After Molson Coors deal Tilray lays off 10 Barrel’s innovation team

USA | Is Tilray Brands the latest roll-up of surplus craft breweries? On 3 September, the firm completed its previously announced acquisition of Molson Coors’ remaining craft breweries Hop Valley from Eugene, Oregon, Terrapin from Atlanta, Georgia, Revolver from Granbury Texas, and Atwater from Detroit, Michigan. The transaction makes Tilray the 5th largest craft brewer in the US with forecasted 2024 sales of 1.3 million hl.

Boston Beer’s Jim Koch on industry headwinds, innovation and on-premise

USA | Boston Beer’s founder, Jim Koch, took to the Barclays conference on 5 September. Chatting amicably, he offered several pertinent insights into the state of beer and beverage alcohol, his company and beyond.

Constellation warns of USD 2.5 billion writedown on wine woes

USA | Constellation Brands will write down the value of its wine and spirits business and take up to a USD 2.5 billion charge in the current quarter, the Corona brewer said on 3 September, following several quarters of weak demand in the United States.

Tilray buys four craft breweries from Molson Coors

USA | Tilray Brands seems to have become the go-to firm for the Big Brewers’ craft beer leftovers. Having already bought eight beer and beverage brands from AB-InBev for USD 85 million in 2023, it has now entered into a definitive agreement to acquire four craft breweries from Molson Coors, the company said on 13 August.

Molson Coors’ second quarter: cautious outlook

USA | As it lapped the gains made in the wake of the Bud Light boycott last year, which made its US market share spike dramatically, Molson Coors’s second quarter 2023 was its strongest in years. This made the comparison for its second quarter 2024 very tough.

Boston Beer is now a Twisted Tea story

USA | In a soft set of second quarter results, only Twisted Tea delivered bright results for Boston Beer. The hard iced tea accounted for 57 percent of Boston Beers’s volumes in the latest Nielsen data (Truly Hard Seltzer at just 28 percent), wrote Nadine Sarwat of Bernstein on 25 July. She noted that two years ago those percentages were reversed. These days, Twisted Tea is Boston Beer’s “only meaningful source of growth”.

Bud Light drops to number 3 spot

USA | Bud Light’s star is still falling – more than a year after a consumer boycott turned the US beer industry upside down. Modelo Especial, Michelob Ultra and Bud Light: Those are the recent sales rankings of the top three beers in the US, according to data by Bump Williams consulting firm.

Do Americans drink too much?

USA | A federal review of alcohol consumption guidelines is drawing criticism from lawmakers and industry advocates who view it as government overreach, The Wall Street Journal reported on 24 June.

New Belgium to take over US Kirin production from AB-InBev

USA | By the end of the year, the production, marketing and sales of the Kirin Ichiban and Kirin Light beers in the US will move to New Belgium’s breweries in Fort Collis, Colorado, and Asheville, North Carolina.

After Suntory, will Boston Beer do a deal with a cannabis firm?

USA | Boston Beer cannot stop making headlines. A few days after the leak of supposed deal talks between Boston Beer and Japan’s Suntory, The Wall Street Journal had another scoop. It reported on 4 June, that Chairman Jim Koch had received a letter from the CEO of the Canadian cannabis firm Green Thumb Industries on 2 June, proposing a merger.