Glass soda bottles in crate (Photo by Josh McLain on Unsplash)

USA | Pundits are shaking their heads. Why would Boston Beer together with PepsiCo launch an alcoholic soda under the banner of Pepsi’s brand Mountain Dew? Don’t they remember that only a few years ago hard sodas were a “boom-splat phenomenon” (Jim Koch) that faded as quickly as it arrived?

Sliced orange fruit on wooden tray (Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash)

USA | What to do with a business unit that spoils your results? Get rid of it. This is what PepsiCo did by selling a 61 percent stake in its juice brands, which includes Tropicana and Naked, to the private equity firm PAI Partners for USD 3.3 billion. The sale is part of the company’s broader efforts to focus on faster-growing beverages as customers increasingly ditch sugary drinks. This was reported on 3 August 2021.

Sunset and calm water (Photo by Jörg Angeli on Unsplash)

USA | Budget tipplers beware: Brewers and drinks companies want you to trade up. The number two brewer in the US, Molson Coors, said on 30 July 2021 that it will slash 11 economy brands from its portfolio, representing about 100 SKUs.

Topo Chico hard seltzer can (Photo by Peter Thum)

USA | There were three takeaways from Coca-Cola’s strong second quarter 2021, when net turnover grew 42 percent to USD 10 billion: The on-premise, which was pummelled last year, has rebounded. Its core brands performed strongly and its efficient distribution networks played an important role.

Black, red and white labelled hard seltzer can (Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash)

USA | Boston Beer’s investors are given to violent mood swings. After hitting record stock prices on high hopes for hard seltzers, Boston Beer’s shares dropped 18 percent on 22 July 2021, following the release of the brewer’s second quarter results, which fell short of analysts’ expectations, and the company admitted it had “overestimated the growth of the hard seltzer category”.

Sign promoting covid vaccination, saying “Covid shots” (Photo by Roger Starnes Sr on Unsplash)

USA | Heineken posted a minute-long commercial on YouTube on 8 July 2021, showing silver birds (aka senior citizens) dancing in a nightclub and running to skinny-dip at a nearby beach. It ended with the message, “The night belongs to the vaccinated. Time to join them.”

Red Budweiser trailer truck in front of concrete building (Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash)

USA | The beer distribution model has changed dramatically over the past few decades, says the Beverage Marketing Corporation, New York. With the focus on scale and efficiencies, consolidation among distributors has given rise to mega-distributors, such as the privately-owned Reyes Beer Division, a part of Reyes Holding (estimated turnover of USD 29 billion), and Columbia Distributing, headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

Birdseye shoot of Horseshoe Bend, Arizona (Photo by Daniel Vargas on Unsplash)

USA | Touting “Drink A Seltzer and Help Save a River” was not enough to sway consumers. As hard seltzer sales move into the crucial summer season, Coors Seltzer is getting out of the game.

Blue neon sign, saying: “Work harder” (Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash)

USA | AB-InBev’s new guard, CEO Michel Doukeris and North America chief Brendan Whitworth, have their work cut out. In his farewell interview with the Financial Times (FT) newspaper, on 4 July 2021, former CEO Carlos Brito, who stepped down at the end of June, said that the age of megadeals is over. This, analysts said, will put more pressure on AB-InBev to build brands and grow organically, although its scale has sometimes stood in the way of agility.

Cannabis leaf (Photo by Elsa Olofsson on Unsplash)

Canada | Because of a lingering fear that legal cannabis would eat into beer sales, brewers have openly embraced cannabis companies. Constellation Brands was the first major alcohol producer to break the taboo. In 2017, it took a USD 4 billion stake in Canadian producer Canopy Growth. Other brewers followed suit.

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