|
|
A new BMO report describes the $115 billion U.S. wine market as undergoing a reset driven by shifting consumer trends. Interviews with the report's authors address the causes and when stabilization may begin.
winebusiness |
|
|
Kenya's competition authority has approved Asahi Group's $2.3 billion acquisition of Diageo's 65% stake in East African Breweries.
Bizcommunity |
|
|
Buyers suing Costco over Kirkland Signature tequila labeling told a Washington federal judge that a Mexican council's certification of the bottles as "100% agave" is not enough to defeat their deceptive marketing claims.
Law360 |
|
|
Southern Glazer's Raise the Bar report says Gen Z households now make up 7% of the beverage alcohol market, up from 4% in 2021, with their wine spend rising 8% since 2020, even as Impact Databank projects the overall U.S. wine market to slip 3.5% to below 300 million cases this year. Wine cocktails drove 92% of total wine dollar growth in NielsenIQ channels over the 52 weeks to July 11 and generated $107 million in retail innovation dollars, while 200-ml. and 500-ml. formats accounted for 58% of core wine volume growth.
Shanken News Daily |
|
|
A federal restriction adopted in Public Law 119-37 would cap hemp-derived THC drinks at 0.4mg per container starting December 11, a threshold Minnesota retailers say would effectively end the category, which is legal in 20-plus states; a bipartisan Beverage Regulatory Parity Act introduced last month seeks to keep 5mg drinks legal and regulate them like beverage alcohol. Minneapolis retailer Surdyk's now carries about 230 THC drink SKUs, up from roughly 215 last year, and Minnesota has issued rules letting hemp THC businesses apply for a cannabis license to stay compliant if the ban takes effect.
Shanken News Daily |
|
|
St. Paul, Minnesota-based Summit Brewing Company is facing bank foreclosure proceedings, per Brewbound. The brewery was once Minnesota's largest craft brewery and one of the 25 largest in the country.
Brewbound |
|
|
|
|
Crédit Agricole has bought a stake in Miraval Provence, the Brad Pitt-linked rosé business, through its private equity arms IDIA Capital Investissement and SOFIPACA. Miraval Provence, co-owned by Familles Perrin and Château Miraval, sells wine under the Miraval Côtes de Provence and Studio by Miraval brands and generates most of its sales through exports via the Perrin distribution network and a tie-up with Campari.
Just Drinks |
|
|
Fever-Tree's revenue rose 7% to £183.6m (US$247.5m) in the first half of 2026, with growth across all regions and the UK back in growth at 3% to £49.5m after declining last year. Its biggest market, the US, grew 7% to £66.9m, boosted by its Molson Coors partnership and first national marketing campaign, while non-tonic products now make up 47% of group sales, up from 39% three years ago.
The Spirits Business |
|
|
Russell Motz has been promoted to general manager of Johnson Brothers in Texas. He previously ran the Brown-Forman Division at Johnson Brothers Maverick of Texas, where he helped launch and build the Brown-Forman business.
winebusiness |
|
|
Smurfit Westrock will close a California corrugated packaging facility in December, affecting 141 workers. It marks the company's ninth closure since the footprint optimization that began when Smurfit Kappa acquired Westrock in 2024.
winebusiness |
|
|
The Hain Celestial Group is selling its international business to private equity firm Aurelius for about $323 million, exiting the global market. The New Jersey-based company will put the proceeds toward debt.
BevNET |
|
|
|
|
The new owners of Crux Fermentation Project have combined the brewing of three smaller Bend-area labels, Cascade Lakes, Good Life Brewing and Silver Moon Brewing, into a single operation, following an earlier move by Great Frontier. It is the latest step in an ongoing wave of consolidation among Oregon craft brewers.
The Business Journals |
|
|
A federal judge ordered trustee oversight of a restaurant carrying $6.1 million in debt after disputed insider transfers, opening a second independent investigation into entities tied to Uncle Nearest co-founder Keith Weaver.
Inc.com |
|
|
Diageo is extending its core brands into low-alcohol with a new mid-strength range in the UK. The company was the first major spirits maker to scale non-alc spirits alternatives.
BevNET |
|
|
|
|
India's Allied Blenders and Distillers is moving into single-malt whisky, investing up to Rs1.15bn ($11.98m) in a distillery that will produce around three million bulk liters a year. Operations are expected to begin in the third quarter of FY28.
Just Drinks |
|
|
|
|
The UK's Defra has granted English whisky protected Geographical Indication status, recognizing it as a distinct category alongside Scotch, Welsh and Irish whisk(e)y and giving legal protection to the names English Whisky and English Whiskey; it will be added to the UK GI register on 1 October, following a 2022 application from the English Whisky Guild. Defra said more than 70 distilleries now make English whisky, up from 46 in 2023, with product exported to over 30 countries, though Circumstance Distillery founder Liam Hirt objected that the single malt definition follows the Scotch model, including double distillation in copper pot stills.
Just Drinks |
|
|
|
|
Campari Group is adding four Italian names to its Southeast Asia lineup, bringing its regional spritz portfolio to six brands: Aperol, Campari, Sarti, Cynar, Mondoro and alcohol-free aperitif Crodino, with Sarti Rosa leading the expansion. The rollout starts in Singapore through masterclasses led by brand ambassador Bystrik Uko and tie-ups with bars, restaurants and hotels; Campari says annual Aperol Spritz servings have grown from 60 million to roughly 1.5 billion over the past two decades.
Marketing-Interactive |
|
|
Bacardi has launched Agave Masters, a Patrón-branded education platform for bartenders that includes what it calls the only WSET-approved accreditation dedicated to agave spirits. The platform and membership are free, and it also features a competition, masterclasses, articles and networking, with winners of the first competition taken to Mexico for a four-day summit that includes a visit to Patrón's brand home in Jalisco.
Drinks Intel |
|
|
|
|
Prosecco now outsells Champagne by about three times in India, estimates Vishal Kadakia of Mumbai importer Wine Park, who links the shift to Covid-era Champagne price hikes and a market where the IWSR's 2025 India report says more than 80% of wine sells under Rs. 3,000 (£23). Prosecco Consorzio export data shows bottle volumes fell 43% between 2023 and 2024, recovered 28% in 2025 to 217,000, with 80,000 bottles imported in the first four months of 2026.
The Drinks Business |
|
|
South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Economy will end its six-year 20% tax break on draught beer starting 1 January 2027, adding roughly KRW5,000 (£2.72) per 20-litre keg for on-trade businesses. Magpie Brewery co-founder Erik Moynihan said craft handles risk being dropped first as bars protect margins, since major producers' keg prices run 30 to 40% of Magpie's and the majors can backstop accounts with volume rebates and equipment deals.
The Drinks Business |
|
|
30 Best Bars India's What India is Drinking 2026 survey, drawn from 155 bars across 18 cities, found Diageo's Johnnie Walker leading blended Scotch and its Don Julio and Tanqueray topping agave spirits and gin, with the Tequila-based Picante ranked India's most popular cocktail. Respondents named 527 brands across 21 categories, including 166 Indian brands, with participation up 24% on last year.
The Spirits Business |
|
|
Two longtime local beer-industry veterans are taking over one of America's first craft breweries, based in Pittsburgh, five months after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Inc.com |
|
|
Heineken's "Personalised Draught," developed through its Heineken Studio innovation platform, lets drinkers use an app to blend their own beer from an AI-powered tap, choosing flavor intensity and alcohol strength from 0.0% to 5% ABV across 135 expressions of the namesake brand. Users scan a QR code, set preferences, and the beer is blended from integrated barrels with a personalized label printed for each pour; it will appear at the Heineken experience in Amsterdam and at the Heineken Studio Truck at the Formula 1 Grands Prix in Mexico in October and Las Vegas in November.
Drinks Intel |
|
|
Herdade das Servas in Portugal's Alentejo has moved its harvest to overnight hours, with a team of about 20 pickers working by headlamp after dark as daytime temperatures exceed 40°C and this year's harvest started two weeks early. Production director Renato Neves said the change had "become a necessity" to protect workers, and that cooler fruit arriving at the winery, which made about 277,000 litres of wine in 2025, delays fermentation and improves aroma extraction.
The Drinks Business |
