Anheuser-Busch InBev

Jim Koch on Boston Beer’s potential internal CEO candidates: Allagash’s new taproom; Erik Ellington’s NA beer; and more headlines.

What do distributors want in 2025? A survey of 173 distributors from across the U.S. found that middle-tier leaders are seeking simplification and focus in programs, among other key traits. Those answers were among the takeaways from consulting firm Tamarron’s 27th annual Brewer Partnership Compass survey.

Brand extensions of some of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) top brands helped the company outpace U.S. beer industry trends in Q2, the company shared Thursday in its quarterly earnings release.

Nice weather and ideal timing helped boost beer’s performance over Fourth of July weekend, producing “surprisingly strong trends,” according to distributors surveyed by Goldman Sachs.

Halfway through 2025, craft and beyond beer are the biggest share losers in both the on- and off-premise, according to data shared during Fintech and the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) quarterly webinar.

St. Louis-based Urban Chestnut Brewing Company has acquired the beer brands of O’Fallon Brewery, which ceased operations after 24 years at the end of last year.

Bev-alc volumes declined in the two-week period ending June 14 except for cider and some ready-to-drink subcategories, according to analysis of NIQ data from Goldman Sachs Equity Research.

Non-alcoholic beer, Italian imports and fruit-forward offerings are just a few of the summer trends popping in Total Wine & More and Whole Foods Market stores. Total Wine’s Adrea Starr and Whole Foods Market’s Mary Guiver offered insights into what they’re seeing as summer sets in.

The beer category “surprised” Circana EVP BevAl Scott Scanlon last week and not in a good way. Both dollar sales (-6.1%) and volume (-7.3%) dropped mid-single digits in the week ending June 15 at off-premise retailers tracked by the market research firm.

The legal sparring between exporter CraftCanTravel LLC (CCT) and Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) continues. CraftCanTravel sued A-B in federal court last year, alleging that the brewer infringed upon its exclusive rights to export the former Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) portfolio of brands, including Kona Brewing, “to most of the world.”

Total bev-alc dollar sales declined -2% both year-over-year (YoY) and week-over-week (WoW) in Circana-tracked off-premise channels through May 18, according to the market research firm’s latest weekly report.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) has revealed its new energy drink line Phorm Energy, as the beer giant seeks to make its presence felt in a category that has become increasingly important, and unstable, to beer distributors in recent years. Using the tagline “We do the Work,” Phorm Energy aims to deliver “energy, hydration and focus” through a zero-sugar, four-SKU line of 16 oz cans in four flavors.

Volume at craft breweries outside of the Brewers Association’s (BA) definition of small and independent declined 4% on a comparable basis, to 6.752 million barrels, in 2024, the trade group reported in the May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

Distributors have become increasingly more pessimistic about beer. But how do they feel about the biggest suppliers and their outlooks for 2025? Investment banking firm Jefferies asked this question in its latest beer distributor survey, which represented portfolios from Tilray (60% of respondents), Constellation (55%), Anheuser-Busch InBev [A-B] (50%), Molson Coors (50%), Boston Beer (40%) and more.