neon sign "we love legal drugs" (Photo: Simon Schwyter, Unsplash)

USA | Gone are the days when the founder of Denver’s Wyncoop Brewery, John Hickenlooper, now a Senator in Washington, could quip: “My competition is television.” Nowadays a brewer’s list of competitors is far longer and will likely include legal recreational cannabis.

a CBD cocktail (Photo: Justin Aikin, Unsplash)

USA | Plenty of cannabis beverages could hit the shelves in the US this year. As says the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), New York, producers have adopted the tactic of first launching in states, which have fully legalised cannabis, often through a subsidiary and/or licensing system to avoid full legal exposure.

A can of the hard seltzer brand Truly (Photo: Nathan Dumlao, Unshpash)

USA | The growth rates are still staggering: Boston Beer said that the US hard seltzer category constituted about 7 percent of domestic beer consumption in 2020, having grown approximately 160 percent over 2019.

encouraging signs along the street (Photo: Dan Meyers, Unsplash)

USA | A laudable initiative, The “Things we don’t say IPA” project, was launched to create awareness for mental health by encouraging people to talk about their experiences and feelings, both good and bad, and to demonstrate the importance of asking for help when needed.

Closed sign (Photo: Tim Mossholder, Pexels)

USA | After months of mounting frustration over wages, working conditions, and what they view as management’s deficient pandemic response, on 27 February 2021, workers at Platform Beer Co.’s Columbus, Ohio, taproom walked out. This was after putting a sign on the door, saying that “the entire Platform Columbus crew has quit. The taproom is closed until further notice. Thank you!”

Lady Justice (Photo: Tingey Injury Law Firm, Unsplash)

USA | Grupo Modelo, the Mexican arm of AB-InBev, has accused Constellation Brands in a lawsuit of breaching a deal on the use of the Corona brand name by applying it to a product other than beer, it was reported in February 2021.

Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil (Photo: Robert Nyman, Unsplash)

Brazil | It is just a reshuffle of brand between two systems, but a milestone for Heineken. The Dutch brewer has wanted for years to terminate its distribution contract with Coca-Cola FEMSA, in order to expand its Brazilian distribution network which acquired from Kirin in 2017. FEMSA disagreed and the two were forced to enter into arbitration.

 bicycle courier of Uber eat (Photo: Robert Anasch, Unsplash)

USA | A cool price for a piece of technology. Uber said on 2 February 2021 that it has acquired the alcohol delivery service Drizly, the latest purchase for the ride-hailing company, as it seeks to diversify its business after a pandemic-related decline in rides. Drizly’s sales boomed in 2020, growing more than 330 percent, it was reported, after many consumers stopped dining out and redirected their dollars towards take-aways and deliveries.

a hand holding a credit card and a laptop in the background (Photo: Rupixen, Unsplash)

USA | What did Americans learn in 2020? Among other things, that you can legally order alcohol online and have it delivered to your doorstep. In a poll 44 percent of respondents said that 2020 was the first year they bought alcohol over the internet.

Barkeeper (Photo: Taylor Davidson, Unsplash)

USA | The on-premise represented 17 percent of total alcohol sales in 2019. The closure of bars and restaurants during the pandemic saw its share drop to 9 percent in 2020. The IWRS, a research outfit, forecasts that it will only be back at 12.4 percent of US volume in 2024.

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