USA | Gluten-free beers may be still a niche but a rapidly expanding one, it seems. One of the largest US craft brewers, Sierra Nevada, on 4 February 2019, announced on Facebook the acquisition of its first brewery, Sufferfest, from San Francisco. Founded in 2016 by Caitlin Landesberg, a long-distance trail runner, who was looking for a healthier post-run beer, Sufferfest’s beers are meant to appeal to “athletes and adventurers”, but not just them.

USA | In case you missed out on Super Bowl this year, here’s the verdict: the commercial breaks were almost as bland as the sluggish on-field action, says marketingdive.com. The only reason the event (3 February 2019) will linger in viewers’ memories is a Bud Light commercial. It aimed a broadside against Miller Lite and Coors Light for using a corn-derived sugar or corn syrup called dextrose.

USA | Having recently turned 70, the founder and past president of the Brewers Association, Charlie Papazian, has officially retired from his duties.

Mexico | With a plebiscite on its brewery in Mexicali, Baja California, looming, Constellation Brands has slowed the construction of its USD 1.5 billion plant with a capacity of 10 million hl. It now hopes to finish construction work in 2021, which represents a delay of two years. Constellation originally planned to open it in December 2018.

USA | Could there be a correlation between declining beer sales in the US and the onward march of legal recreational cannabis? AB-InBev’s CEO Carlos Brito said that the company still does not have any data to prove that.

USA | The old enigma “women and beer” has been solved. Guess what, Marketing Men had got it wrong all along. Molly Hayes, AB-InBev’s global director of innovation/insights, discussed a year-long research effort to understand how the female audience views and acts in the beer sector, during a session at The Market Research Event (TMRE) 2018, held in October 2018.

Canada | So AB-InBev has jumped on the pot waggon too. As Canada prepares to legalise the highly anticipated consumable cannabis market this year, AB-InBev and Canadian cannabis company Tilray have set up a USD 100 million joint venture to study cannabis-based beverages, the companies announced on 19 December 2018.

USA | Mad Money rules again. In December 2018, AB-InBev’s shareholder, the cigarette company Altria, paid USD 12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in e-cig maker JUUL. This makes the San Francisco-based start-up worth USD 38 billion, more than other Silicon Valley start-ups, such as Airbnb, Pinterest, and Lyft. Many analysts thought the deal pricey, as JUUL’s turnover is estimated at only USD 2 billion.

USA | Constellation Brands, which is the number three brewer in the US, saw its stock decline about 30 percent from its 30 April 2018 high of USD 236.62. At the end of December 2018, it stood at only USD 162.86.

Canada | After the hype came the fall. Shares in Canadian cannabis companies have been on a tumultuous ride as of late. Since peaking in the days before the country’s legalisation of cannabis (17 October 2018), there has been a near-steady decline in many a company’s stock price.