Hand reaching for a Modelo beer bottle in a cooler full of Modelo bottles (Photo: James Kern on Unsplash)

USA | Constellation Brands’ beer business gained further ground in its third quarter (until the end of November) after its Modelo Especial toppled Bud Light as the best-selling beer in the US last year. Net beer sales were up 4 percent to USD 1.97 billion, led by an approximately 12 percent increase in sales of Modelo Especial.

Asahi Super Dry bottle and two glasses, close-up (Beaumont Yun on Unsplash)

USA | Japan's Asahi bought Wisconsin-based Octopi Brewing and will use the contract beverage maker's facility to brew its flagship Super Dry beer in the US for the first time.

Tasting glass containing beer (Photo: Richard Bell on Unsplash)

USA | It was not just Bud Light that took a hit in 2023. It was a tough year for the beer industry in general. Volume sales were down 5 percent in the US for the first nine months of last year – and on track for the lowest annual level since 1999, according to estimates by the trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights.

Assortment of differently coloured drinks in different glasses (Photo: Timothe Durand on Unsplash)

USA | Observers say Constellation Brands and Molson Coors will be jostling to gain more market share in 2024, while AB-InBev, the maker of Bud Light, will attempt a comeback.

Graffiti saying Let's strike (Photo: Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash)

USA | Shortly before Christmas, 99 percent of AB-InBev’s 5,000 Teamsters members voted to authorise a strike, if the brewer does not offer a “strong new contract” before the current agreement expires on 29 February 2024.

Can of Bud Light (Photo: Christophe Dion on Unsplash)

USA | After a tumultuous 2023 for Bud Light, Benoit Garbe, the chief marketing officer of Anheuser-Busch, will resign at the end of the year. He will not be directly replaced. Instead, US chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington will oversee marketing for the country moving forward.

Craft sign (Photo: Tim Gouw on Unsplash)

USA | Trumer Brewery, one of the few US craft breweries to brew European style pilsner beers exclusively, opened its first fully-fledged taproom this autumn, with a beer garden and pilot system producing lagers, including a schwarzbier and both highly hopped and unfiltered pilsners.

Modelo bottles (Photo: James Kern on Unsplash)

USA | After two decades as the top-selling beer in America, Bud light lost its title this year. Modelo Especial took over as the most popular beer tracked in retail channels. Everyone had a view why Bud Light was relegated to second place. But hardly anyone put it down to fundamental changes in consumer perceptions and the beer price architecture.

man at a party holding a bottle of DeLeon Tequila (Photo: Strvnge films on Unsplash)

USA | Rap mogul Sean Combs sued Diageo again on 27 October in the New York Supreme Court, this time for “unlawful retaliation by a powerful international corporation”.

Bottle of Samuel Adams Beer (Photo: Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash)

USA | Amongst all the consumer excitement about Boston Beer releasing its super-strong (28% ABV) and super-expensive (USD 240 per bottle) Samuel Adams Utopias beer this month, only analysts took note that the firm again booked an impairment charge related to Dogfish Head, the craft brewer it acquired in 2019.

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