Heineken enters Peru and buys beer brand Tres Cruces

Peru | Following an auction, Heineken succeeded in acquiring the local beer brand Tres Cruces from soft drink firm AJE Group (AJE) and will now try to take on the market leader Backus (AB-InBev).

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Constellation Brands said to explore new site for half-finished brewery

Mexico | It could be done: dismantle, truck and reassemble. Constellation Brands, the number three brewer in the US, is exploring options to move its unfinished brewery from Mexicali to Baja California’s coastal zone, the website Mexico-now.com reported on 7 September 2020.

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Bahamian Brewery’s double whammy

Bahamas | It has taken the Bahamian Brewery more than a year to come back on-line. In early September 2019, the tropical storm Dorian hit the islands, putting the brewery under more than one metre of water for hours and destroying all its electrical installations, finished product and raw materials.

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Ex-Lagunitas CEO Maria Stipp becomes CEO of Stone Brewing

USA | A familiar face: The former CEO of Heineken-owned craft brewer Lagunitas, Maria Stipp, joined Stone brewery on 14 September 2020 as its new CEO.

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US craft brewers face first year of diminished sales

USA | The Brewers Association estimates a 10 to 20 percent decline in sales for small and independently-owned craft breweries in 2020, after a drop of around 10 percent through the first half of 2020. This could mean a loss of  3 to 6 million hl beer over 2019.

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Cannabis beverages: patience is the word

USA | Long time no hear from cannabis beverages. Although much hyped in 2019, they seem to have disappeared from view as hard seltzers have taken off. But don’t write them off yet.

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Brewery closures (all but one) leave Mexico with a hangover

Mexico | From April to May this year, beer production in Mexico declined by about 60 percent over the same period last year. Brewers large and small suffered under the shutdown, which began on 5 April 2020, when the government decreed brewing as non-essential, and lasted until early June.

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Alcohol laws relaxed across Canada due to covid-19

Canada | Pundits wonder if Canada’s suddenly relaxed alcohol laws will make her cities more European.

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Coke will launch a Topo Chico Hard Seltzer in Latin America

USA | At long last, Coca-Cola is jumping on the hard seltzer bandwagon with a new brand, based on its sparkling water, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, which will launch in Latin America later this year.

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Boston Beer’s share price surges on hard seltzer sales

USA | Boston Beer has been one of the stay-at-home winners. Boosted by strong sales of its Truly Hard Seltzer, Boston Beer delivered excellent second quarter 2020 results, even exceeding analysts’ expectations.

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Sales of hard seltzer continue to rise

USA | With sales tripling in 2019, the low-calorie fruity boozy water continues to be a sensation. The segment leader, White Claw, owned by Mark Anthony Brands, now outsells Budweiser, while number two, Boston Beer’s Truly is bigger than Heineken.

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Boston Beer agrees to new beer distribution laws in Massachusetts

USA | Although Boston Beer is the looser, it still agreed to revised beer distribution laws in its home state of Massachusetts, which will allow small craft brewers to now choose their own distributor.

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Constellation sold craft brewer Ballast Point for USD 41 million

USA | Now we know. Constellation Brands sold Ballast Point for USD 41.1 million. The figure was disclosed in its latest government filing.

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Mikkeller bars in San Francisco and Los Angeles closed

USA | Mikkeller is going through a rough patch. Known to partner with local restauranteurs on its bars, the Mikkeller location in Los Angeles was closed in February, followed by the Mikkeller bar in San Francisco in May.

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Diageo joins Facebook ad boycott

United Kingdom | Is there more to it than just woke culture signalling? The world’s number one drinks company, Diageo, said it will be pulling paid brand advertising on “major social media platforms” as of July, driven by concerns over hate speech and divisive content on the platforms.

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Julia Herz laid off from the Brewers Association

USA | The cancellation of its 2020 events means the Brewers Association (BA) will lose 70 percent of its annual revenue. It has had to resort to staff lay-offs and Julia Herz is among the 24 already made redundant.

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AB-InBev offers to spin off Kona to secure Craft Brew Alliance deal

USA | To get the green light from the antitrust watchdogs for its purchase of Portland’s Craft Brew Alliance (Widmer, Redhook, Kona, etc), AB-InBev said in June 2020 that it will sell off Kona’s Hawaii brewery and two brewpubs including the rights to the brand on the islands.

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US domestic beer sales drop 6.6 percent in May

USA | Because of the lockdown and the closure of bars, US domestic beer shipments in May 2020 declined 6.6 percent to 14.2 million barrels (16.6 million hl), from 15.2 million barrels a year ago, The Beer Institute reports.

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“Black is Beautiful” collab beer to support racial equality

USA | Since the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, craft brewers have come together to launch a new beer in support of equality for people of colour.

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