• Beer prices up 8.6% in Dec, +5% for the yr, per CPI.
• FTC included Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in preliminary investigation over potential price discrimination.
• Tilray's deal for Montauk valued at $53.1 mil if it hits growth targets; $35.1 mil initially.
• Virtually all states with more established legal cannabis mkts declined considerably in 2022, including CA, CO, OR, WA and NV.
• Craft beer lost $$ share of IRI multi-outlet + convenience channels for 4th straight year.
• For last 12 mos thru Nov: Constellation shipments up 2.7 mil bbls, 10%. Revs up $933 mil to $7.5 bil. Oper income also up 10% to $2.85 bil.

Distilled Spirits Council criticized Penn Liquor Control Board (PLCB) for surprising liquor suppliers with just 10 days' notice on "an across-the-board pricing increase of 4% on more than 3,500" brands sold in state stores. "Ten days is not nearly enough time for spirits producers to plan and adjust to price increases," said Andy Deloney, senior veep and Head of State Public Policy. Price changes, which take effect Jan 15, "should be part of a larger discussion with impacted shareholders," yet this price change "was done without any consultation or collaboration," noted Andy. He added further that DISCUS was "extremely disappointed" in process and hopes PLCB "will adjust future plans" to include those "most heavily impacted by their unilateral decision-making." Another factor: PA's sudden pricing decision "only exacerbates cross-border sales and continues to drive consumers elsewhere," wrote Andy. PLCB's annual report shows it had sales of $3.02 bil for fiscal yr 2021-22, up $109 mil, 10% from previous yr.

New Year's Eve weekend provided an 8% bump in sales velocity on premise in week to Dec 31, per CGA by NielsenIQ. That week there was a 17% increase in check value and a 10% rise in ticket count. All "key" states tracked by CGA were up, led by 46% gains in both NY and Ill. Sales gains in week between Christmas and New Years were bright spot compared to declines of 10% in total US for week before and 7% for week after holidays til Jan 7.

The largest beer wholesaler is getting more serious about spirits. After taking on Sazerac spirits portfolio in CA, HI and parts of TX, Reyes is adding key leadership position devoted to its "newly created" spirits division. Co hired Kyle Dean as Reyes' "Market President of Spirits," Reyes Beer Division ceo Tom Day announced to employees late yesterday. Kyle officially joins Reyes Jan 17, comin' most recently from Breakthru Bev Nevada, where he was exec veep across beer, wine & spirits for the past 5 yrs, according to LinkedIn. New role is based outta SoCal.

Constellation made decisive move to pull back from upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) initiatives following video that surfaced of UFC prexy Dana White's domestic violence incident with his wife. While Dana himself has actively made media appearances telling people there's "no defense" or "excuse" for his actions thru media outlets this week, UFC org's lack of disciplinary measure against Dana seems to be the issue at hand. "As an organization, we expect our partners to act in ways that align with our values and we are engaged with UFC to understand their responses and next steps," co wrote to distrib partners.

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 3 weeks 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 sign up 5 registrants from the same organization for just $750, 10 for $1,125.

Scout Distribution raised $3.1 mil of venture funding from undisclosed investors on Dec 22, Silverwood Partners highlighted in recent round-up of private investments across industries (and our sibling pub Beverage Business INSIGHTS noted). Recall, last year Scout sold minority stake to Classic Beverage as it took on Classic's LA beer/alc bev biz, struck separate JV with Columbia Dist in Idaho, and has another operation in AZ, selling range of craft, beyond beer, and NAs. Scout continues to actively scale up amidst its ambition to reach 3 mil cases, $100+ mil revs per year by 2027 or sooner (see Sep 20 issue).

Charlottesville, VA's Three Notch'd Brewing is gearing up to expand production, while at same time planning to take its new line of NAs national. Late last month, Three Notch'd launched "Uncool" line of non-alc beers just in time for Dry Jan. Six pks will soon be available locally at Kroger, Wegmans and Total Wine, with statewide distribution coming later this yr. But Three Notch'd plans to expand its NAs nationally, while rest of co's beers will always be VA-only, hence the separate brand, CEO George Kastendike told Axios. "We think we came up with a pretty fun way to describe nonalcoholic beer," he added, with "Uncool" line available in Citra wheat, pilsner, IPA, hazy IPA and salted lime sour. In the words of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous: "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."