A year and a half ago, the venerable UK mixer co Franklin & Sons manned a booth at the winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas looking to offer American cocktail drinkers a somewhat more premium alternative to its domestic rival Fevertree (BBI, Jan 18 2023). But as Keith Beattie, its dir of int'l sales told us at last week's Fancy Food Show, the plan has undergone some refinement, with the strategy now calling for a larger retail emphasis than earlier envisioned on-premise push. To get there, co has recruited NJ-based Cascadia Managing Brands, which was avidly working booth of its I Am client where we encountered Keith. Beattie said the co has added a West Coast warehouse and entered likes of Central Market, Fresh Market and Safeway stores in Pac NW, generally going out at $6.99-7.49 per 4-pk of 6.8-oz glass bottles. The bottles are fully recyclable, he maintained, and sport a steel cap for better carbonation retention. Unlike Fevertree, which has acknowledged being slow to recognize that tonic water-based drinks are not the same force they are back home, Franklin & Sons is deploying Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer entries alongside the Tonic Water, 10-11 sku's all told tho some portfolio refinement is under way with consulting partner. Tho not as recognizable as Fevertree or Q here, Franklin & Sons is #2 on-premise brand in UK and is sold in 65 countries, he reminded. Founded in 1886, Franklin & Sons is a unit of Global Brands Ltd, which wields broad array of brands, including Hooch, Take tequila and Be canned cocktails.

A pair of bizzes in the budding but legally blurry world of hemp-based bevs didn't get the relief they sought from a fed judge in Iowa this wk. Climbing Kites and Field Day Brewing, makers of hemp-derived intoxicating drinks in the state failed to convince the judge to grant a preliminary injunction to block a new state law that severely limits their bizzes. Yet an amended complaint may have a better chance, the judge explained in a ruling issued yesterday. New IA law that took effect Monday, 7/1, can stand as arguments made by pair of hemp-based THC/CBD bevs, Climbing Kites and Field Day Brewing, were not persuasive. Fed food & drug law does not preempt the state's ability to limit the potency of such bevs or require additional warning labels, the judge determined. So with the bev makers unlikely to succeed in their dispute on the merits, they didn't even address issues of irreparable harm, balance of equities or public interest.

This week in 1999, NBWA won a key lobbying effort when by 58-40 vote the Senate voted to table amendment to Appropriations bill by Sen Lautenberg of NJ. If passed, amendment would have mandated anti-drinking ads be included with federal govt's anti-drug programs. This was a good sign as it showed "people don't think that beer and illegal drugs are the same," said NBWA prexy David Rehr.

After yrs of brokering beer/alc bev, NA and cannabis deals with separate cos, Townsend Ziebold joined his former First Beverage Group colleagues at Arlington Capital Advisors. During the go-go years of craft beer growth and M&A thruout the mid-to-late 2010s, Townsend, JB Shireman and Ryan Lake were part of a team at First Beverage that helped complete many major craft deals. As First Bev Group merged with Cascadia in 2018, the band split up, so to speak. JB and Ryan joined Arlington while Townsend stayed with Cascadia and eventually moved to TD Cowen. But now "the band is back together," JB told INSIGHTS. Between Arlington's team and Townsend, they're involved a whole lotta M&A in alc bev and beyond. "I am looking forward to helping them continue their momentum as the premier beverage advisor firm in the industry," said Townsend in released statement.

Fed judges in 2 different states blocked bizzes operating in the budding but legally blurry worlds of hemp bevs and adult-use cannabis from the relief they sought in recent days. Makers of hemp-derived intoxicating drinks in Iowa failed to convince a fed judge there to grant a preliminary injunction against a new state law that severely limits their bizzes. Yet an amended complaint may have a better chance, the judge explained in a ruling issued yesterday. The day before, a judge in MA declined to cut against fed regulation/prohibition of cannabis by reminding that only the Sup Ct can overturn itself, hinting at a potential future path for this dispute.

Constellation's beer biz delivered another ho-hum humdinger of a quarter in its fiscal Q1, with no big surprises heading into July 4 holiday. It snagged the 2d-largest share gain across total bevs as well as "once again the top share gain in all of beverage alcohol" in 12-wk Circana data ended Jun 2, ceo Bill Newlands highlighted on earnings call this morn. Co also achieved enterprise $$ sales growth 4.5% "above that of the entire CPG sector." And yet, after delivering its 57th consecutive qtr of depletion growth with margin improvement to boot, STZ stock flipped from +4% in pre-mkt trading to down more than 3% at press time. What gives?

We are pleased to announce our 30th Annual Beer Insights Seminar in New York City, with a reception on Sunday evening Nov 17 and program all day Monday, November 18. The Seminar will take place at the Harmonie Club, one of NYC's most-storied private clubs founded in 1852. Fittingly for our 30th anniversary, we will bring you a fantastic program.