that became dire after a Mississippi supplier of the vital gas shut down in early August is threatening beer-makers around the country. Without carbon dioxide, many types of beers fall flat.

The gas contributes to beer foam, shelf stability and it’s used throughout the production and packaging process, according to experts. Big breweries, like Budweiser, have technology to siphon off the gas during the fermentation process, but smaller craft brewers don’t produce enough product to get their gas from fermentation,

Brewers have been facing a series of supply chain issues, including aluminum can and barley shortages over the past two years, but the gas is critical to every aspect of their operations. It’s an ingredient in beer, if you don’t have it, you can’t make beer.” The shortage was felt more acutely in the Southeast.

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$15 A Pint

Australian drinkers woke up to more than a hangovers accelerating inflation and a quirk in the tax system sent the price of beer surging. In its semi-annual CPI indexation review, the Australian Tax Office lifted the excise on beer by 4%. It was the largest increase in over 30 years. Australians are taxed on beer more than almost any other nation.

Australia adjusts the excise on beer under a formula linked to inflation, Trends indicate a result the hike will encourage consumers to drink more wine, which operates under a different system of taxation.

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Mexican Drought Hurts Beer

President Andrés Manuel López demanded a halt to brewing in the country’s drought-stricken north, blasting the business model of making alcoholic drinks with water drawn from dwindling aquifers to slake thirsts on the other side of the US-Mexico border. He called on brewers to produce their beer in the water-rich south and offered “total support” for those doing so. “This is not to say we’ll not produce any more beer, it’s to say that beer will not be produced in the north,” López Obrador said. Forty-one percent of Mexico is current in a drought status.

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Heineken Scores

Heineken has just reported +37% revenue growth in its first half 2022 earnings. The company’s beer volume increased +7.6%, with premium beer volume growing +10.2%. Brand Heineken volume increased +13.8%.

In the U.S., Heineken USA’s net revenue declined slightly “as lower volume impacted by supply chain disruptions and the softer market were mostly offset by pricing.” Those supply chain issues, namely ocean freight, “disproportionately affected” the Heineken brand but “are expected to stabilize in the fourth quarter.” The Dutch brewer noted that Heineken 0.0 led a non-alcoholic beer portfolio that “grew at high single digits.” Heineken 0.0 is now the top selling NA beer in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil.

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Weyerbacher Bankrupt

Weyerbacher Brewing Co., a 27-year-old craft brewery in PA, has shuttered its taproom and brewery. It was filed for bankruptcy. It had previsoulsy done so in April 2019 before emerging from it one year later. The new filing lists 20 creditors owed approximately $1.5 million combined, including just over $80,000 to Denis Shusterman, a former accountant who pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud, wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud. Filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy frees a company from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it reorganizes its finances. The debtor’s reorganization plan must be accepted by a majority of its creditors. Unless the court rules otherwise.

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Senate Beer Champions

The Beer Institute has named eight members of the United States Congress as its “2022 Beer Champions” for their leadership in supporting federal policies that aid U.S. brewers, beer importers and beer industry suppliers. The Beer Institute recognized them for fighting for beer industry policy priorities like bringing clarity to the aluminum pricing process, securing permanent excise tax relief for brewers and pushing for a deferment on federal excise taxes on brewers and importers during the pandemic. The eight legislators are: Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Representative Sanford Bishop (D-GA), Representative Ken Buck (R-CO), Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL), Representative Al Lawson (D-FL)

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QUICK HITS

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.

Gluten-removed beers are produced when brewers make a normal barley-based beer, then use an enzyme to break down gluten proteins. Although in Europe these beers are sold as “gluten-removed” provided the final product contains less than 20 ppm of gluten, in the US they must be made with 100 % gluten-free source ingredients.

The Cliff Burton (METALLICA Bassist) estate will launch a Cliff Burton-branded beer. The Cliff Burton (Cliff 'Em All) IPA Beer (6.4% ABV) is brewed by Calicraft Brewing Co. and is now available for pre-order online at CraftShack. The Cliff Burton IPA will be available for fans in 40 states to buy online.

Night Shift Brewing is closing its own brewery and instead will brew most of its beer through contract relationships. Framingham-based Jack’s Abby and Isle Brewers Guild in Rhode Island, are the breweries picking up their production. As a result of the move, Night Shift said they “won’t likely have jobs for many” current employees.

As Molson Coors’ six-packs got more expensive, more consumers traded down to its lower-priced options. The company raised its prices in the spring by nearly double its usual rate and announced it is considering another round of hikes toward the end of 2022.

The average cost of a pint of beer in the U.K. has soared by 70% since 2008 — well ahead of inflation — and some Londoners are parting with as much as £8 ($9.70) for 568ml of the amber nectar. The average price of a pint at one pub in London hit £8.06 this year, the highest ever recorded, while the lowest nationally was a £1.79 average at a pub in the northwest of England

The Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic named Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson a knight of the Order of the Hop, an honor bestowed upon global beer industry luminaries. Congrats from Beernexus!

Congrats to The Bruery on their 14th anniversary. It was founded by Master Cicerone Patrick Rue in 2008 and was among California's first craft beer innovators.

Researchers found that people’s favorite food and drink tastes are influenced by their genes as well as their habits and childhood. DNA even helps determine a drinker’s preferred tipple, whether it is a glass of wine or a drop of the hard stuff. Study author Prof Jim Wilson, of Edinburgh University, said: “Some people are absolutely born with genes that will make them like the taste of alcohol; we even found genes that gave preferences for specific drinks.

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flash news - august 2022

FLASH NEWS

Brewery Collapses

One of Oregon’s most beloved breweries and a top tourist destination, Buoy Beer, has partly collapsed. The business’s giant warehouse that holds its production facility, restaurant and bar crumpled in on one side like a tin can. The damaged part of the building housed the restaurant, a pilot brewery, some brite tanks, some lagering tanks, and the canning line. It did not impact the entirety of the operation. Fortunately no one was injured. The Buoy Beer Company is asking for help in cleaning up Pacific Northwest beaches after debris was washed down the Columbia River and out to sea. The reward? Free beer, of course.

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Beer Beats Lead

Scientists at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms are referencing heavy metal and beer in a new study. An analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers finds that yeast, an abundant waste product from breweries, can filter out even trace amounts of lead. Lead is highly toxic, even at tiny concentrations such as in the Flint water crisis in Michigan. The standard for allowable lead is 5 parts per billion in the European Union, while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says no level of lead in water supplies is safe. The MIT team reportedly “demonstrated that a single gram of the inactive, dried yeast cells can remove up to 12 milligrams of lead in aqueous solutions with initial lead concentrations below 1 part per million.” In five minutes. A system would need to be designed to process the water and retrieve the yeast, embedding the yeast cells in a kind of filter.

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In-Person GABF Returns!

Back in-person after a two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, the Great American Beer Festival the country’s premier beer festival and cultural phenomenon, is returning to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 6-8, 2022—and tickets are on sale now! Hosted by the Brewers Association, the trade organization representing small and independent American craft brewers, this marks the 40th anniversary of GABF, Over four sessions an estimated 40,000 attendees will likely attend. Tickets are available for anyone of legal drinking age (21+). For more information and to purchase your ticket, please visit www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com

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Craft Sales Mixed

Off-premise dollar sales of craft beer have declined -7.4% for the first half of 2022 compared to last year, according to NielsenIQ data. Even with that decline, the beer category recorded its third-highest week of off-premise dollar sales during the July 4 holiday, according to market research firm IRI. Bottom line: craft’s struggles in scan in the fist half of 2022 should be viewed somewhere in between expected and alarming. But of the consumers that are spending money on the On-Premise channel, what are they drinking? Nielsen CGA reports that Gen Z drinkers (ages 21-34) head out to the On-Premise more often than any other LDA (legal drinking age) group, but craft beer brands shouldn’t sleep on Millennials. LDA consumers ages 35-44 might not head out on the town as much as their younger counterparts, but they do spend more money on beverage alcohol collectively.

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Budvar Keeps Flowing

Budvar, the Czech brewer that has been in a long legal dispute with U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch over use of the Budweiser brand, increased its net profit by some 10% for the second straight year as it saw record output and exports despite the coronavirus pandemic. Budejovicky Budvar NP, a 126-year-old state-owned brewery, said its net profit reached 337 million Czech crowns ($14.4 million) in 2021, up from 305 million the previous year. Its net profit was up nearly 10% in 2020 and continues that pace for the first half of 2022. Its exports were up a record 11% in the past 12 months reaching 1.3 million hectoliters (34.3 million gallons). Budvar sells its beer in more than 70 countries, with Germany among its major markets.

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Cantillon’s Zwanze Day Is Coming

One of Belgium’s finest and most famous producers of fruit lambic, Brasserie Cantillon used to release bottles of a limited beer called Zwanze each year on a specific day. When Cantillon owner Jean Van Roy discovered bottles of Zwanze being sold for outlandish prices on the secondary market, he transitioned Zwanze Day to a worldwide event and limited the beer to kegs tapped on one day around the world. Since lambic is a coveted style of sour beer, most host breweries and beer bars take this day as one to celebrate all manner of sours. The list of host breweries changes each year, so every Zwanze Day is unique. Brasserie Cantillon's annual Zwanze Day will take place this year on September 24, 2022. Once again, the event is planned for a full global scale.

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Brewery Goes NA

St. Louis craft beer stalwart Saint Louis Brewery, maker of Schlafly Beer, is entering the nonalcoholic beer segment, inking a joint venture with Wellbeing Brewing Co., a local producer of alcohol-free craft beers. The joint venture is a deal the two companies say will help scale Wellbeing’s production and sales while providing Schlafly with a new source of revenue and an inroad in the fast-growing nonalcoholic beer market. As part of the joint venture, Schlafly will take over Wellbeing’s sales and production functions, while Wellbeing will remain responsible for its product development, e-commerce and marketing initiatives.

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QUICK HITS

The U.S. Open Beer Championships announced the winners of its annual competition. The highest honor of the competition is the title of Grand National Champion: a distinction bestowed upon the brewery that earns the most medals of the annual event. This year, it was Sun King Brewing of Indianapolis, which also took the title in 2019.

The record levels of inflation have forced American consumers of alcohol to switch to cheaper, economy brands such as Icehouse and Eagle 20’s, according to a just released report. Peoples are buying more cost-effective beer brands; Busch Light, Icehouse and Milwaukee’s Best Ice have set sales records for the first half of 2022.

Academic Ellie Mackin Roberts sparked a now-viral debate when she recently tweeted 10 steps to help beat the heat. Tip No. 9 read: “If you are dehydrated (and an adult) drink a half a pint of beer and then move straight onto water (or a sports drink or cordial if you don’t like water).”

Thanks to a just signed law, Michigan bars and restaurants can now offer self-dispensing services for beer, mixed drinks and wine. The state will finally join 45 other states in allowing it. Self-serving won’t be allowed at customers’ tables but can be allowed on “beer walls”, taps that are easily accessible for customers for a max of 96 oz per order.

Stroh's beer is back on draft — and turning back time. The iconic Detroit beer brand, owned by Pabst Brewing since 1999, announced its classic lager will return to draft taps for the first time in two decades and will relaunch its classic logo and look on bottles and cans for distribution, harkening back to its look from the mid-1980s.

Just released date shows that over the last 6 months base prices for packaged craft beer rose +3.4%. Overall beer base prices increased +5.6% during that time. Base prices for hard seltzers rose +7.7%.

Ballast Point has announced production of their first curry beer. It's called Indra Kunindra To make it, brewers start with a base of foreign export stout, a style that adds pronounced roast, alcohol, and tropical tang to the stout then they add coconut, kaffir lime leaf, cayenne, cumin, and Madras curry spice to the beer. Good luck with that one.

One of the surprise sales hits of the summer is "PutterBall " a combination of golf and beer pong. It's a strip of turf with six holes on either side. You putt from your side and aim for one of your opponent’s open spots. If you get it in, they cover it up with one of the turf hole covers your opponent drinks.

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flash news - july 2022

FLASH NEWS

Bottle/Glassware Shortage

Beer drinkers could soon find it difficult to buy their favorite bottled beer because of a shortage of glassware triggered by soaring energy costs. Suppliers are already experiencing problems sourcing glassware as its production is energy intensive, pushing its price 80% higher over the past year. As a result, glassware inventory has tumbled. Wine and spirits suppliers from around the globe have felt the shortage first. Their ongoing struggles are predicted to have a trickle down effect to breweries, which could lead to less variety in the bottled beers on shelves.

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Heineken In Trouble

Heineken has been fined £2m for forcing publicans to sell “unreasonable” amounts of its own beers and ciders.

The pubs code adjudicator (PCA), an official who oversees the relationship between pub-owning companies and their tenants, said Heineken had “seriously and repeatedly” breached laws that protect publicans from company behavior aimed at prohibiting pubs selling competitor brands. After an investigation that lasted more than a year, the PCA said Heineken had broken the rules despite the regulator’s repeated interventions. Heineken was found to have imposed unfair conditions on landlords who sought to go “free of tie” via a process that allows them to break the centuries-old beer tie arrangement where they get reduced rents in return for stocking certain products.

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Vietnam Goes Zero Tolerance

Vietnam’s bars. are struggling to attract customers. The introduction of harsh new penalties for anyone caught drink-driving has caused beer sales in the country to plummet by at least 25%. The figures have caused dismay in what has been described as one of the world’s fastest-growing beer markets. Bars have begun offering drinkers free or discounted rides home, as well as letting customers park their vehicles overnight and “alcohol detox” pills are also being sold online to drinkers anxious to avoid fines. The new zero-tolerance laws penalize drivers for even the slightest trace of alcohol, while the maximum fine has doubled to 8m dong ($345) – twice a month’s earnings for many Vietnamese – on top of a possible suspension of a driver’s license for two years. .Cyclists also face up to $25 fines for riding after drinking.

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Online Deliveries

Some smaller craft brewers aside, beer has been late to e-commerce compared with wine and spirits, which currently account for 40% and 42% of the online alcohol market respectively against an 18% share for beer, cider, and ready-to-drink beverages combined, according to IWSR drinks market analysis. However according to just released projections by 2025 beer and the others are expected to increase their share to 28%, taking ground from wine and spirits, which are seen retreating to 32% and 40% respectively, in an online alcohol market 66% higher at $42 billion.

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Hop Process Issued US Patent

Yakima Chief Hops Co. has just been awarded a U.S. patent for the technology used to create its Cryo Hops® products. The product is used in the same way hops are used. They are just a concentrated, or denser, version of the hops. The product is provided to the brewer in pellet form, just like most other hops. YCH offers several different varieties in this form: Cryo Hops is a product resulting from the use of a cryogenic hop-processing technology that separates whole cones (hop flowers) into two components—concentrated lupulin and bract. The concentrated lupulin is then used to create the product that goes into the beer. Cryo Hops is designed to provide intense hop flavor and aroma in super-hopped beers. It allows brewers to introduce large quantities of alpha acids and oils without the less-desirable flavors imparted by the vegetative matter. The U.S. Patent identifies the process as exclusive to YCH.

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Tractor Beer

Anheuser Busch and John Deere have both long defined a certain strain of Americana. Founded in 1837 in Grand Detour, Illinois, John Deere is one of the most prominent names in the field of agricultural machinery. It’s known for both durability and a shade of green that’s so recognizable it served as the lyrical basis for Joe Diffie’s 1993 country music hit “John Deere Green." Now fans of either and/or both brands can pick-up a Busch can that’s emboldened with John Deere’s distinctive green hue, as well as “For the Farmers” graphics, featuring Deere equipment.

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Georgia Bans Beer

The University of Georgia will not sell beer and alcohol to most football fans at Sanford Stadium in 2022. The school began selling beer and alcoholic seltzer this past season for men’s and women’s basketball games and at baseball and softball games but has decided against doing it for football. A University spokesperson said that expanding alcohol sales across a a stadium that seats more than 90,000 is more complicated and they are not yet ready for that step. Georgia is a member of the Southeastern Conference which allows schools to set their own alcohol sales policies. Most other conference members sell beer at games.

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QUICK HITS

Stone Brewing has just announced that it is selling its business to Sapporo U.S.A., a subsidiary of Japan’s Sapporo Breweries. The transaction is expected to close in August 2022. Stone has a $464 million debt to pay to their private equity investors in 2023 which forced the sale. Sapporo also owns Anchor Brewing and Sleeman Breweries.

The Boston-based maker of the Harpoon family of beers is buying Vermont's Long Trail Brewing, bringing together two of New England’s most established craft brewers. Harpoon was founded in 1986 and Long Trail in 1989.

Molson Coors has issued a voluntary withdrawal of select packages of 12-ounce cans of Coors Light and Keystone Light produced at their brewery in Ohio. These cans were shown on social media as pouring with a "slime"-like consistency. The company said they are not a health hazard.

Anheuser-Busch will not renew its exclusivity deal for Super Bowl LVII, allowing other alcohol brands to advertise during the game for the first time since 1989. They decided to use the money spent to get exclusivity on other sports including the NFL regular season.

Carlsberg is to conduct its biggest trial of recyclable fibre beer bottles across Europe. The bottles are made of a wood-based fibre shell and a plant-based polyethylene furanoate (PEF) polymer lining. Eight thousand bottles will be sampled by customers in eight markets across the continent including the UK, France and Poland.

Eastern Washington University is the latest to add a professional certificate program for the craft beer industry.

The 15-credit program will begin in the fall. The university is pairing up with the No-Li Brewhouse in Spokane to launch the certificate program.

BruYou, the Philadelphia-based drink-buying app, is teaming up with Yards Brewing Co. and Share Food Program in an effort to support the fight against hunger. From now until 7/15/22 one dollar from every “Yards Share Beer” purchased through the app will go to Share Food Program’s mission to provide nutritional security for area families.

Latest statistics show that as we hit the halfway point of 2022, drinkers in the USA are actually consuming about as much as we did in 2018 or 2019. Rates of alcohol intake in the U.S. are remarkably steady over time, contrary to the “alarming trend” headlines.

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flash news - june 2022

FLASH NEWS

Medals Record

Wild Fields Brewhouse in Atascadero, California has broken a craft beer record at this years World Beer Cup, the largest international beer competition. This year, the World Beer Cup was the largest ever with 10,542 entries from 2,493 breweries representing 57 countries. The last brewery to win 4 gold medals in a single year at this prestigious competition was Miller in 2006 in American-Style Lager categories.

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Inflation Ups Profits

n. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s revenue grew 11% in the last quarter year-on-year, and less than 3% of that was due to higher volumes. Gains in Europe and Latin America compensated for North America, where the volume of beer dropped 4%. Chief Executive Michel Doukeris is trying to pivot to faster-growing businesses like seltzers. In contrast, rival Carlsberg which has less U.S. exposure, grew organic volumes 9% in the period, with sales growing 24%.

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Bud Workers Strike?

Hundreds of Budweiser employees in the United Kingdom could go on strike, threatening to create a shortage of some of the country's most popular beers. The UK staff of the world's biggest brewer have refused to accept the company's new pay package. The offer was a 3% increase for 2022 and 3% for 2023 with increases in overtime rates. But with UK inflation hitting 9%, the union says the pay raises will actually amount to an overall pay cut for the workers. A total of 225 union members for the first time supported full strike action if that offer isn't changed.

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NATO Beer

A small brewery in Finland has launched a NATO-themed beer to mark the Nordic country’s bid to join the Western military alliance. Olaf Brewing's OTAN lager features a blue label with a cartoon version of a beer-drinking medieval knight in metal armor emblazoned with NATO’s compass symbol. The beer's name is a play on the Finnish expression “Otan olutta,” which means “I’ll have a beer,” and the French abbreviation for NATO, which is “OTAN.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has two official languages, English and French. The brewer described the new lager as having “a taste of security, with a hint of freedom.”

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Ukraine's Most Popular Beer

Anheuser-Busch is bringing Ukraine’s most popular beer to the United States. Starting in June, Chernigivske, (pronounced churnee-iskay) , will be brewed in New Jersey. The beer will be sold on draft in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix. The beer sales will go to Ukrainian relief efforts, and the company will also donate at least $5 million to humanitarian aid and organizations.The pale golden lager is named after the hard hit Ukrainian city of Chernihiv and has been brewed there since 1988.

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Law Changes For More Beer

The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a large bill that would relax state liquor laws by lifting restrictions on growler sales by major craft breweries and allowing small distilleries to directly sell their spirits to customers. Liquor retailers and wholesalers have opposed loosening the law, Current state law bars breweries that produce more than 20,000 barrels a year from selling growlers, but now the cap would increase to 150,000 barrels.

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Satchel Paige Beer

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum and NegroLeaguesHistory.com unveiled the officially licensed, limited-edition Satchel Paige Talking Baseball Bobblehead Series this week along with a Negro Leagues Celebration Beer Series featuring Satchel Paige. The initial release by the Main & Mill Brewing Company unveiled the series in a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans as well as kegs. Each 4-pack contains four cans with different labels of Satchel Paige.

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QUICK HITS

California punk legends Pennywise have partnered El Segundo Brewing Company to release Unknown Road craft beer, named for the band’s landmark sophomore album. The golden ale has an ABV of 5% and is available now.

A gluten-free beer from Lakefront Brewery won best beer in the world at the World Beer Cup! The beer, "La Grosa Rita Margarita-Style Ale," was developed by Lakefront Brewery as part of their gluten-free heritage. It has a lime tartness, a bit of agave and orange sweetness at 4.5 alcohol by volume.

Athletic Brewing, the leading non-alcoholic craft brewer and recently named as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies in 2022, To celebrate it is releasing a limited edition peanut butter porter-style.

About 30 employees have been let go following the integration of the Bell’s Brewery organization into New Belgium after the latter’s parent company, Kirin acquired the former last fall despite promises that would not happen. The layoffs amounted to less than 3% of New Belgium and Bell’s combined workforce

21st Amendment Brewery brings its Brew Free! Or Die IPA, forward into the modern era of IPAs with a new recipe and look. The new version (6.8% ABV) is a re-imagined 2022 West Coast IPA with a clear, bright appearance, snappy bitterness and fresh hops with Comet, Simcoe and El Dorado. It has crisp notes of juicy grapefruit, lemongrass, and herbal dank aromas.

Lawson’s Finest Liquids has completed construction of the largest solar canopy in the Northeast at the company’s Brewery and Taproom. The structure features 495 individual solar modules seated above their parking lot.

Radeberger USA had brought out two new offerings: Schöfferhofer Juicy Pineapple and Schöfferhofer Wild Cherry, the latter within the brand's first-ever national variety pack, known affectionately as the "Happy Pack."

Dutch brewer Heineken exceeded its 2022 profit margin forecast after a sharp jump in quarter beer sales despite added uncertainty from the conflict in Ukraine. Driven by the ending of most coronavirus restrictions, particularly in Europe, it's beer volumes rose by 5.2% from the same period last year, beating the 3.5% average forecast.

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flash news - may 2022

FLASH NEWS

Don't Believe What You Read

Dire and sweeping pronouncements about the end of the hard seltzer misstate reality. Hard seltzer as a category continues to outperform the overall alcohol market, at least doubling the growth rate for beer and total alcohol this winter and spring—and it’s continuing to grow. U.S. consumers are buying more hard seltzer now than they ever have, and retailers are bullish on a continued upward trajectory.

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Hockey Beer

Three players in the Boston Bruins organization, all of whom are Massachusetts natives, teamed up with Harpoon Brewery to create a new beer. The beer, called "Hometown Hat Trick," is the third collaboration between Harpoon and Bruins players. The trio who worked on this year's brew are center Charlie Coyle, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, and forward Chris Wagner,. Hometown Hat Trick is a pilsner that has three times the number of regular dry hops for a full-on hat trick of flavor. A portion of proceeds from every case of Hometown Hat Trick sold will be donated to the Corey C. Griffin Foundation, which supports Boston nonprofits that focus on underprivileged youth.

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Say It Ain't So

Yes, there's another new Bud on the market. Anheuser-Busch rolled out a new Budweiser this week. Budweiser Supreme is now available in D.C., Ohio, New York, central California and west Texas. It will be available nationwide in the future, though no date for a wider rollout was announced. Budweiser said it has been developing Bud Supreme for almost two years. The name was chosen because it is a superior beer at an affordable price, it said. Budweiser Supreme is an American Golden Lager that is brewed with American honey malt. It has 4.6% alcohol by volume, and 143 calories. It is described as a full-flavor lager with a crisp, silky taste. Budweiser Supreme comes in brown bottles, or black and gold cans. It is being brewed in Baldwinsville, New York, and is available wherever Budweiser is sold.

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Dogfish Eco-Friendly

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Igloo are debuting a limited-edition ECOCOOL Playmate Elite cooler that gives back to Mother Nature. Available now for purchase, The Dogfish Head inspired cooler design is made with post-consumer recycled plastic that not only delivers coolness but also supports each brand's continued efforts in creating more sustainable products and innovations. The eco-friendly Igloo and Dogfish Head ECOCOOL Playmate Elite positively impacts drinkers' enjoyment without negatively impacting the planet. Crafted with post-consumer recycled resin that saves discarded plastic yogurt cups and milk jugs from landfills, the iconic Playmate cooler features nature-inspired artwork to bring drinkers closer to the environment as they explore the great outdoors with a cold-one in hand.

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Butterfly Yeast Beer

In the past few decades, the number of Monarch butterflies has dwindled dramatically – down between 80- to 90% around the country. Now, an unusual project hoping to help, by bringing butterflies together with beer. In the past 30 years, their (Monarch) numbers are down 80% in the East and 99% across the West. They’ve been petitioned for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as ‘endangered. he main significant driver is loss of breeding habitat.

That habitat is milkweed, where the butterflies lay their eggs. To help create more habitat, conservationists are turning… to beer. John Denny of First Magnitude Brewing has created a special beer for butterflies. It’s not for the insects to consume, but for people. “We've tried to tailor the beer to display something that relates to the butterflies,” In some cases, their beers have used what’s on a butterfly. They swabbed butterflies and isolated the yeasts that were present on their wings and grew them. They were then able to use it to brew beer. The “Restore the Reign of the Monarch” program will use 25% of the beer sale proceeds from to restore butterfly habitat across the country

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The Metaverse Joke

Heineken is the latest advertiser to jump on the metaverse bandwagon. It just launched its first metaverse "beer" ads. The ads say that Heineken Silver, a virtual beverage that you can’t taste and is available exclusively through the immersive digital platform Decentraland . The go on to say it is “brewed with Binary Coded Hops grown by NPC (non-player character) farmers, according to the brand. “Our special A-yeast, usually brewed in horizontal tanks, has been replaced with A-Pixels.” It’s all a joke, of course, as Heineken’s campaign is a light-hearted jab at other brands’ obsession with the metaverse and reminds people that nothing can replace the experience of drinking a real beer.

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Beer Saves Trees

A Clearwater brewery is the first in Florida to use a special type of beer-making process that is helping save the environment. Beer makers say that carbon dioxide is naturally produced during the fermentation process, which usually gets released into the atmosphere. "We're now recapturing the CO2," said LJ Govoni, the president of the Big Storm Brewing Company. Govoni says new technology allows Big Storm to capture that CO2 and recycle it by putting it back into their beer. Larthly Labs, the company that makes the machines Big Storm uses to recapture carbon dioxide, says it would take 1,500 trees one year to recycle the same amount of CO2 done by their device.

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QUICK HITS

Anheuser-Busch InBev will sell its stake in a Russian joint venture, taking a $1.1 billion hit as the world’s largest brewer joins the global move to exit operations following the country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Corona joins Budweiser as co-exclusive MLB beer sponsor. That allows for in-stadium signage and participation in occasions just like the All-Star Recreation and the World Sequence. Budweiser is sustaining unique sponsorship of baseball’s postseason celebrations, together with locker room branding.

Britain's National Lottery teamed with Backyard Brewhouse, in Walsall, England, to create a beer called Just The Ticket in the hopes of finding the winner of an unclaimed jackpot worth nearly $1.4 million in the EuroMillions Millionaire Maker jackpot . Backyard produced 100 bottles of the blond ale to find the winner before the ticket expires May 17.
New Holland Brewing Co.'s latest release is one to celebrate – a bourbon whiskey that has been aging for five years is ready.Dragon's Milk Origin was brewed in small batches in a still from 1934. That still is full of history, as it was the seventh still commissioned in New Jersey after prohibition.
A new study proves that a pint of beer could help you creatively. Downing a pint of beer for men, or around 350 ml for women, boosted test scores in 132 men and women who were given a range of creative tasks. In one-word association test, alcohol by around 40 per cent.
Milwaukee Brewing Co. is being sued by Florida-based Kona Gold Beverage Inc. for an alleged breach of contract According to a civil lawsuit Milwaukee Brewing provides Kona Gold with a specialty lemonade beverage, “Ooh La Lemin.” A batch of the lemonade received by Kona Gold allegedly had been contaminated with yeast. Oh no.
BrewDog USA has permanently shuttered its Indianapolis-based taproom. They claim they are offering all team members full-time jobs at their other locations, a stipend for relocating, and helping facilitate future career moves. Brewdog is infamous for killing squirrels to us the bodies as beer holders in a thoughtless publicity stunt.

flash news - april 2022

FLASH NEWS

Modern Times Closes

The California-based Modern Times Beer announced a sweeping set of closures and a huge reduction in the company’s beer distribution, which will see Modern Times close 4 of its 8 brewery taproom locations and refocus its distribution solely on California and the Southwest. The reason given was " financial issues".

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Blame Barley

Barley, one of the key ingredients in making beer, is heavily produced in Ukraine, The region is often called the "breadbasket of Europe" due to the high amount of grain grown in the area. Ukraine accounts for about 20% of beer’s usage of barley, so brewers, particularly at a global level, are seeing issues with supply and price. which in turn will impact the price of beer, however. Major brewers, like Molson Coors, have reportedly been able to absorb the higher costs while keeping the price the same for consumers. That is not true of many smaller brewers.

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Cocktails Instead of Beer

A Ukrainian brewery is mixing up Molotov cocktails instead of beer as war with Russia continues. Brewery owner Yuri Zastavny said that he and his staff decided to use their own "chemical skills," supplies and labor to contribute to the fight instead of standing idly by. "Once we understand what can come through beer -- because it’s no time for beer, we need to get other things sorted out – we decided to make Molotov cocktails because we can use bottles, we can use the people, and it was a grassroots idea." Zastavny’s brewery is based in Lviv, Ukraine, He explained that over Ukraine has frequently used Molotov cocktails during other uprisings such as protests in 2014 and 2015,

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Beer Is Good For You

A new Emory University study involving over 2,200 elderly men and women discovered that those who consumed at least 1.5 drinks daily had up to a 50 percent lesser risk of suffering from heart failure. Another just released study conducted in Germany, found that moderate consumption of beer or wine may have anti-inflammatory properties, which can lower the risk coronary heart disease.

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Beer Is Bad For You

A new analysis of alcohol consumption and brain volume found that drinking even a glass of wine or one beer a day was linked to a brain-aging effect. The latest study of booze and the brain concluded that even light-to-moderate drinking could be connected to later cognitive decline. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania considered data from more than 36,000 middle-aged and older adults — about double the size of similar studies —, including lifestyle surveys and brain scans. They found that the more individuals reported drinking, the stronger the association with loss of brain matter. While the study did not look to prove a cause-effect relationship, (because they couldn’t ) the authors said heavy drinkers could benefit most from taking note of this concerning trend.

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Putin Beer

"Putin is a Dick." - That's the statement written across an image of Vladimir Putin's forehead on a new beer label that Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery has just releasted to support Ukraine. When someone purchases one of these anti-Putin crowlers — a 32-ounce to-go can filled with any one of the brewery's draft beers — $10 will be sent to the National Bank of Ukraine’s Humanitarian Assistance to Ukrainians. Crowlers with this label will cost $5 more than the usual $10 or $11. The label's name was inspired by Pravda Brewery, a Ukrainian craft brewery in Lviv that has a popular beer called "Putin is a Dick,". Lakefront has brewed two collaboration beers with Pravda in the past.

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Tours Are Back!

The Coors brewery in Golden. CO is restarting tours of the iconic beer-making facility after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tours will take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with start times every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The experience takes 90 minutes and costs $20 (plus tax). Attendees under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult, and proof of vaccination is required for everyone.

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QUICK HITS

A beer gut emoji has arrived to Apple iPhones with its latest voluntary update. This new emoji comes in five different skin tones, so someone with a massive beer gut can be any shade that he, she or they want.

Austin, along with his partners at El Segundo Brewing Company in California, have released a new beer called Broken Skull American Lager to a good portion of the country. It will be Austin’s second beer with El Segundo. His Broken Skull IPA was released in 2014 and is now available nationwide. The new brew is a 4.8% ABV lager brewed with 100% Contessa hops.

When Colorado-based chain Smashburger opens its newest location in Denver it will offer cocktails. While most locations across the U.S. sell beer in cans and bottles, this one twill be the first in the nation to boast a full bar, Their signature mixed drink is the Blueberry Smash, a blend of Jim Beam whiskey, blackberry puree, lemon sour, mint leaves and angostura bitters. The new Smashburger, is Colorado’s 24th.

According to Expert Market Research, the India beer market stood at a value of nearly ₹371 billion in 2021 and is likely to reach ₹662 billion by 2026 at an estimated CAGR of about 9.2% during 2022-2027.

Popular soda-pop beverage Mountain Dew is now being mixed with alcohol. The PepsiCo-owned brand was originally created in 1940 as a mixer for alcoholic beverages. Now, PepsiCo is rolling out a new HARD MTN Dew with the Boston Beer Company, which is partnering to help create the drink. It will be sold in four flavors in Florida, Tennessee and Iowa, with plans to expand into more states throughout 2022.

AleSmith Brewing Company is adding a non-alcoholic beer to their lineup for 2022. With the increasing demand for non-alcoholic beverages, AleSmith is expanding their innovation line to brew non-alcoholic beers, kicking it off with their Non-Alcoholic IPA, available in 12oz can 6-packs. (Editior's note: Who buys this stuff?)

Global brewer Carlsberg Group – maker of Russian beer brand Baltika – has stopped advertising its Carlsberg flagship and Baltika in Russia. Anheuser-Busch InBev has requested its joint venture partner, Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes, pause the production and sale of Bud in Russia in response to the invasion of the Ukraine.

flash news - march 2022

FLASH NEWS

BEER BRANDS REPORT 2022

High-end bars rarely allocate bar-top space to draught systems, meaning the bestselling list is a battle of the bottles. Again, given beer’s role as a refreshment ahead of the main event of cocktails, it’s typically lagers and lighter-style beers that do best. In a new poll 70% of bars reported they stock one beer brand, half stock two and a third offer three or more. With the sustained popularity of the craft movement in brewing, the general lack of craft brands on both the bestselling and trending tables is notable. Heineken returns to the top two with last year’s bestseller, Asahi Super Dry. Both brands were the most popular beer in 13% of our polled bars, and a top-three choice in a quarter. The Asahi Breweries-owned Italian lager, Peroni Nastro Azzurro rounds out the top three, Diageo’s Guinness is the only stout on the list. A number one choice in just 3% of bars, but, a top-three selling brand in 21%.

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Guinness plans zero-emission vehicles into its fleet.

The Irish brewer has also laid out ambitions for 70% of the fleet to be zero-emission by the end of 2025, and 100% by the end of the decade. “We’re really pleased to announce that we will be introducing the first zero-emission vehicles into our Quality fleet from this summer,” said Barry O’ Sullivan, managing director of Diageo Ireland.

“We are committed to reducing our indirect emissions through this initiative and want to play a key role for sustainable transport in the commercial sector in Ireland." This proposal forms part of Diageo’s wider 10-year sustainability action plan, Spirit of Progress, which outlines the company’s commitment to delivering net-zero carbon emissions across its direct operations and a reduction in indirect emissions by 50%.

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Heineken has launches Desperados Virgin 0.0% globally

Following the successful launch of Desperados Virgin 0.0% in France last year, the beer has rolled out globally now in Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and other markets throughout 2022. Diederik Vos, Desperados brand director, said:

“With a growing number of drinkers seeking alcohol-free alternatives, we are delighted to expand Desperados into the low and no-alcohol drinks category to deliver a refreshing, new taste experience.”

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Zero Carb Bud

Bud Light Next, the first zero-carb beer from Anheuser-Busch, is now hitting shelves everywhere. The new beer, is aimed at younger consumers like Gen Zers who are looking for a similar nutritional makeup to hard seltzer along with the flavor of beer. Bud claims they've been working on it for 10 years, and it wasn't until recently that brewing technology gave us the breakthrough to brew a beer with zero carbs. The brewer developed about 130 prototypes before landing on the correct recipe. A 12-ounce serving of Bud Light Next is 4% alcohol by volume and 80 calories — that's 30 fewer calories and about the same amount of alcohol compared to the original. But the big difference is in the carbs: Bud Light Next will be priced slightly higher than Bud Light. You pay more for less.

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Blue Beer

A French brewer has started using algae with a naturally-occurring pigment to turn their beer blue. The beer, with the brand name “Line”, is the result of a tie-up between a firm that wants to popularize the algae as a dietary supplement, and a nearby craft brewery that was looking for a way to make its beverages more distinctive. The blue tint comes from spirulina, an algae that is grown in basins by a company called Etika Spirulina in northern France. The component of the spirulina that gives the blue color, called phycocyanin, is then added during the brewing process.

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Short Return

A piece of Cincinnati history is returning, but not for long. Hudepohl Beers has announced the return of the Hu-Dey cans in celebration of the Bengals' run to the 2022 Super Bowl despite their loss there. Once the cans are gone, Hudepohl says, they're gone. The release has already garnered long lines outside the brewery. The lines even caused major traffic backups in the neighborhood. It's an Ohio thing.

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Germans Drinking Less

German beer sales dropped another 2.2% last year, with the coronavirus pandemic again weighing on brewers after sales tumbled 5.5% in 2020, according to just released official figures. Lockdowns that shut restaurants and bars for parts of the past two years have added to a long-term downward trend fueled by health concerns and other factors.

The Federal Statistical Office said that German-based breweries and distributors sold about 8.5 billion liters in 2021.

German beer exports to other countries in the European Union dropped 4%, while exports to countries outside the bloc were up 12.7%.

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QUICK HITS

Last year, more than 1.3 million people around the world used the beer rating app Untappd to check in — share a brew they drank — some 126 million times. Tree House had the most check-ins
Ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages and cocktails grew 56% by volume in 2021, making it the fastest-growing spirits category of the year. The concoctions are overshadowing spiked seltzers, which have grown but less than expected.
Guinness just released a recommendation that their bottles or cans should be chilled for at least 24 hours before serving for best results. To pour correctly tilt the glass and bottle towards each other and pour in one single go.
Jeremy Clarkson's lager is Britain's best selling beer on Amazon The ex-Top Gear host's Hawkstone lager soared to the top of the online charts just eight hours after it launched.
A new study, conducted by Money.co.uk, analyzed the average cost of a pint of beer to find the cheapest. in Europe, the Czech Republic came out on top with the average price in Prague just £1.34 ($1.79 US). In Poland, the cities of Wroclaw, Krakow and Warsaw are in 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively, and all under £1.90 per pint. ($2.54 US)
A 25-ounce can of Michelob Ultra is usually at a grocery retailer, for around $3 but at the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angles, the same brand of beer cost $17 for the same-size can
Coca-Cola announced a partnership with Constellation Brands to launch an alcoholic version of the beverage called Fresca Mixed. Yawn.

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flash news - february 2022

FLASH NEWS

Popcorn and Beer

Cinemas in the state of New York can now serve wine and beer at concession stands and movie-goers are allowed to take their drinks into the theater for the show, the State Liquor Authority ruled in a unanimous vote. Previously, theaters could only sell the drinks if they had a restaurant license with a full kitchen and waitstaff or a tavern license that limited drinking to a table, often in the lobby. Under the new rule, cinemas serving just popcorn and other snacks can now also sell wine, beer and cider as long as it isn’t the businesses’ “prime source of revenue.” Hard liquor sales are still not permitted unless they have a restaurant license and serve the drinks at the moviegoer’s seat,

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Corona Price Increases

The maker of popular beer brands Corona and Modelo expects to raise prices by up to 2 percent this year because of a shortage of glass, an inflation-fueled rise in the price of commodities and supply chain bottlenecks. Shockingly they did not blame Covid. Constellation Brands Inc, the largest beer import company in the US, told shareholders that a shortage of brown glass is to blame. (but doesn't Corona come in clear glass bottles? The company also said that higher freight and warehousing costs brought about by disruptions in the supply chain are also driving up costs. delays in cargo shipments caused by a shortage of truckers has created a backlog at the ports. That bodes ill for the industry, since between 20 and 30 percent of bottles used in the US are imported from either Europe or Asia.

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It's All About The Cans

At the behest of the Brewers Association and U.S. Senator, (Ron Wyden (OR)Ball Corporation is delaying the change in policy the would have hurt many small brewers. Ball will delay the new policy of quadrupling the minimum number of cans for an order until March 1, 2022. However, Ball added the caveat that it will not be able to provide customers with delivery date assurances. Aluminum cans currently make up around 60 percent of craft beer’s packaged volume. Away from beer, demand for aluminum cans continues to grow at an accelerated pace as large beverage brands switch from plastic bottles to aluminum cans. This puts the squeeze on the availability of aluminum cans for others.

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More Share of the Throat

Bud Light is adding cola and orange soda to its seltzer, Mountain Dew is moving into the alcohol aisles and Molson Coors has a whiskey brand. In the hunt for growth, beverage companies are experimenting in new categories, blurring the lines between beer, soft drinks and spirits to become powerhouses fighting for consumers’ so-called “share of throat.” In 2021, total beverage alcohol consumption rose 2% — the biggest gain for the industry in nearly two decades, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. Beer was the only category to see declining volume, true to a years long trend. Consumers reached for hard seltzer cans or mixed their own cocktails at home.

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Troy Aikman Beer Is Here

Troy Aikman won three Super Bowls, is in the Hall of Fame, and now the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback will try his hand in the beer industry. Aikman, 55, launched "EIGHT" a light beer company he co-founded with four other individuals. EIGHT will only be sold in Texas and distributed at notable retail locations, including HEB, a prominent supermarket chain in South Texas. Aikman spoke about EIGHT’s future. “If we go beyond the borders of Texas,” said Aikman, “then we’ll all be excited because that means that there’s a need and demand outside the state.”

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QUICK HITS

Big Drop Brewing Co., the world’s first craft brewery dedicated to non-alcoholic beer, is launching its fourth NA brew in the U.S. – new Coba Maya non-alcoholic Mexican-style brew. Big Drop is currently distributed in seven states i and ships to 42 states from its online shop. Six-packs of 12-ounce cans are $12.99 SRP.

2022 Fedruary marks the 20th anniversary of Dale’s Pale Ale, that holds the distinction of being the first craft beer ever packaged in a can. To mark the milestone, Oskar Blues Brewery will release of Double Dale’s Imperial IPA, available now nationwide in single-serve 19.2 oz cans, in 6-packs of 12 oz. can, and on draft.

Scotland’s BrewDog allegedly submitted false information to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) when it was exporting its beer to the U.S. before opening its Columbus, Ohio-based brewery, according to the BBC. They have allegedly been involved in other questionable practices.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is debuting a non-alcoholic version of Corona beer infused with vitamin D, an industry first that aims to tap into the growing moderation movement and add a dose of bottled sunshine to the winter season. The concept for Corona Sunbrew 0.0%, which has been two-plus years in the making,

Ancient Iron Age miners in what is now Austria were fond of beer and blue cheese, according to a new analysis, published in the journal Current Biology, of preserved paleo-poop. The researchers found evidence of two fungal species commonly used to produce blue cheese and beers,.

Berlin International Beer Competition crowned No-Li brewing of spoken, WA with a double gold, along with three gold medals. The local brewery also took home the #1 international American craft brewery.

flash news - january 2022

FLASH NEWS

Record Number of Breweries

Even after the setbacks of Covid-19, the United States reached a record number of breweries in 2021. According to the Brewers Association, there are now more than 9,000 operating beer producers in the U.S. That number includes 710 new breweries opened across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, offsetting the 176 that closed their doors. In 2021, the craft beer industry provided 400,000 total jobs, with 140,000 being those directly working at breweries.

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Algae Beer

Young Henry's Brewery in Australia is using green algae to make an environmentally friendly beer. However the algae is just part of the production process, it never touches the beer. During the beer’s fermentation process, the microalgae ingests the carbon dioxide released instead of letting it go out into the atmosphere. Leftover algae goes into cattle feed, reducing the methane gas released by cows.

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Beer Rationing

Australia’s largest beer manufacturers have announced an easing of rationing its most popular canned beer in amid supply chain issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Shortages of wooden pallets and aluminium were the cause.

The situation, labelled “pallet-gate” by the press had forced breweries to prioritize its most popular products

Products less in demand have been left to dwindle out of stock, unlikely to be back in production before 2022.

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More $ for AB InBev

AB InBev just announced a surprise push into what it called biotech. Rather than giving away the malt barley byproducts of the brewing process, it will turn them into plant-based proteins that can be sold to the food and beverage industry. This nascent business is expected to generate an additional $20 million in revenue next year. That won’t move the needle beside roughly $57 billion in expected sales, but in time it could juice growth.

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Coke & Cannabis

Coca Cola Inc. announced a possible entry into the cannabis industry by infusing cannabidiol (or CBD) from cannabis into “functional wellness beverages and possibly beer around the world”. Preliminary research has indicated that CBD has significant medical benefits in the treatment of neurological disorders. It is also non-psychoactive, meaning that it does not have an adverse effect on a person’s awareness of their surroundings.

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Crypto Beer Vending Machine

With blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies being applied to such a wide variety of businesses, it was only a matter of time before these two trendy areas converged in alcohol sales. Civic a San Francisco-based company has just unveiled the first "crypto beer vending machine". The developers view the most salient feature of the machine as its ability to determine whether or not a potential customer is of legal drinking age.

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QUICK HITS

Since supply chain woes have hit Dutch beer maker Heineken hard, it is holding an online contest for consumers who can prove they can't get an item delivered. Winners get a card good for a free 12-pack of beer from local retailers. A 12-pack of bottles typically costs somewhere between $14.99 and $16.99.

One of the world’s largest suppliers of aluminum cans is sending shockwaves throughout the craft beer world. Starting January 1, 2022, Ball Corporation is doubling the minimum number of cans non-contract customers must order. Small breweries are outraged since they would have to raise prices which would lose customers.

Fort Worth’s Martin House Brewing new beer, Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins, is brewed with maple syrup, lactose, chocolate, marshmallows, M&Ms and spaghetti. Yes, spaghetti. Earlier they released Space Pizza, brewed with tomatoes and oregano and beers with sour patch kids, Oreo cookies, cheese popcorn and their (in)famous squid ink and menthol brew.

A new study proves that a pint of beer could help you creatively. Downing a pint of beer boosted test scores in 40% men and women who were given a range of creative tasks. Beneficial effects were restricted to modest amounts.

Tilray, the Canadian cannabis company and owner of Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewing, has just announced a deal to acquire San Diego-based Green Flash Brewing and Alpine Beer Company.

Harpoon Brewery iannounced that its Rec League Hazy Pale Ale will now be widely available in Sweden. The Boston / Vermont-based brewery won the coveted tender for system-wide availability with Systembolaget. Rec League beer a tropical blend of hops of buckwheat kasha, chia seed, and sea salt

flash news - december 2021

FLASH NEWS

Bells Brewery Sold

Bell's Brewery is selling. Its leader, Larry Bell, is retiring. Bell — who founded Bell's in 1985, brewing its first beers in a 15-gallon soup kettle and later inventing several hallmark beers such as the Two Hearted Ale and the Oberon Ale — announced he is selling his company to Australasian beer company Lion, a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin, for an undisclosed amount. Lion also owns Colorado's New Belgium Brewing among its portfolio of international craft beer brands.

The move will ultimately combine Bell's, the 16th-largest overall brewer in America by sales volume in 2020, and New Belgium, the 11th-largest, into a "new American craft beer leader," though both will retain their brands and beers.

While the leadership team at Bell's will not change and neither will day-to-day operations "I first incorporated the company when I was 25 in 1983," Bell, 63, said, referring to what was originally The Kalamazoo Brewing Company Inc., a homebrewing supply store that began selling its own beer two years later. "I've been CEO of the company for 38 years. That's a long time. It's a great career. "But there comes a time that you have to decide what you're going to do. And last year, I dealt with my old friend cancer again. I'm fine, I had successful surgery. But it does make you think about what you're going to do." Bell's children reportedly had no interest in taking over the brewery.

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Hangover Cure Revealed

If you've started to get invites and emails to Christmas drinks and events then you might be wondering how your liver will cope this festive season. The copious amounts of elf ales and prancer prosecco is likely to leave you feeling a little bit hungover, but one new report says there is a simple solution that can fix your sore head. Instead of loading up on junk from fast food outlets to perk yourself up after a heavy night, keep it clean with what the researchers claim is perfect drink to help you feel back on track. Blend together 300mls of coconut water, handful of kale, half a celery stick, a quarter of a cucumber, and juice of half a lemon.

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Political Beer Gaffe

A photocall in which the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak brandished beer barrels to promote a cut in the duty charged on draught beer has fallen flat, after it was pointed out that the kegs would not qualify for the tax relief under current proposals. Sunak had just announced that the government would reduce the tax levied on draught beer by 5%, cutting the price of a pint by 3p. Shortly after Sunak announcement the “draught relief” policy, he and Johnson visited Fourpure brewery on London’s “beer mile” where they were pictured with 30-litre kegs. But the government’s own proposals state that the reduction, due to come into force in 2023, would only apply to beer sold in containers of 40 litres, prompting claims that the publicity stunt had turned into a “gaffe”.

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College Champ

MiraCosta College’s BrewTech program has just earned the Grand National Championship title in the U.S. Open College Beer Championship, First-time contender in the championship, MiraCosta College won gold medals for their hefeweizen, pale ale, spring IPA and stout, plus a silver for their raspberry Berliner. The Open College Beer Championship is in its fifth year, with colleges and universities from the United States and Canada participating. The U.S. Open is the only competition for beers exclusively from colleges' brewing and fermentation programs.

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7-Eleven Delivers

Alcohol e-commerce delivery platform Drizly has just announced a partnership with convenience giant 7-Eleven, allowing consumers to order alcohol delivery from more than 1,200 stores across 11 states. The companies plan to expand the collaboration in the coming months to bring Drizly's alcohol delivery to over 2,000 stores nationwide. Consumers of legal drinking age across Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington can now visit Drizly.com or download the Drizly app (App Store and Google Play) to shop from 7-Eleven's wide range of adult beverages.

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A-B Buys Another One

Anheuser-Busch has just purchased Hoop Tea, a Maryland-based beverage company known for its tea-infused malt beverages and seltzers. Hoop Tea will join Anheuser-Busch’s Beyond Beer portfolio, which includes brands such as Cutwater Spirits, Babe Wine and Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer. The segment has captured more than $1 billion in revenue during the last three years. It's a similar strategy being used by rival Molson Coors, which has become an expert in energy drinks, beverages with THC, hard seltzers and natural diet sodas as it moves to "fundamentally change" its portfolio. Molson Coors is targeting $1 billion in revenue from its emerging growth brands by 2023.

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QUICK HITS

Brooklyn Brewery is expanding its Special Effects non-alcoholic beer line with a new 12-pack featuring four varieties of non-alc beers.The variety pack will launch in select markets this month, and will be distributed throughout the rest of Brooklyn’s 30-plus state footprint in January, 2022.

The Brewers Association (BA) will require attendees of its 2022 events to provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19 and will not accept negative test results as a substitute. “All events and competitions will have this requirement,” BA marketing and communications director Ann Obenchain told Brewbound. “There will be no negative test option.”

The Brewers Association has just released numbers that show when it comes to craft beer production, India pale ales (IPAs) are No. 1 at 30.2%. Rounding out the list are Belgian witbiers, 23.3%; seasonal, 10.5%; lagers, 9.1%; pale ales, 7.7%; and amber ales, 5.5%.

Anchor Brewing and the city of San Francisco have just partnered on a water reuse project that will allow the brewery to both save water and recycle as many as 20 million gallons of it each year. Once treated, the process water will be used for things like rinsing bottles and cleaning equipment. Because most breweries typically need anywhere between five and seven gallons of water to produce just one gallon of beer, the innovative system will help Anchor meet its demand while also saving the environment.

A new report also shines a light on how the color of your beer might impact the nutrients inside. It said darker beers may have a higher antioxidant content than brews that are lighter in color thanks, due in large part to malt.

flash news - november 2021

FLASH NEWS

A Rose By Any Other Name

Florida Beer Company is no more. It has been renamed for its owners, Carib Brewery USA . Trinidad-based ANSA McAL purchased the brewery in 2016, but the name remained the same. Now the company wants to unify its brand. Carib breweries have operated in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis since the 1950s. Carib Brewery’s Cape Canaveral location produces about 600,000 cases a year, and the company’s beer brands include Caribe, Giant Leap, Key West, Swamp Ape and Hurricane Reef. The brewery also produces the butterbeer served at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and the Isla Nublar at the Jurassic World attraction.

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Coors Whiskey

Sales of American whiskey have soared by nearly 49% over the past five years, paving the way for Five Trail, a new spirit from the Molson Coors company. It’s their first premium spirit. The whiskey’s name, Five Trail , is a reference to the five generations of the Coors family who have been behind the company. But what kind of whiskey would fit under the banner of a company associated with beer? David Coors came up with a plan to make a blended spirit that would incorporate an American single-malt whiskey (similar to Scotch) — malt is a key ingredient in beer, after all — along with a few different bourbons. Five Trail has the malty richness reminiscent of Scotch with the sweet notes of bourbon. David Coors says you should pick up flavors ranging from biscuits and roasted nuts to caramel and vanilla.

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Beers Banned Because of Packaging

Tiny Rebel Brewing (Wales) was found to have breached rules including appealing to underage drinkers, sexual references and causing offence. The brewery also fell foul of rules on marketing drinks as clearly alcoholic. Because of this they were forced to withdraw four beers from sale and is now working closely with the authorities.

Government regulators said they received complaints from the Metropolitan Police, Alcohol Focus Scotland and a member of the public, leading it to review eight beers. They were: Bump 'n' Grind, Cherry Bomb, Clwb Tropicana cans and four-can packaging, Double 99, No Capes, Original Nuttah and Cali Pale. In the case of Original Nuttah, the panel ruled the name - along with imagery on the the can - was "likely to be taken as a derogatory reference to mental illness and was likely to cause serious offence". Bump 'n' Grind had a "direct association with sexual activity", while Cherry Bomb was said to have displayed elements associated with soft drinks, rather than alcoholic ones.

No Capes and the four-pack for Clwb Tropicana were ruled to breach codes of practice on not appealing to under-18s. Double 99 also breached the same rule and "encouraged immoderate consumption" of alcohol.

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Guinness Made In Chicago?

Guinness has tapped the West Loop in Chicago to be the home of its second U.S. brewery. Guinness Chicago Taproom is expected to open in Fulton Market in early 2023, and more specifically — and hopefully — by St. Patrick’s Day, the iconic Irish brewer just announced. Jay Sethi, chief marketing officer of Diageo Beer Company, USA — a branch of Guinness’ parent company, London-based Diageo — called Chicago a “natural choice” from a historical and business standpoint. This will be the second Guinness taproom opened in the U.S. in four years. The beer maker returned to North America in 2018 for the first time in more than 60 years, opening the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe, Maryland, near Baltimore. That first U.S. venture opened near New York after WWII, when Guinness figured American soldiers who had served in Europe would have a craving for the stout they’d tasted overseas. But that beer house closed in 1954 due to lack of demand,Chicago, the nation’s third-most-populous city, is also the second biggest U.S. market for Guinness, making it an ideal candidate to host the next Guinness in North America.

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Pro-Beer Legislators

The Beer Institute named twelve members of the United States Congress as its “2021 Beer Champions” for their leadership in supporting federal policies that aid U.S. brewers, beer importers and beer industry suppliers. The Beer Institute recognized them for securing permanent excise tax relief, championing efforts for tax relief for products that spoiled due to closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuring the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans reflect a preponderance of the scientific evidence. The winners are Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)Senator Kevin Cramer (R- ND)Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX)Representative Andy Harris (R-MD)Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)Representative Ron Kind (D-WI)Representative Darin LaHood (R-IL)Representative Richard Neal (D-MA)

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QUICK HITS

New Belgium is encouraging fans to create a short film with their action figure for its Pint Size Film Festival. The winner will get $5,000 and have their short premiere at the Festival. There are also second and third place prices. Get a Voodoo Ranger action figure in this Vootique and use PSFF to get $10 off . The skeletal hero doesn’t have to be the star, but should play a role in the movie’s story. Info here.

Scotland was the first country in the world to bring in minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol, currently fixed at 50p per unit. It targeted low-cost, high-strength beverages, seen as a source of problem drinking. That caused less of it to be sold. However a just released report from Manchester University found no significant statistical changes in alcohol-related crime, disorder and public nuisance offences. So much for blaming the beer.

In modern day Iraq, a 5,000-year-old Sumerian tablet was uncovered that was revealed to be a paystub. What was interesting is it appears that the worker was paid in beer. Though it may seem like low pay to us, in the third millennium, food and metal currency were scarce, so goods and services were often “as good as gold.”

Mountain Dew a staple soda's parent company, PepsiCo, is partnering with Boston Beer Company on the launch of Hard MTN Dew. The initial launch will see the beverage available in six- and 12-packs of 24-ounce cans. Clocking in at 5-percent ABV, Hard MTN Dew flavors will include Black Cherry, Watermelon, and the original citrusy lemon.

The Craft Beer Marketing Awards (CBMAS) has announced that its 2022 Awards Program is now open and accepting beer–related marketing and design entries from around the globe (including hard seltzer, cider, and mead). Entries are being accepted from October 30, 2021 through January 14, 2022. Founded in 2019, the CBMAS is the only awards competition in the world to celebrate the very best of craft beer marketing and design.

flash news - october 2021

FLASH NEWS

Stella Goes Zero

Stella Artois—known for their traditional beer—is stepping into the non-alcoholic game with a new product. Hitting shelves in select cities later this month, Liberté will deliver the same classic Stella Artois Lager taste just without all the alcohol (meaning it will have a 0.0 percent ABV listed) Stella Artois Liberté will come in the classic 11.2oz glass bottle and a redesigned blue label, containing a full-flavored premium alcohol-free lager with a well-balanced flavor of malt sweetness, crisp hop bitterness, and clean finish. The new product is being introduced this September and will be pouring into select markets including New York, Washington D.C., Miami, and Philadelphia. Stella Artois® is part of a brewing tradition dating back to 1366. It is the winner of the 2019 World Beer Award for World's Best International Lager and is present in 95 countries. Stella Artois is a bottom filtered, blonde pilsner.

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Beer and Politics

A brewery in northern Wisconsin with a nearby population of just under 4,500 is using part of its profits to try to get state Senator Ron Johnson out of office. The Minocqua Brewing Company which is a self-described brewer of ‘Progressive beer’, has created a beer called ‘Filibuster Ale – Must be Quaffed before 2022’. The is a hazelnut brown ale with a colorful and politics-inspired label. Anyone who purchases the beer or merchandise will indirectly contribute to the brewery’s super PAC. 5% of all of their brewery’s profits reportedly go towards removing Sen. Johnson from office and trying to replace him with a progressive candidate who will get rid of the filibuster. Minocqua Brewing Company tells Local 5, they have raised over $200,000 from the super PAC and the owner has already spent over $100,000 of it on billboards and radio ads calling out Wisconsin Republicans. Minocqua is just over 160 miles north of Green Bay. Senator Johnson has yet to announce which brewery will be supporting him.

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Boston Beer Goes Cannabis

Boston Beer Company (BBC) has agreed to a five-year, $3.42 million deal with Peak Processing Solutions, a licensed developer, manufacturer, and distributor of recreational and medical cannabis products in Canada. Per the agreement, BBC will pay Peak a minimum of $285,000 annually, totallying $1.42 million, according to the release. BBC will also provide an initial $2 million in funding for “capital improvements associated with the development project,” including constructing new laboratory facilities. A minimum of $500,000 will be dedicated for increasing Peak’s “beverage manufacturing capabilities.”

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BPI Tells The Tale

The BPI is a measure of anticipated beer demand based on a survey of wholesaler purchases across various segments. Readings above 50 indicate expansion of purchasing, while a reading below indicates contraction.

Although the overall beer category’s inventory levels at risk of going out of code remained below 50 — signaling ongoing supply constraints at the end of the just past summer selling season — the lower index for hard seltzers/FMBs compared to September 2020 signaled that “the segment’s momentum has slowed down significantly,” according to the NBWA. “The FMB/seltzer segment continues to see significant declines this summer,” the NBWA wrote. “This reading of 58 is much closer to 2016 and 2017 results for [the] FMB segment. A reading of 58 indicates the category is still growing, but it is down substantially from readings earlier this year.” Both imports and craft expanded in September 2021 with readings of 66 and 59, respectively. Both segments outpaced their September 2020 readings when imports posted a 60 and craft recorded a 54. Premium lights was the only other segment in expansion territory, with a reading of 57 in September 2021, but far below ilast year's reading of 70. Regular domestic beer (41 reading), below premium (37) and cider (43) all contracted in September 2021.

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Lawsuit

The Mexican arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR) has accused Constellation Brands (STZ.N) in a lawsuit of a second breach of their deal allowing Constellation to sell Mexican beers in the United States.

Grupo Modelo filed a suit in the U.S. district court of the southern district of New York on Tuesday, according to a court document, over Constellation's launch of two Modelo Reserva beers, one aged on tequila and another on bourbon barrels. It says the first breaches U.S. and Mexican laws that strictly limit the use of the word tequila, and the second breaches Constellation's sub-licence to sell "Mexican-style beer" because bourbon has nothing to do with Mexico. The sub-licence also does not allow this type of spirit branding, the suit says. Constellation said Grupo Modelo's claims were without merit and that it had fully complied with the sub-licence terms. AB InBev, which confirmed the filing, said Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) had also demanded Constellation cease its use of the word tequila in marketing.

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QUICK HITS

UNC Charlotte just announced it is joining N.C. State, Appalachian State and Wake Forest as one of few universities with their own co-branded craft beer. The Gold Rush Gold Lager, with 4.9% alcohol content, is the culmination of a partnership between the school, Cabarrus Brewing Co. and sports marketing company Learfield.

Local Plastic Inc. has just joined forces with breweries throughout the Northwest to breathe new life into single-use plastics by transforming them into completely new products. They are producing large sheets of recycled plastic, which are then handed over to designers and other makers to turn them into functional pieces ranging from planters, bowls, to tabletops, and even barstools making for a greener beer industry, one six-pack at a time.

The Truly brand took share of the hard seltzer market from from White Claw over the past 12 months. Its share of the market now trails White Claw by less than 10%, compared to more than 20% last year.

Starting this weekend, Texans will no longer have to wait until 12 p.m. to buy beer on Sundays. The new law allows retailers who sell beer and wine for off-site consumption, like grocery and convenience stores, to begin selling at 10 a.m. on Sundays, instead of noon. It also permits hotel bars to sell alcohol to their registered guests at any time but does not affect the rules pertaining to other bar and restaurants’ alcohol sales on Sunday, such as the food requirement for drinks served10 a.m. - noon, nor does it affect the Sunday closure of liquor stores.

The percentage of adults who drink craft reached 44% last year, up from 35% two years ago, according to the Brewers Association,. Data showed that 25 to 34 year-olds make up the largest share (47.5%) of craft beer purchasers in the convenience store channel, followed by 35 to 44 year-olds (31.3%) and consumers 24 and younger (15%). Males account for 62.5% of craft beer purchases.

Have you ever wondered how many bubbles are in your beer? Scientists did, and they came up with a number, calculating that a gently poured half-pint of lager will produce between 200,000 and 2 million bubbles before going flat. "These bubbles are important sensory elements of beer tasting, similar to sparkling wines, because they transport flavor and scent compounds," said the just released report from University of Edinburgh .

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FEATURED REPORT

Lighter Than Light

The newest version of Bud Light , the largest selling beer in the US, is even lighter. Anheuser-Busch has announced the launch of Bud Light Next, the company's first-ever zero-carb beer. The beverage, which hits shelves in early 2022, comes as health-conscious customers have gravitated toward light beers in recent years — and beer in general is in the middle of a big resurgence. Bud Light Next is the "next generation of light beer for the next generation of beer drinkers," said Andy Goeler, vice president of marketing for Bud Light. He told CNN Business in an exclusive interview that the new beer is aimed at younger consumers, such as Generation Z, who are seeking out the similar nutritional makeup of hard seltzer and the flavor of beer.

Cutting out carbs has become increasingly popular over the years because of various diet trends and changing consumer habits. The market, particularly for beer, has been flooded with low-carb varieties, but Anheuser-Busch (BUD) is the first major brewer to launch a zero-carb beer. Goeler said that developing Bud Light Next took around a decade with roughly 130 prototypes created before landing on the correct concoction. Internally, the process was called "Project Impossible" and the end product is a "major step for us," he said.

A 12-ounce serving of Bud Light Next is 4% alcohol-by-volume and 80 calories. That's 30 fewer calories and about the same amount of alcohol-by-volume compared to Bud Light. However, Bud Light has 6.6 grams of carbs in a 12-ounce serving. Many other low-carb beers currently on sale have half that amount of carbs. The taste of Bud Light Next, according to Goeler, is "light, refreshing and clean" with a hint of citrus. It will be sold in 6-packs and 12-packs in both bottles and cans and cost slightly more than Bud Light.

Launching a new beer in the crowded marketplace is risky, so the company is employing the same strategy it used with Bud Light Seltzer by attaching the beer to the Bud Light banner. He added that the new beer also helps Bud Light pivot from "the light beer to the light brand," similar to how Natural Light (also owned by Anheuser-Busch) is moving beyond beer into boozy popsicles and flavored vodkas.

Beer sales had been declining for much of the past decade, but the pandemic has largely reversed that trend. Americans now are reaching for beer because of its affordability, brand familiarity and product innovations that have reignited interest. Nielsen said that retail sales of beer soared 8.6% last year, totaling $40 billion. In particular, light beer sales jumped 5% to $10.6 billion because of the popularity of seltzers and low-carb bee

flash news - september 2021

FLASH NEWS

Recycling Boom

COVID-19 has meant boom times for bottle recyclers. With many supermarkets shuttering their bottle return bins, people are seeking out specialized redemption centers and beverage stores to cash in on their empties.

People who might normally bring nickel-deposit cans and bottles to their local supermarket are unable to do so in many instances. That’s because a number of chains have closed their container-return areas amid worries about social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. Things were so busy that the NY state Department of Environmental Conservation has just now temporarily halted enforcement of the state’s bottle bill, which mandates that retailers like supermarkets accept the empties and pay for them.

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Hard Mountain Dew

Two beverage industry giants, PepsiCo and Boston Beer, have announced a partnership to create an alcoholic Mountain Dew drink. The beverage, called Hard Mtn Dew, will be produced by Boston Beer, the fourth-largest brewery in the United States. PepsiCo will be tasked with selling, delivering and marketing the product. Hard Mtn Dew is expected to make its way to shelves in early 2022. PepsiCo’s biggest competitor and market leader, Coca-Cola, announced it would create Topo Chico Hard Seltzer in October. The drink will be produced through a partnership with Molson Coors Beverage.

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Even In Germany Beer Slumps

German beer sales in this year's first half were 2.7% lower than a year earlier, dragged lower by closures of bars and restaurants that stretched through winter and into spring, according to official data just released. German-based breweries and distributors sold about 4.2 billion liters (1.1 billion gallons) of beer from March to August, the Federal Statistical Office said. That figure doesn’t include alcohol-free beer or beer imported from outside the European Union. Domestic sales dropped 4.9% compared with the same time last year. There were steep drops of 27% and 19.1% respectively in January and February but gains after that. Sales were up 12.4% on the year in March and 11.2% in July.. In contrast, first-half exports were higher. There was a 3.5% increase in exports to other EU countries and an 11.9% jump in sales to nations outside the EU.

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Beer Price Increases Coming

The makers of some of the world’s bestselling food and drink brands warned they would keep raising prices as they grapple with the strongest inflation in years. Nestlé SA, Diageo PLC, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA and Danone SA all said that sales were rising as key markets rebound from the pandemic, but that the recovery was also leading to rapidly increasing costs for ingredients, packaging and transport. AB InBev particularly warned of rising prices.

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Beer Bottle Shortage

A beer bottle shortage has hit St. Louis. Area distributors, pub owners, and beer drinkers are feeling the impact. Webster University economist doctorate Mitch Ellison says the shortages stem from the pandemic shutdowns. Beer lovers drank from bottles at home instead of kegs at the pub. Now, with everything reopening nationwide, supply chains are adjusting to keep up. Also, industry consolidation also means fewer suppliers of more of the world’s glass

The bottle shortage is expected to continue into the fall. An Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman acknowledged the impact of a glass bottle shortage saying things should improve in the months ahead.

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QUICK HITS

A brewery in Texas is hoping to give residents yet another good reason to get the vaccine. Thirsty Planet Brewing Company in Austin is giving a free case of beer to anyone who gets the COVID-19 vaccine at its headquarters .The brewery is partnering with Livingston Med Lab, an operator of mobile clinics in Texas, to give out the shots.

Budvar, the Czech brewer that has been in a long legal dispute with U.S. company Anheuser-Busch over use of the “Budweiser” brand, increased its net profit by almost 10% last year amid record output as the pandemic saw people drink less in bars and more at home. Budejovicky Budvar NP, a 125-year-old state-owned brewery, said its net profit reached 305 million koruna ($14 million) in 2020. Its output rose 3.1% to a record of 1.73 million hectoliters (45.7 million gallons) last year. Budvar sells its beer in around 80 countries with Germany, its key market,

Hard to believe but canned craft beer makes up only 9% of the total craft beer market, even though cans are proven to be better for the beer, better for the environment and more convenient for the consumer.

.Website RateBeer has just give Natty Light first place as the worst-tasting beer in the world. In stark (and confusing) contrast at the prestigious World Beer Cup in 2008, the brand won a bronze medal for Best American-Style Light Lager. So much for ratings and awards.

Just released reports say that Boston Beer’s Truly hard seltzer and Twisted Tea brands are still the two fastest growing brands in the hard seltzer category, Overall, the company’s revenue rose 33% in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis.

The state of Oklahoma and an industry group have partnered to launch a campaign meant to inspire Oklahomans and visitors to explore the state's craft breweries. The Oklahoma Craft Beer Trail is a project of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry's agritourism program and the Craft Brewers Association of Oklahoma. 30,000 printed maps of craft breweries with taprooms will be distributed at Oklahoma welcome centers.

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FEATURED REPORT

Bud Scores In China

Beer giant Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. is accelerating testing for new products in China as it works to keep up with rapidly shifting tastes in the world’s largest consumer market. Spirits and beverages low on alcohol -- or free of it altogether -- are in the testing pipeline for the Chinese market this year, complementing its key high-end beer business The move by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s Asia-Pacific unit reflects a global strategy of diversifying out of beer, after Covid-19 slashed overall consumption at restaurants, bars and sporting venues. Some 90 of AB InBev’s brands are now making non-beer options in 40 countries, mainly in Europe and North America.

AB InBev saw a 40% jump in sales from new businesses last year to $1.2 billion overall, while beer revenue fell 10%. Still, it remains heavily reliant on beer sales, with the newer drinks accounting for less than 3% of its total revenue of $47 billion in 2020.

Budweiser APAC is among the foreign brands facing pressure to stay relevant in China, where shoppers are constantly bombarded by new brands and products and beer sales growth is stagnant. While overall beer sales aren’t growing in China, premium brews -- Budweiser’s mainstay -- are booming, as well as demand for beverages from energy drinks to packaged coffee and fruit tea, data from Euromonitor International shows.

Budweiser APAC faces a crowded field as it expands its repertoire in China. Shenzhen-based tea chain Nayuki Holdings Ltd. more than doubled its sales in 2019 and grew another 22% last year, raising $656 million in its Hong Kong debut last month. Sparling water and milk tea have led Warburg Pincus-backed healthy beverage maker Genki Forest to a valuation of $6 billion. Nongfu Spring Co. -- China’s bottled water king, owned by the country’s richest man, Zhong Shanshan -- is promoting its vitamin drinks and soda.

Other beermakers including Carlsberg AS and China Resources Beer Holdings Co. are also diversifying.

The beverage market in China is highly competitive with very low consumer loyalty,” said Jason Yu, managing director of research firm Kantar Worldpanel Greater China. “Even the traditional giants have to start from the very beginning to build consumer trust and brand recognition with continuous innovation.”

Budweiser APAC began testing two new, China-only non-beer brands in May, selling lychee-flavored sugar-free sparkling water and peach energy drinks on Tmall. The company recently also signed distribution agreements with Red Bull GmbH and Sazerac Co.’s Fireball Cinnamon Whisky to sell online and in venues including nightclubs/bars.

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flash news - august 2021

FLASH NEWS

Most Valuable

Corona has pushed its way to the top of the brewing world as the most valuable brand—at least according to a new list. Brand Finance— "the world's leading brand valuation consultancy"—has released its annual report on the world's top 50 most valuable beer brands, and once again, Corona took the first spot, despite Brand Finance suggesting that Corona lost over $2 billion in value over the past year. The rest of the top 10 are Heineken, Budweiser, Victoria, Bud Light, Snow, Modelo Especial, Kirin, Miller Lite, and Asahi.

Corona's success stems from being "the bestselling imported drink in the United States, with an additional presence in over 120 countries as well as recently becoming "one of the fastest growing grocery products in the United Kingdom, Meanwhile, in American Michelob is the fastest growing brand, jumping up 13 spots to number 21 in the rankings after seeing its value increase 39% to $1.2 billion mainly due to Michelob Ultra.

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Wawa's Summer Beer

Now, for the summer of 2021, Wawa has announced plans to collaborate on their first-ever summer beer -- and of course, it's inspired by their signature flavored lemonade. Wawa and 2SP Brewing Company has released Sunfest Strawberry Lemonade Shandy. As has been the case with past collaborations, 2SP's head brewer Bob Barrar teamed up with Wawa's manager of concept development and beverage guru Michael McLaughlin to make sure the beer was authentically Wawa. The 4-percent ABV results are billed as "a crushable, light-bodied shore beer with a touch of strawberry sweetness and a delightful pucker finish."

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Notable Passing

The Pennsylvania woman whose "I need more beer" photo went viral and inspired a big beer delivery from Coors has died. Olive Veronesi died peacefully with her family by her side this week, just a few days after her 94th birthday.

Olive went viral in April last year with a photo of her through a window holding up a can of Coors Light and a dry-erase board reading, "I need more beer." She said the photo was taken when she was down to her last 12 cans while self-isolating. Coors quickly delivered ten cases of beer with a promise of more to come.

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Hops Record

Hop Growers of America (HGA) just announced that the USA’s hop farmers strung more acres of hops in 2021 than any year in history. According to a report from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the nation’s hop farmers strung 60,735 acres this year, an increase of 4 percent over the previous year. In part, the increased acreage indicates that hop growers are optimistic that the brewing industry will rebound quickly with the reopening of restaurants, pubs, sports bars, and other venues that faced closure during the pandemic. Hop suppliers report that shipments to brewers picked up in the second quarter of 2021, another indicator that the brewing industry is ramping back up to meet demand.

The top five hop varieties planted were Citra® Brand HBC 394, Mosaic® Brand HBC 369, CTZ, Cascade, and Simcoe® Brand YCR 14. Combined, those five varieties account for 53 percent of the total U.S. acreage.

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Learn To Brew

There's a new course at Northwest Florida State College. It will help you make your own beer at home.

Participants will learn the brewing process from beginning to end. The class will also include a special brew day where students can make a batch on campus. "For my class you are going to have that interactive experience, you are going to put that hands on of the entire brewing process," said the adjunct professor. "Ask those questions that you can't ask a computer, to a real person who has experience in that field."

The course runs Oct. 10 - Nov. 11 and costs $65. There will be an online version than anyone can sign up for regardless of residence. More info - call the Continuing Education Coordinator at (850) 729-6085.

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QUICK HITS

Salud Beer Shop (Charlotte, NC) has been named the “Best Beer Bar” in the U.S. by USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards. It’s the third straight win in this category for Salud, which beat out Falling Rock Tap House in Denver and ChurchKey in Washington, D.C

Francis Warner, a resident of a Pennsylvania nursing home celebrated his 101 birthday with an ice cold beer. Staff said that Warner’s room was decorated and he was served a birthday cake but all he wanted was a beer and then another. He didn't care what brand it was as long as it was cold.

Green Bay's Badger State brewery is now serving ice cream beer in its tap room. The brewery says so far, its been a hit. But is it beer or is it ice cream? Well, it's both beer and ice cream tasting like a beer slushy. Because the ice cream is actually infused with beer, you will have to show an ID to prove you are 21 or older when ordering.

The Feast of St. Patrick is actually the celebration of one Irish bishop’s success at converting Irish pagans to Christianity. According to wallethub.com, despite Covid restrictions,13,000,000 pints of Guinness were drunk that day this year, It is a worldwide holiday, which they say is the clear No. 1 drinking day in the world.

. Dale Katechis, whose Dale's Pale Ale / Oskar Blues revolutionized canned beers, has just taken a leadership role at Veritas Fine Cannabis, a wholesaler specializing in cultivating and selling premium cannabis. Oskar Blues is now part of collective Canarchy is the eighth-largest craft brewery in the US, with eight brands, that are sold internationally.

According to a just released survey published by epidemiologists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Americans are consuming more craft beer with higher alcohol content but are drinking less beer by volume proving less can be more.

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Feature Reports

Seltzer Slowdown Hurts Boston Beer

Boston Beer Company stock (NYSE: SAM) has dropped more than 12% in just the last one month. This drop was mainly due to fear of hard seltzer’s growth having peaked as of now. Hard seltzer has been growing at triple-digits over the last several years and continued this impressive growth even during the pandemic. Hard seltzer’s popularity has caused many new brands to flood the market, but Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw and Boston Beer’s Truly dominate the seltzer segment with over 70% combined share. This growth in the category led to a sharp rally of 30% in SAM’s stock between January and April 2021. However, since then the stock has been declining due to some analysts believing that hard seltzer growth has peaked, which has led to a couple of hedge funds reducing their exposure to SAM stock. As consumers were locked in their homes, they stocked up on hard seltzer and other alcoholic beverages, leading to the robust sales growth. But now, as consumers are heading out to bars and restaurants again, hard seltzer doesn’t have nearly as much on-premise traction as it does at packaged goods stores and the like.

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Fifty Year Old Can of Coors

People always say that love will make you do crazy things. Rarely is the next sentence, "Like drink a 50-year-old can of Coors." But if you didn't think someone drinking a severely out-of-date beer could bring you to tears, Diane Nesselhuf's story will change your mind.

Diane and her son explained the incredible journey their 8-ounce can of beer had been through. Diane married her husband Ed on July 14, 1971, but since some of Ed's family wasn't able to attend the ceremony, they traveled to his home state of Colorado soon after. Back then, Coors was still a local brand, unavailable in other parts of the U.S. — and clearly Ed felt a connection to the brewer. "I just remember Ed pulling it out and saying, 'We'll drink this at our 50th Anniversary,'" Diane said. As the family moved around, the small anniversary beer came with them. "It went from Wisconsin, to Minneapolis, to British Columbia, to Rapid City, to Chamberlain, to Maryland, and back to Vermillion," which is where the family eventually settled in South Dakota, Diane continued.

But sadly, after battling an aggressive form of lung cancer, Ed passed away in 2016, five years short of their golden anniversary and leaving the beer from Golden, Colorado, unopened. But his son, Ben, promised his dad the beer's travels wouldn't be in vain. "The last few weeks of his life it was clear he wasn't going to make it to another anniversary," Ben told KCAU. "I did tell him that on the 50th, I'd split the beer with mom." So on July 14, 2021, Ben and Diane opened the 50-year-old Coors, enjoyed alongside a fresh can of Coors Light to compare the two. The can was so old, it required an actual can opener, but the five-decade-old beer was still carbonated, popping with a familiar "pfft." As for the flavor: It certainly hadn't gone completely off in all that time. "I thought it was very tasty. I was surprised. I thought it would be full of crap, and it wasn't," Diane told the news station. "It was really good."

The mother and son recorded their experience, which captured Ben's initial reaction. "It tastes sweet," he said. Later, Ben told KCAU, "Any other day it would just be a beer but on that day, it was a very special beer."

And after catching wind of the story, Coors appreciated the sentiment so they sent Diane a Coors Banquet beer cakes with the message, "Cheers to 50 years." No word on how long they plan on saving the cake.

flash news - july 2021

FLASH NEWS

BrewDog A Disgrace

BrewDog, the craft beer firm, has finally apologized to former employees who accused the company and its co-founder James Watt of fostering a “culture of fear” in which workers were bullied and “treated like objects”. In an open letter circulated on Twitter, 61 former workers alleged that the Scottish brewer’s dizzyingly rapid growth had involved cutting corners on health and safety, espousing values it did not live by, and creating a “toxic” culture that left staff suffering from mental illness.

“Growth, at all costs, has always been perceived as the number one focus for the company,” the letter alleges. “Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at BrewDog.” The Scottish brewer has been a key player in the rapid rise of craft beer in the UK, spurred by recent tax relief on small breweries.

Watt, who co-founded the company in 2007 has issued public apologies before. In 2017, he admitted the company “got it wrong” after its lawyers pursued two small bars for trademark infringement, raising questions over its punk image. He has also been forced to back down after several publicity stunts misfired, including a mock “beer for girls” called Pink IPA . He has never apologized for killing squirrels to serve as beer holders in a notorious stunt.

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200 Year Wait Over

For the first time in 200 years, beer is being brewed at a historic Catholic abbey in Belgium. The Grimbergen Abbey Brewery opened this month at Grimbergen Abbey near the Belgian capital, Brussels.

The Norbertine monastery, founded in 1128, was forced to abandon beer-making when the abbey was dissolved following the French Revolution.

The abbey’s Latin motto is “Ardet nec consumitur” (Burned but not destroyed), in reference to its survival despite three devastating fires. The canons regular adopted the phoenix as a symbol of rebirth in the abbey’s coat of arms. Fr. Karel Stautemas, the abbey’s provisor and brewer, said: “The new microbrewery is a place to reignite past traditions, just like our symbol the Phoenix we always have the strength to rise again, but to add fresh thinking too.”

The abbey’s daily routine of prayer and pastoral work would continue as normal alongside the brewery.

He said: “A typical day here in the abbey is we stand up at 7 a.m. We have morning prayer and afterward breakfast in silence. This is very important for our spiritual well-being. It helps us to focus on what is important and maintain a balance between our pastoral life and our other work.”The abbey is home to 15 members of the Norbertine order which was founded in 1120.

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Beer Glut

The German military says it has found a solution for an unusual logistics problem its troops in Afghanistan face: a glut of beer. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Christina Routsi said that a recent decision by the German commander in Afghanistan to ban the consumption of alcohol for security reasons had resulted in a pileup of beer, wine and mixed drinks at Camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif. German soldiers are usually entitled to two cans of beer — or equivalent — per day.

Routsi said the military had found a civilian contractor who will take the alcohol back out of the country ahead of the German troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan as the NATO mission in the country ends in the coming months. The German army said the 22,600 liters (almost 6,000 gallons) of alcohol — including almost 60,000 cans of beer — couldn't be sold in Afghanistan due to local religious restrictions, or destroyed for environmental reasons.

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LBGTQ Icon Bar Bans Bud

In June 1969 Stonewall Inn (NYC) bar patrons fought with police who had come to carry out a raid, which galvanized gay rights activism around the country and the world. Now the LBGTQ community's iconic bar's owners say they won’t serve certain beers to protest manufacturer Anheuser-Busch’s political contributions to some politicians who have supported anti-LGBT legislation. Co-owners Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly said they are instituting the temporary ban in support of the national “Keep Your Pride” campaign, a recently launched effort highlighting five companies that it claims advertised support support for LBGTQ issues but have also made contributions to anti-LGBT lawmakers.

The campaign, a project of Corporate Accountability Action, used data compiled from the National Institute on Money in Politics to show that Anheuser-Busch contributed more than $35,000 to 29 legislators it described as anti-LGBT between 2015 and 2020.

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QUICK HITS

Say It Ain't So - It's back to being illegal in South Carolina to buy beer and wine outside of a store. Gov. Henry McMaster's decision to end the COVID-19 state of emergency also ended the provision allowing grocery and other stores to deliver beer and wine to people picking up their purchases in a parking lot or a drive-thru window.
Pearl Jam Beer - KettleHouse Brewing Co. is teaming up with legendary Seattle-based rock band, Pearl Jam, to launch MPS Pool Ale, a Pale Ale brewed with Lemondrop Hops. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Montana Pool Service (MPS), a non-profit founded by Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament,. MPS organizes and funds world class skateparks in isolated communities for young people. They're not kidding.
What Is Hard Seltzer? -Sugar-based hard seltzers are now considered malt beverages, not beer, in Oregon while it's mired in controversary and court cases in other states. As a malt beverage they will be taxed at a higher rate, ending the state’s discrepancy with the federal government’s classification of the popular bubbly beverages.
We Messed Up - The leaders of Philadelphia-based Evil Genius Beer Company just issued a statement that acknowledged past mismanagement and outlined the company’s next steps to improve its culture. Evil Genius was named several times in stories shared on social media by Brienne Allan, who began lending her Instagram platform (@ratmagnet) to hundreds of beer industry employees — mostly women — who shared their experiences of discriminations, sexual harassment, hostile work environments and sexual assault Meanwhile, the staff of Ardmore, Pennsylvania-based Tired Hands Brewing Company issued an apology for “the toxic culture that existed at the firm.
More We Messed Up - Lemont, Illinois-headquartered Pollyanna Brewing Company, announced the departure of former president and CEO Paul Ciciora last week, said it had since learned of “numerous allegations regarding Paul Ciciora and sexual misconduct.” And in Vermont, Shaun Hill, the embattled founder of Hill Farmstead Brewery, said the secondhand accounts of his problematic behavior were akin to “a game of telephone.”

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Feature Report

Alarm Bells For Beer Industry

Boston Beer Co. founder and chairman Jim Koch recently sounded alarm bells within the beer industry: Spirits companies across the country, he said, were poised to make a huge legislative push that would “change the fundamental tax and regulatory structures of alcoholic beverages to tilt the current playing field in their favor.” Less than two months later, Koch’s prediction is playing out in New Jersey—and beer is fighting back. The Garden State quickly became a test case for the larger, national battle that’s likely to get more contentious.

New Jersey’s legislature is currently considering SB 3452, which would reduce excise taxes on spirits-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails below 9.9% ABV, such as canned margaritas or Moscow mules. Currently—in most states and at the federal level—such products are taxed as liquor ($5.50 per gallon), which has a higher tax rate per gallon than beer (twelve cents per gallon). It's a huge difference.

The bill unanimously passed out of the Senate Committee and is now in the hands of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The lower tax has two potential consequences: Manufacturers of spirits-based RTDs could either price them lower than they are currently, or make better margins on their sales.

A coalition of large beer companies and industry groups, including the Brewers Association (BA), the Beer Institute (BI), National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), the Brewers Guild of New Jersey, and the Beer Wholesalers’ Association of New Jersey, have all written to lawmakers expressing their opposition. They argue that beer deserves its lower tax rate because it is generally a lower-ABV beverage and because beer makers typically earn lower margins than spirits producers.

Jim McGreevy, CEO of the Beer Institute, which represents the U.S.’s largest beer companies, called lower excise taxes on spirits-based RTDs an “existential threat” to beer. If these products were taxed like beer and could therefore retail at a price more in line with beer, it would only pour gasoline on the already white-hot RTD cocktail category.

The U.S. market for premixed cocktails, including RTDs, grew more than 39% in 2020 to $489 million last year,

As RTD sales are ascendant, beer has struggled: For two decades, beer has lost market share to spirits in the U.S. By 2024, beer will likely represent just a third of the U.S. alcohol market. So it’s with a do-or-die mentality that beer is pushing back against SB 3452 in New Jersey.

Those in favor of lowering taxes on RTDs say that it’s unfair to tax a 9% ABV canned cocktail much higher than a 9% ABV beer. Advocates for reform have made the case that lower excise taxes would be good for small distilleries’ business, would save consumers money, and would ultimately grow tax revenue if sales of RTD cocktails increased at a higher rate than they currently are.

"All alcohol is not created equal,” a spokesperson for the Beer Institute said. “Countries around the world, as well as the U.S. federal and state governments, have for many years acknowledged beer’s moderate alcohol content and the economics of its production and distribution. For these reasons, beer has historically had a lower excise tax rate and broader consumer access than hard liquor.”

The argument for beer as a beverage of moderation dates back as early as the 19th century. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a campaigner against distilled spirits, excepted beer and wine as a different category of beverage, praising them as “temperance drinks.”

flash news - june 2021

FLASH NEWS

Natty Light - an 8% ABV Ice Pop

This is not your father's Natty Light beer. When Anheuser-Busch launched the brand back in 1977, it was simply "beer". But recently, Natural Light has adopted a new identity. In 2019, the brand introduced a strawberry lemonade version called Naturdays, after that the brought out a second Naturdays flavor, pineapple lemonade; a line of Natural Light hard seltzers; and a couple of boozy, 8-percent ABV Natty Daddy Lemonades.

But now Natural Light has announced what may be the brand's biggest shift away from traditional beer: Naturdays Frozen Icicles, 8-percent ABV ice pops sold in Naturdays' signature varieties. These alcoholic frozen treats will be hitting shelves nationwide in June and be sold in 12-pop variety packs featuring a mix of flavors. The pops are made with a flavored malt beverage base and will not be sold frozen: Customers will have to toss them in the freezer beforehand. Also worth noting, though the 8-percent ABV of the Icicles is significantly stronger than the beers themselves (liquid Naturdays are only 4.2-percent ABV), each ice pop is only two fluid ounces, meaning each pop is only target market for Naturdays Frozen Icicles is written right on the packaging. "For those who like strawberry [or pineapple] lemonade and drinking beer and frozen icicles," each individual pop touts.

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Bourbon County Stout's Creator Returns

After ten years focusing on cider, former Goose Island brewmaster Gregory Hall has been inspired by Norwegian beers for his latest creation: Vestland. Gregory Hall isn't a household name but in the context of the beer world, he is. Hall secured his spot in beer history when, during his 20 years as brewmaster of Chicago's Goose Island, he created Bourbon County Stout—considered the first bourbon barrel-aged stout and ranked third on my industry-voted list of The 25 Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed.

When Anheuser-Busch took over, not only did Greg Hall leave Goose Island, he left brewing entirely, embarking on a new venture: cidermaking launching Virtue Cider, now based in Fennville, Michigan. Now after a ten-year detour into cider, Hall is turning the ship back toward his first love: Virtue has started making beer—Hall's first new commercial brew in a decade. Vestland—which officially arrives from "Virtue Farm" is billed as a Nordic-style lager.

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Cannabis Hard Root Beer

The Tinley Beverage Company has just announced that the cannabis-infused, non-alcoholic version of the popular ‘Not Your Father’s Root Beer’ beverage has started production in California. Not Your Father’s Root Beer’ is a hard root beer distributed nationally by Pabst Brewing Co. It quickly became one of the USA’s top selling "craft beers" in 2015, It was a national sensation for several years.

The cannabis-infused, non-alcoholic version of the product will be produced together with Pabst Labs. It will contain a 10 mg dose of THC in each 12 fl oz bottle, and it will be made available in cannabis dispensaries throughout the state of California. Pabst Brewing Company does not have a financial stake in Pabst Labs and will not share in the proceeds from cannabis-infused ‘Not Your Father’s’ Root Beer sales

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Heineken Hot Streak

Heineken NV, the world’s second-largest brewer, fared better than expected at the start of 2021 as increased beer sales in Africa and Asia offset a sharp decline in Europe. The maker of Europe’s top-selling lager Heineken, Tiger and Sol, retained its outlook that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was significant and markets should gradually improve in the second half of 2021, depending on vaccine roll-outs.

The Dutch brewer sold 50.3 million hectolitres of beer in the first quarter, unchanged from a year earlier on a like-for-like basis. The average forecast in a company-compiled poll was for a 5% decline Sales in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe jumped 9.9%, with particularly strong performance in Nigeria and South Africa, growth in the former held back by supply constraints and expansion in the latter despite alcohol bans in January and over the Easter weekend. Asian sales were 5.4% higher, principally

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QUICK HITS

Shortage - Foeders (pronounced FOO’-durs), those wood tanks used for fermenting beer, spirits and wine, are now in short supply according to Foeder Crafters of America is the only producer in America. says the shortage is due to increased demand all over the world. Foeders are especially coveted by brewers for making quality sour ales.
AB In Vietnam - Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer maker, has merged Vietnam’s SAB Beer after having received government approval. Vietnam, with a population of nearly 98 million, is seen as one of the most attractive markets in the region for brewers, with beer sales growing by about 10% per year on average for 2011-2021.
Hostile Environment - Jacob McKean, the founder/CEO of Modern Times, has resigned after the brewery was named as a hostile workplace on a social media account that began sharing industry employees’ experiences of widespread sexism in the beer industry. Recently craft beer industry employees began sharing their experiences of workplace discrimination and allegations of sexual harassment and assault on the Instagram account, “@ratmagnet.”
Another CEO Resigns - The founder of Tired Hands Brewing Company, Jean Broillet, has stepped down at the request of the brewery’s employees. The Ardmore, Pennsylvania-based Tired Hands was among the breweries frequently cited within posts of detailed allegations of a hostile work environment that included berating employees, sexually suggestive beer names and shaming a newly pregnant employee.

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flash news - may 2021

FLASH NEWS

Free Beer With Vaccine

Samuel Adams is incentivizing the shot to receive the coronavirus vaccine by offering a drink on the beer brand, for a limited time. The Boston-based brewery announced the promotion with a humorous TV spot The ad stars Sam Adams’ comedic "Your Cousin From Boston" character, which is shown as "a lovable, rough-and-tumble New Englander in all his trials, tribulations, and toasts no one asked for." In the quick clip, the current face of Sam Adams makes a fuss over receiving the vaccine, later reuniting with friends in a bar and exclaiming "Sam's on me!" The beer brand is inviting fans to do just that. Following the vital vaccinations, Sam Adams says it will send $7 through Cash App for a beer at a favorite watering hole to anyone who posts a photo of their vaccination sticker or bandage to Instagram or Twitter, using the hashtag #ShotForSam. The promotion is open to U.S. residents age 21 and up, official rules state, with the giveaway slated to close May 15, or until 10,000 eligible entries are received.

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Dogfish Goes Non-Alcoholic

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has begun distribution of its new, non-alcoholic wheat brew, Lemon Quest,. Brewed with real lemon puree, blueberry juice, acai berries, monk fruit, sea salt and special, Hopsteiner Polyphenol-Rich Hop PelletsTM, it is being marketed as a refreshing, active lifestyle-oriented, non-alcoholic alternative with only 90 calories per 12oz can. With flavors of bright-citrusy lemon, slightly sweet berries and just a bit of salt, Developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), tan environmental nonprofit,

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Beer Brings Emotional Support

The notion of an "emotional support beer" may have been a joke last year, but now people can get their hands on one thanks to the Woodstock Brewing company. The New York-based microbrewery has created a Citra IPA that comes in a colorful can and features the words "Emotional Support Beer" in bold font. A portion of the proceeds earned from this limited-time brew will go to Operation At Ease, which is a charity that pairs shelter dogs with deserving veterans and first responders. To bring this beverage to life, Woodstock Brewing collaborated with Floyd Hayes – the Clinton Hill resident who made headlines in early 2020 for trying to register a pint of beer as an emotional support animal under the USA Service Dog Registration. Woodstock Brewing’s Emotional Support Beer will likely be made annually, and will support a different charity each time. If the demand is high enough.

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Trade Clutter For Beer

Tidying-up guru Marie Kondo advises that people cleaning out their homes should ask themselves whether a particular item "sparks joy." Now, Coors Light is offering to take those items that no longer spark joy off your hands and trade you something else that might lighten your mood: free beer. The beer brand’s Chicago-based owner, Molson Coors Beverage Company, is offering up to 60 beers in exchange for unwanted "quarantine clutter" that it promised to donate to charity. The brewer said it was motivated by Americans’ stress and shopping habits over the past year during the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to a WalletHub study l that found 43% of Americans had done some "comfort buying" while in social isolation.

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QUICK HITS

Hard seltzers will be receiving more shelf space in convenience stores, according to A Goldman Sachs survey of convenience store beverage buyers (representing 30,000 retail locations. Of those surveyed, 90% said they plan to give hard seltzers incremental shelf space. with most allocated to the leaders within the $4.1 billion segment, Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer and Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers have dined out since bars and restaurants began reopening last summer, indicating a “steady rise,” according to CGA, a market research firm that tracks on-premise sales,
Modelo Especial, announced it is now the third best-selling beer in the U.S.
A new survey asked beer drinkers just how much they drink a week. 65% of them said they have between one and four beers a week. But 4% drink between 16 and 20 beers a week which calculates to two or three per day.
Just released data: 5% of people drink 21 or more beers a week upping intake between three and infinity per day.
Beer is the most popular drink people order at bars, and people believe beer drinkers are more approachable than people who drink any other type of booze according to a survey just released by the BBAB group.

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FEATURE STORY

Slow Return To Normal Beer Sales

The Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI), a forward-looking indicator for distributors to measure expected beer demand from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), shows a reading of 63 for April 2021. This remains significantly above the April 2020 reading of 50, but the trend over the past couple of months still shows a continued, albeit slow, return to the long-running average total BPI of 57.

The index surveys beer distributors’ purchases across different segments and compares them to previous years. A reading greater than 50 indicates the segment is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates the segment is contracting. The “at-risk” inventory (going out of code in the next 30 days) measure for April 2021 is 37, a significant decrease from 57 in April 2020.

“In this month’s BPI, we see the comparison to data from April 2020, completed right before the widespread shutdown of the U.S. economy because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NBWA Chief Economist Lester Jones explained. “Looking at the ‘at-risk’ inventory, we see the impact of two significant recent events: the severe winter weather during week 8 that slowed many distributor operations and the recent cyber-attack that disrupted supply chain operations throughout the Molson Coors network.”

Across segments

The index for imports continued into expansion territory for a reading of 60 in April 2021, well above the 52 reading from March 2020.

The craft index posted another below 50 reading of 46 for April 2021, compared to a dismal reading of 33 in April 2020. This is the fourth monthly reading below 50 for craft as the segment continues to struggle to gain momentum with the slow reopening of on-premise activity.

The premium lights segment finally moved into contraction territory with a reading of 44 after 10 consecutive months of above 50 readings.

The regular domestic beer segment is also reverting to its long-running average, hitting an index of 39. While it is above the March 2020 reading of 30, the index has fallen below 40 for the first time since April of 2020.

The below premium segment reading also fell in April 2021 to 39 but remains above its April 2020 reading of 30.

The FMB/seltzer segment continued to outperform all other segments in April 2021, reading of 85 compared to 80 from April 2020. Note that this is the third instance of the FMB/Seltzer index dropping below 90 since May 2020.

Finally, the cider segment remains below 50 with a reading of 37 in March 2021, compared to 29 in March 2020.

flash news - april 2021

Beer Box License Plates

An DWI suspect in Minnesota is earning some admiration from police for an unusual artistic endeavor. It all started after a call of a vehicle swerving through downtown Chippewa Falls. Police said the suspect failed and sobriety test and his plates came back as not registered to the vehicle. That might be because they are not real plates.Police Chief Matt Kelm said the man hand-painted the license plates on the back of a beer box.Chief Kelm said the plates were so realistic officers were not even aware they were fake until speaking to the owner of the vehicle registered to the plates. Chief Kelm said he has never seen anything like this.

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Goodbye 3.2% Beer?

Minnesota is the last 3.2 beer state in the nation and there's an effort to allow gas stations and convenience stores to sell regular beer instead.If you don't know, 3.2 beer gets its name from its alcohol content by volume, which is lower than regular beer. For many consumers, it's a less attractive product.It's sold only at gas stations and convenience stores, which can't sell regular beer. In addition to that, the variety of product options for 3.2 beer, and the supply itself, is on the decline. On the opposing side, Bryan King, the owner of all five Apollo Liquor stores in Rochester, said "if the 3.2 beer law changes, it will hurt liquor stores."

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QUICK HITS

The founder of Boulevard Brewing Co. says he's sorry after numerous allegations of sexual harassment within the company were made public on social media. Three executives are out of the company, one has been fired and two have resigned---including its president, Jeff Krum.

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Stone Brewing Company has just agreed to pay a more than $1.8 million in to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for alleged violations related to tax reporting and payments. Isn't that what got Al Capone in trouble?

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A letter signed by the entire staff of the Platform Beer Co.'s taproom in Columbus, Ohio is circulating on social media, accusing the business of allowing unsafe working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. A hand-written note says, "The entire Platform Columbus crew has quit. The taproom is closed until further notice. Thank you!" No response from owners to BeerNexus inquiries.

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A consumer-friendly service currently banned in Utah's online beer and liquor ordering could become legal, under a new bill. Under current state law, consumers cannot place a beer order online. Grocery store employees can bring everything else to a car for curbside pickup but if shoppers want beer, they have to go inside to buy it. Authorities claim that prevents excessive drinking. Huh?

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Once again Boston Beer Co.'s shipment volume and net revenue both rose by over half in this past quarter compared with a year ago. Boston Beer's net income climbed from $13.8 million, or $1.12 a share the comparable quarter a year ago.

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ON TAP - FEATURE STORY

Sunken Ship Beer Robbery

Local brewers in Mar del Plata, Argentina, spent months trying to make a unique brew by aging a dark ale 66 feet underwater. Then the barrels went missing, setting off a whodunit. It wasn't exactly a sunken treasure. But that apparently didn't stop a team of divers in Argentina from going to extraordinary lengths to pilfer 700 liters, or 185 gallons, of artisanal beer that had been left by three local breweries to age, attached to a sunken ship, on the ocean floor.

The owners of the three breweries in Mar del Plata, which had teamed up with a diving school for a first-of-its-kind months long experiment in deep-water beermaking, were left mystified, and heartbroken, upon discovering their barrels were gone. Previous experiments had involved shallower depths, so they wanted to test beers made under greater pressure. They spent months securing permits to affix the barrels to the Kronomether, an abandoned Soviet-era ship 66 feet underwater that sank in 2014 and had become a favorite spot of recreational divers. "No one had ever done this before," said Juan Pablo Vincent, 43, the master brewer at Baum brewery, who was involved in the effort.

The brewers settled on a dark, strong ale with an alcohol level of between 11 and 12 percent. It took more than a year to obtain the necessary permits and then coronavirus quarantine measures slowed down the endeavor, so the team was only able to lower the seven barrels of beer into the ocean. .The plan was to blend the content in the barrels with another beer. If all went according to plan, the brewers expected to be left with 1,000 liters, or 264 gallons, of a custom-made brew that would fill some 2,000 bottles and sell under the name Kronomether.

Mr. Vincent said the contents of the barrels would be useless in the hands of people who lack sophisticated beer-making skills, since the purpose of the brew was to mix it with another beer.";If they stole it for their own consumption, they’re going to have to throw it away,"; said Mr. Vincent. "It was a lukewarm, gasless liquor that would be very difficult to drink." Mr. Vincent said he suspects vandals broke the barrels loose. "I think they broke everything so the barrels would drift away," said Mr. Brelles."It was malice for malice's sake." ;Despite the disappointment, they are determined to try again.

Flash News - March 2021

Iron City Returns

When the Pittsburgh Brewing Company left Pittsburgh in 2009, the city was heartbroken. Makers of Iron City Beer, the brewery was synonymous with the blue-collar city that sprung it, and had been brewing lagers, pilsners, and ales at its facility for more than 140 years. Now, Iron City Beer is returning to Allegheny County. Not quite back to Pittsburgh, but up the Allegheny River, just about 22 minutes from Downtown in Creighton. Pittsburgh Brewing Co. has announced a plan to build a new brewery in the former Pittsburgh Glass Works plant.

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Beer Snow

YouTube creators Sparky and Skeeter took on what could be the most winter-like challenge of all time -- making snow out of beer. The two cooked up a pot of brats with some Leinenkugel's beer, then poured the leftover boiling beer into an air

cannon. They launched the beer into the subzero skies, and voila! Beer snow was born. This is not to be confused with the Chinese product Snow Beer which is the largest selling beer in the world. Snow beer originally comes Shenyang, in the province of Liaoning, China. It was founded in 1993.

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QUICK HITS

A couple years ago the Brewers Association introduced the Independent Beer Seal to help beer consumers identify beers brewed by independent, craft breweries. Now the Craft Maltsters Guild introduces a seal of its own: the Craft Malt Seal. The seal helps consumers identify breweries a that use malt from small producers.

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Roundhouse Brewery in Nisswa, Minn., began has a six-lane Wreck Room to accommodate axe throwing while also serving beverages. Beer goes well with countless things but we never thought axe throwing was one of them.

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A restaurant has just set a new Guinness World Record for the most beers on tap - 397 beers, Raleigh (North Carolina) Beer Garden. It is truly an impressive selection of local and international beers but ow do they keep them all fresh?

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Beer sales in Germany were down 5.5% last year, dragged lower by lengthy closures of bars and restaurants in the coronavirus pandemic.German -based breweries and distributors sold 8.7 billion liters (2.3 billion gallons) of beer last year,

That figure doesn’t include alcohol-free or beer imported from outside the EU

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The U.S. market for low- or no-alcohol beer is set to grow by about 39% by 2022, according to data from the beverage market-research firm IWSR. AB InBev has committed to making 20% of its beer volume no- or low-alcohol by 2025.

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Boston Beer Company’s sales increased 38.9% over the last 12 months generating $1.74 billion in revenue, Their depletions (sales to retailers) increased 37%, while shipments (sales to wholesalers) increased 38.8%.

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ON TAP - FEATURE STORY

Modelo Sues Corona

Corona Hard Seltzer, a major competitor in the booming market for spiked fizzy water, has run into legal troubles over its name. Grupo Modelo, the Mexican arm of beer giant Anheuser- Busch InBev, filed a lawsuit against Constellation Brands on Monday over the use of the Corona trademark to market the hard seltzer. Modelo, which created the popular Corona

brand, alleges Constellation does not have the right to use the brand to market nonbeer products. Constellation, whose beer business is based in Chicago, acquired Modelo’s U.S. beer portfolio in 2013, including the rights to sell Corona and other Modelo products in the U.S. under a sublicense agreement. The $4.75 billion transaction came as AB InBev acquired

Grupo Modelo and had to shed some assets to satisfy anti-competitive concerns.

In its lawsuit, Grupo Modelo alleges the sublicense gives Constellation rights to use the Corona brand in the U.S. and Guam only for beer, which means “beer, ale, porter, stout, malt beverages, and any other versions or combinations of the foregoing, including nonalcoholic versions of any of the foregoing.” Hard seltzer, the suit alleges, is none of those.

The suit comes as hard seltzer rattles the beer industry. Hard seltzer is by far the fastest- growing segment of the alcoholic beverage market, with some analysts predicting $30 billion in global sales by 2025. Corona Hard Seltzer, which Constellation launched a year ago with a $40 million marketing push, has risen to be the fourth-largest brand. AB InBev’s Bud Light Seltzer is among the top three.

The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY alleges trademark infringement and breach of contract. It says Modelo notified Constellation in of the alleged breach and insisted that it stop importing and marketing Corona Hard Seltzer, and that a “confidential alternative dispute resolution process” failed to yield a resolution.

Flash News - February 2021

New Beers

Boston’s Harpoon Brewery and Nova Scotia’s Big Spruce Brewing have teamed up on a new seasonal

beer, From Nova Scotia With Love. The 9% ABV holiday brew is an abbey-style ale, brewed with oak

and cherrywood smoked malts and spruce tips, and aged in Glen Breton Single Malt Whiskey barrels.

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Gas and convenience store chain Sheetz has rolled out a doughnut flavored beer called “Project Happy

Hole-idayz” North Carolina-based Wicked Weed It is made with one-pound of Sheetz Glazed Vanilla

Donut holes per barrel. now at all 432 Sheetz shops.

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The idea of a breakfast stout (a beer containing many breakfast staples) is a done thing, but no one

has done it like Funky Buddah's new Maple Bacon Coffee Porter now in distribution.

More New Beers

First Magnitude Brewing in Gainesville, Fla., has just debuted a beer inspired by — and allegedly

tasting like — the popular Dole Whip treats served at Disney parks, the Dole Plantation in Hawaii and

select other locations. Dole Whip Sour, as it’s called, is brewed with “actual Dole Whip mix,” from

the Dole Food Company. The recipe also calls for pineapple puree and milk sugar, and results in a

beer that tastes “just like” a Dole Whip soft serve.

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A beer release meant to support Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sold out 6 minutes just on pre-

orders online of “Big Gretch: The Return,” a petite sour saison, which was a follow up to a hard seltzer

it released earlier.“Wow!” said owner Josh Rake . Governor Whitmer called to congratulate him.

QUICK HITS

U.S. brewers shipped 12.3 million barrels of beer in December 2020, a decline of 0.8%. Predictions were for

more of a decline because of Covid restrictions.

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The temporary federal excise tax cuts enjoyed by brewers and importers over the last three years have been made permanent. Congress has included language from the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) in

the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package just passed.

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Brooklyn Brewery co-founder Steve Hindy, one of the famed “Class of ’88” pioneers

of the craft brewing, has announced his retirement, effective 1/1/21.

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Distributors expect the hard seltzer segment to end the year with 155% growth and come close to doubling in 2021 with much of the increase coming from White Claw (Mark Anthony Brands) and Truly Hard Seltzer (Boston Beer Company

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Two of the largest beverage alcohol producers in the country are teaming up. Pabst Brewing Co. and Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Froman announced a partnership in which Pabst will produce, sell and distribute Jack Daniel’s Country

Cocktails, the whiskey brand’s line of flavored malt beverages.

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The nation’s supply of carbon dioxide is expected to be able to meet brewers’

needs, even as the dry ice industry’s demand increases for the shipment and

storage of COVID-19 vaccines.

Anheuser Busch Challenged

In early December 2020 Anheuser-Busch announced an agreement to acquire key assets of 65-year-old Ace Beverage in Los Angeles, Calif., for an undisclosed amount. Already an A-B distributor, Ace supports territories from East LA to West LA from Hollywood and Inglewood to Monterey Park and Huntington Park. A few weeks before, Anheuser-Busch sold its Colorado distribution operations to Georgia A-B wholesaler Eagle Rock. This transaction is notable because it resulted in 400 people being permanently laid off in Colorado.

A watchdog group called Alcohol Justice sent a letter to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra requesting a full-scale investigation into the Ace transaction. Alcohol Justice cited California’s Cartwright Act, federal antitrust statutes and a bunch of other stuff. Among many things here are just a few parts of what they said - “The moopoly power potential of ABI in California is already great. With significant control in the distribution network as well, ABI can potentially get inside information on retail activity at nearly every store, on-sale ABC licensee, or small producer. Lower and raise beer prices at

will. They offer generous promotions and swag to retail tier purchasers to force out competitive brands. They make it difficult for craft brew producers to get onto their trucks, while under lock-down conditions the craft brew industry is already suffering great economic stress.: They make it difficult for craft brew producers to get onto their trucks, while under

lock-down conditions the craft brew industry is already suffering great economic stress. They diminish distribution market share for any remaining independent distributors, forcing them out of business or forcing them to sell their assets and routes to ABI at deep discounts.”

have expressed concerns about ABI’s ongoing efforts to gain greater control over the wholesale market in California and other states. This is merely the latest chapter in an ongoing saga. So far the Attorney General has not decided on a course of action. Whatever the outcome it will have far reaching effect across the nation.

flash news - JANUARY 2021

New Beers

Boston’s Harpoon Brewery and Nova Scotia’s Big Spruce Brewing have teamed up on a new seasonal beer, From Nova Scotia With Love. The 9% ABV holiday brew is an abbey-style ale, brewed with oak and cherrywood smoked malts and spruce tips, and aged in Glen Breton Single Malt Whiskey barrels.

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Gas and convenience store chain Sheetz has rolled out a doughnut flavored beer called “Project Happy Hole-idayz” North Carolina-based Wicked Weed It is made with one-pound of Sheetz Glazed Vanilla Donut holes per barrel. now at all 432 Sheetz shops.

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The idea of a breakfast stout (a beer containing many breakfast staples) is a done thing, but no one has done it like Funky Buddah's new Maple Bacon Coffee Porter now in distribution.

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More New Beers

First Magnitude Brewing in Gainesville, Fla., has just debuted a beer inspired by — and allegedly tasting like — the popular Dole Whip treats served at Disney parks, the Dole Plantation in Hawaii and select other locations. Dole Whip Sour, as it’s

called, is brewed with “actual Dole Whip mix,” from the Dole Food Company. The recipe also calls for pineapple puree and milk sugar, and results in a beer that tastes “just like” a Dole Whip soft serve.

----------

A beer release meant to support Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sold out 6 minutes just on pre- orders online of “Big Gretch: The Return,” a petite sour saison, which was a follow up to a hard seltzer it released earlier.“Wow!” said owner Josh Rake . Governor Whitmer called to congratulate him.

QUICK HITS

U.S. brewers shipped 12.3 million barrels of beer in December 2020, a decline of 0.8%. Predictions were for more of a decline because of Covid restrictions.

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Brooklyn Brewery co-founder Steve Hindy, one of the famed “Class of ’88” pioneers of the craft brewing, has announced his retirement, effective 1/1/21.

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The nation’s supply of carbon dioxide is expected to be able to meet brewers’ needs, even as the dry ice industry’s demand increases for the shipment and storage of COVID-19 vaccines.

Anheuser Busch Challenged

A watchdog group called Alcohol Justice sent a letter to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra requesting a full-scale investigation into the Ace transaction. Alcohol Justice cited California’s Cartwright Act, federal antitrust statutes and a bunch of other stuff. Among many things here are just a few parts of what they said - The monopoly power potential of ABI in California is already great. With significant control in the distribution network as well, ABI can potentially get inside information on retail activity at nearly every store, on-sale ABC licensee, or small producer.Lower and raise beer prices at

While most craft beer enthusiasts focus on the efforts of Anheuser-Busch InBev taking over small, independent breweries like Elysian Brewing, Goose Island Brewing and others, establishing monopolistic control of the wholesale distribution chain is arguably more damaging to the craft beer industry. This is not the first time industry analysts and insiders have expressed concerns about ABI’s ongoing efforts to gain greater control over the wholesale market in California and other states. This is merely the latest chapter in an ongoing saga. So far the Attorney General has not decided on a course of action. Whatever the outcome it will have far reaching effect across the nation.

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