Much anticipated creative officially dropped. Bud Light unveiled its first ad from Anomaly during this weekend's NFL playoffs, showcasing new brand voice and giving a glimpse of what's ahead for brand's Super Bowl spot. The ad, entitled "Handful," features a woman "confidently navigating her way through a crowded bar while holding five pint glasses of Bud Light" to tune of The Notorious B.I.G's "Hypnotize," arriving at table of friends without spilling a drop, wrote Ad Age. It includes brand's new tagline: "Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy." And it marks Bud Light's shift away from humor, with "fewer jokes" and "more dignity," article notes.

Bell's Brewery is lookin' for a bigtime rebound in 2023 after declining thruout 2022 amid integration with New Belgium and parent co Kirin-Lion. Bell's shipments slipped nearly 8% to 447K bbls, co shared with sibling pub Craft Brew News. But with another year of integration, "the addition of a second canning line" by early Feb that will 2x canning capacity, and boost from going fully natl (except HI) by Jun, projections are to "exceed" 500K bbls produced "and then some this year," MLive reported citing Bell's evp Carrie Yunker. That'd be double-digit growth vs 2022. After finishing 2022 on a stronger note in Q4, Bell's is keepin' up momentum in early 2023, including orders for Hazy Hearted and Hearted variety pk at 160% of forecast, Carrie shared.

Brave new world of expanded portfolios and blurred category lines comes with lotsa watchouts, advisors at Ippolito Christon & Co wrote to malt bev distribs today, opining on provisions of Monster's Beast Unleashed contract. Some of those terms "set a bad precedent for future malt products and alter the beer distributor's risk profile negatively," prexy Andy Christon wrote with help from atty Keith Hochheiser. Like some other recent contracts for non-traditional bevs or new supplier partners, this one is "weak on traditional exclusivity and perpetuity provisions," creating potential for "eroding the value of your total business over time," Andy warns. Combo of that risk and $2.50/case mktg contribution means distribs must weigh pros/cons carefully, he sez.

Face 2023 with a confident understanding of the news and numbers that drove the US beer biz in 2022. Sign up today for the 2022 Year in Beer webinar, just over a wk away on Wednesday, Feb 1 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific. Join Beer Marketer's INSIGHTS editors as we unpack the year that was and gear up for what's to come. We'll hit the highlights with a data-driven update in a fast-paced 90 minutes, including Q&A. Register now for $225 per participant or

MN's Indeed Brewing posted another year of strong double-digit growth in 2022 as it continues to fuel core brands and expand into all kinds of new innovative territories including THC bevs and edibles. Production grew 20% to 20K bbls in 2022 vs 2021 and up 40% vs 2020, co shared in press release celebrating its 10th anniversary accomplishments. Shipments to wholesalers also grew 20% vs 2021, fueled by lead brand Pistachio Cream Ale, which increased total points of distribution by 84% including now over "500 draft handles." Another core brand, Flavorwave IPA, grew sales for its 4th consecutive year.

At the end of the Wall St Journal article we wrote about a couple wks ago, Brewers Assn economist Bart Watson suggested growing parallels between craft beer and wine. "There's an old phrase in the wine industry that I feel like I've heard more in beer recently," he commented. "How do you make a small fortune in beer? You start with a large fortune." It's a telling comment about small brewery economics. And last wk, an additional parallel popped up during the annual Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) State of the Wine Industry presentation and report. Wine needs to find more ways to welcome younger and more diverse legal age drinkers. So does craft beer.

As Scout Distribution is building its biz thru a series of notable partnerships with Classic Dist and Columbia, co completed another sizable capital raise, bringing in another well-known beer vet as lead investor for the round. Scout just finished raising near $11 mil thru combo of debt and equity sale, co-founder/CEO Jeff Hansson confirmed with CBN. A higher total than previously reported (see Jan 13 issue). Turns out that Ron Fowler, who once owned several CA distribs and still owns a piece of Columbia Dist and part of San Diego Padres, was "lead investor" and will join Scout's board as well, Jeff shared and parent publication Beer Marketer's INSIGHTS first reported. So Scout now has two CA beer distrib vets on its investor team and board in Classic's CJ Sanchez and Ron. Just the latest wrinkle in CA bev distribution.

After a brief stint slippin' below the mark during pandemic challenges, Narragansett is back in the 100K-bbl club, co shared in detailed press release about last yr's results. Narragansett "returned to its pre-pandemic volume of over 100,000 barrels" in 2022 as depletions grew 5%, co shared, calling out key mkts of NY, VA, Wash DC, NC, OH and home state RI, as well as expansion into CO last Sep as drivers. Recall, Narragansett has been gradually expanding its footprint comin' outta the pandemic, including WI in mid-2021 and IN in 2020.