Beer Industry News, Insights, Jobs, & Events

Young Lion Gets New Owner; Ex-Employee Sues Legion Brewing; Samuel Adams Drop a Cherry Bomb; Budweiser Drops Super Bowl LX Ad; People Moves at Holidaily, Bell’s; Athletic’s Bill Shufelt on Bold Names; Womrtown’s Patriot Place Taproom Gets a ‘Glow Up.’

Inflationary pressures, changing consumer shopping habits, immigration enforcement tactics, COVID-19, weather – all and more have been listed as causes for bev-alc’s less-than-ideal last few years. But one of the largest hurdles for the industry might be by its own design, according to National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones.

After 25 years at the Colorado Convention Center, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) will move outdoors, festival host the Brewers Association (BA) announced Tuesday.

Future Proof Brands, the Austin-based parent company of BeatBox Beverages, plans to lay off 158 employees following Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) majority share acquisition of the party punch maker.

Hemp THC drink makers RYTHM and Señorita have each inked multi-year agreements with the United Center in Chicago.

Three of beverage-alcohol’s four tracked categories increased dollar sales in the latest scans from market research firm Circana (one-week ending January 18).

Pac-Northwest wholesaler Columbia Distributing has struck a deal to acquire Point Blank Distributing, adding around 1 million cases to its annual case load of 60 million cases.

Convenience store retailers offered an optimistic outlook on 2026 beverage sales in Goldman Sachs’ Q4 Beverage Bytes retailer survey, which represents roughly 28% of the c-store channel (around 42,000 retail locations).

Adult non-alc (ANA) cocktails are gaining momentum in luxury hotels, with one major chain reporting a 32% sales increase over the past three years. But functional ingredients and education still create challenges.

This week’s beer goes out to INDIANA UNIVERSITY football coach Curt Cignetti, although ironically – he’s not gonna need one.

An influential group of beverage-alcohol retailers and distributors are supporting legislative efforts to keep hemp-infused beverages alive despite their prohibition, slated to take effect in November 2026. 

A pair of Nashville breweries are linking up. Jackalope Brewing has struck a deal to acquire Black Abbey Brewing. Under Jackalope’s stewardship, “Black Abbey’s distinct brewing identity and well-loved beers” will live on, according to the announcement.

A craft beverage platform is taking shape in San Diego. Latitude Brewing, the umbrella that includes Latitude 33 and Thorn Brewing, has acquired the House of Mason brand platform (Mason Aleworks, Eppig Brewing, Second Chance Beer Co., Castellum Ciders, Old Harbor Distilling and Swell Soda).

Beer ordering remained in contraction in January, but recorded a “significant bump” compared to December, according to National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) in the first Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) of 2026.