Second time lucky? Scottish brewer BrewDog has launched another crowdfunding campaign in the US with a goal to raise USD ten million. The brewer made the announcement by parachuting soft toy ‘fat cats’ (slang for self-enriching business types) from a helicopter above Manhattan. They produced a video of this stunt, which can be watched at vimeo.com

At the Beverage Forum in Chicago in April 2018, there was already angsty talk of a shortage of truck drivers, hampering brewers and wholesalers’ ability to get their products into consumers’ hands on time.

New generation beer vending machines, that have overcome the issues which plagued earlier models, will be trialled by AB-InBev. The new ones accept all types of cash-less payments and sell cans that are opened inside the machine prior to discharging.

These days, brett, lacto and pedio are the feted Three Musketeers among US craft brewers and so it is easily forgotten that other famous American foods are fermented, too. If spicy food is your thing, then Tabasco sauce should immediately come to mind.

Lagunitas’ founder, the weed-loving Tony Magee, must have whipped his team into a frenzy to be the first in the market with a proper cannabis-infused product. Last year the Heineken-owned craft brewer tested the waters with SuperCritical, an ale brewed with aromatic compounds of essential oils extracted from marijuana plants. However, it left out the good stuff in cannabis.

Half drew she him, half sank he down. The lure of the weed seems to make Molson Coors weighing an entry into cannabis. Originally slated for September 2018, Canada will now legalise the recreational use of the drug on 17 October 2018. Several cannabis producers have declared an interest in cannabis-infused beverages but still lack a beverage industry partner. Although edibles, including “drinkables” will not be legal initially, polls suggest a huge interest in these products. According to a report by Deloitte, six out of ten consumers would probably choose to consume edible cannabis products.

MillerCoors and Pabst Brewing are facing each other in court over a USD 500 million lawsuit which Pabst lodged against the number two brewer in the US, media reported in June 2018.

I suspect that the somewhat sneering title of Josh Noel’s book “Barrel Aged Stout and Selling Out” (Chicago Review Press, 2018), which charts the rise of Chicago’s famous brewpub Goose Island to AB-InBev’s global craft beer brand, was chosen to make the book more sellable. Going for a rhyme – stout and out – might help too.

While Coke goes “naughty” with its Japanese alcopop, rival PepsiCo goes “healthy” with the acquisition of Bare Foods, a food company that makes snacks like salt-and-vinegar beet chips and Granny Smith apple chips. PepsiCo did not disclose any financial details of the acquisition, announced at the end of May 2018.

No doubt, the Three Tier System is being hollowed out. As more and more states grant craft brewers the right to open taprooms and even sell their beers to-go they are turning into serious competitors for distributors and retailers.