Despite ruling that cleared Jack's Abby's termination of Atlantic Importing without cause 1.5 years ago, MA Superior Ct judge sez Atlantic still has a case for more relief, per ruling issued on Jan 25 shared by Atlantic's law firm late last week. In fact, judge goes so far as to call MA franchise law (reformed in 2021) "unconstitutional" while denying Jack's Abby's motion to dismiss and motion for judgment. On Feb 23, court will conduct a status conference in person to hear from both parties on how ct "should determine what further relief should be granted."

Sheehan Family Cos has deal to sell over 300K cases of its Craft New Hampshire unit to New Hampshire Distributing and Bellavance Dist, the 2 AB distribs in state. Deal announced to employees and suppliers in mid-Jan and expected to close in Mar. Craft New Hampshire has dozens of suppliers, including many larger craft brewers like Lagunitas, Stone, Three Floyd's and more. But its 4 largest suppliers are Downeast, Athletic, Maine Beer and Burlington Beer. AB distribs reportedly didn't buy every brand that Craft New Hampshire sells. Now some will either have to go to a coupla craft-centric options or perhaps struggle to find distribution. (A version of this article also appeared in sibling pub INSIGHTS Express.)

Cult craft lager Montucky Cold Snacks keeps on growin', finishing last yr with shipments up ~21% to just over 63K bbls, CEO and co-founder Chad Zeitner shared with CBN. It expanded distribution significantly of late, adding 7 states last yr with plans to launch another 4 in 2023, soon to bring footprint to 35 total. But after just over a decade in mkt, the Bozeman, Montana-based company continues to grow beyond what it ever initially envisioned.

If PEP opted to refranchise its bottling assets (like Coke did), long-term viability of Blue Cloud could be easier to envision, Consumer Edge's Brett Cooper posited in recent report. "Consider whether PepsiCo is establishing an alcohol distribution business to combine with its bottling operations that upon being separated from PepsiCo would extract revenue and cost synergies, win new business and act as a consolidator of distribution assets not dissimilar from bottling consolidation seen decades ago (and continues today)," he wrote.

AB's Mich Ultra is adding Formula 1 racing to its list of pro sports sponsorships, partnering with Williams Racing team and its drivers, Alex Albon and "Florida-native" Logan Sargeant, co announced. Mich Ultra will be featured on Alex and Logan's cars for of each of the 4 North American Grand Prix events in Miami, Montreal, Austin and Las Vegas this year. AB and Mich Ultra will provide fans with "premier experiences" at each Grand Prix and both Williams Racing drivers will be featured in upcoming "digital content, in-person appearances, and more."

Four weeks into 2023, imports and FMBs remain the biggest share gainers, led by top suppliers Constellation and Mark Anthony/Mike's. Total category volume up 0.8% for 4 wks to 1/28 in NielsenIQ scan data. Avg price per case up around 7% industry-wide, $$ up 7.9%. Recall, very soft early 2022 set low bar.

Sheehan Family Cos has deal to sell over 300K cases of its Craft New Hampshire unit to New Hampshire Distributing and Bellavance Dist, the 2 AB distribs in state. Deal announced to employees and suppliers in mid-Jan and expected to close in Mar. Craft New Hampshire has dozens of suppliers, including many larger craft brewers like Lagunitas, Stone, Three Floyd's and more. But its 4 largest suppliers are Downeast, Athletic, Maine Beer and Burlington Beer. AB distribs reportedly didn't buy every brand that Craft New Hampshire sells. Now some will either have to go to a coupla of craft-centric options or perhaps struggle to find distribution.

While the total US craft volume picture remains hazy, a selection of shipments totals for top craft players provides just a taste of the tough trends and varying fates they faced in 2022. These self-reported trends range from down double-digits to up double-digits. But this selection unlikely to cover the breadth of performances last yr. Some other top players grew much faster. Others fell harder. Indeed, many of the trends reported so far are positive, showing a rosier piece of the picture than the final view of top craft players is likely to turn out.

More Tuff Trends Around 500K Bbls: Firestone -2.5%, Gambrinus -7.5% Another pair of players that shipped around a half-mil bbls in 2022 each declined. Firestone Walker finished 2022 down just 2.5%, as on premise offset far softer off-premise biz. Gambrinus took a tougher hit in 2022, with total shipments down 7.5% to around 487K bbls. That decline driven entirely by Shiner brand (including under 2K bbls of beyond beer entries), which dipped around 8% to 464K bbls, below the brand’s volume back in 2011. On the other hand, the co’s much smaller, CA-based Trumer grew almost 16% to 24K bbls all on back of its sole brand, Trumer Pils. Last yr, Trumer got back all the volume it lost during the pandemic, tho it remains a bit below its prior peak. Recall, both Bell’s and Founders also in similar bbl-ballpark and also declined last yr.

Stone +5%, Combines with Sapporo for Over 660K Bbls; Brooklyn Got Best Gain of the Bunch One of few other major craft brands to grow its off-premise volume last yr, Stone closed out the year with a solid shipments gain, up 4.6% to 339K bbls. (Note the co revised downward its reported shipments for prior yrs thru 2021, when it shipped around 324K bbls.) Now under the umbrella of Sapporo USA, that co’s brands are picking up some serious weight. Sapporo brands alone also over 300K bbls, up 10% last yr to 323K bbls. So even before factoring in Anchor (likely down again last yr and under 20% of its peak volume) and Unibroue imports, combo of Stone and Sapporo brands top 660K bbls heading into 2023. Brooklyn Brewery rebounded even stronger, as CEO Eric Ottaway told us late last yr. It finished the yr up a big 28%, gain of around 60K bbls to around 267K bbls thanks to international growth and gains in core NYC mkt.

4 Brewers ~120K Bbls, 2 Up, 2 Down in 2023 Mixed bag of trends among group of brewers around 120K bbls highlights oppys and challenges for major regional craft players. Allagash ticked up 2% to 120K bbls ahead of this yr’s launch of first yr-round IPA Hop Reach. But Great Lakes dipped 6% to 120K bbls, unable to maintain strong 2021 gain. In WA, Georgetown finished the yr up 7% to 119K bbls, seeing its off-premise growth shift from flagship Bodhizafa IPA to elsewhere in portfolio. But Odell had tuff year, down 10% to 116K bbls, co’s steepest decline to date. 

100K-Bbl Club: 3 Brewers Staying in, Rejoining and Nearing Recall, Rhinegeist grew shipments 3% to around 107K bbls, holding solidly above the 100K-bbl-mark. And Narragansett rejoined the club, it shared. Its shipments grew 5% to 102K bbls, co followed up after release last mo. And tho it didn’t quite pass the 6-digit shipment threshold, newly formed Craft ‘Ohana got real close. Lead Maui brands posted strong double-digit gain, +14% to over 70K bbls last yr, prexy/COO Scott Metzger shared. Add in Modern Times, which finished yr at 25,500 bbls, and the co’s portfolio neared 97K bbls. Tho Modern Times fell by almost half during a tumultuous yr for the brand and ended 2022 about 45K bbls below its 2019 peak, new stable leadership could help brand get back on solid footing and help push the Craft ‘Ohana portfolio past 100K bbls this yr.