Count Allagash as the latest large craft brewer experimenting with non-alc bevs. It's just dipping a toe in to start with taproom-only release of new Allagash Hop Water in 6-pks of 12-oz cans that are offered exclusively at co's Portland, Maine, tasting room beginning this wk, marking brewer's entry into "rapidly growing area of hop waters," per announcement. Allagash Hop Water uses water from Sebago Lake and is brewed with orange peel, Citra and Crystal hops as a nod to the flavor profile of co's flagship witbier. Hop Water joins other recent brewery-only innovations at Allagash, including Wild Blueberry Wines and Dry Ciders.

Strive, which so far has kept its focus to fermentation-derived milk products, has signed multiyear strategic alliance with precision fermentation player Turtle Tree that will enable it to broaden portfolio to include an immunity support bev targeting adult nutrition sector as well as a ready-to-mix protein powder. Both will include Turtle Tree's LF+ ingredient, claimed to be world's first animal-free lactoferrin. The bev will offer 12-15 g of fermentation-derived whey protein and 250 mg of LF+ per 8-oz carton, along with 23 vitamins and minerals that are priorities for aging adults. Strive, recall, is operated by former KanPak copacker Dennis Cohlmia.

Offering approachable take on well-crafted cocktails is brand called Simple Times Mixers that was created in Columbus, Ohio, by Anheuser-Busch brewing vet Mark Tinus who ventured to marketing side of that biz and then into entrepreneurship.

As a former cocktail bar operator in Charleston, SC, Joe Raya was sure of one thing: the handcrafted mixer line he'd created with his wife MariElena would not be venturing into margaritas and bloody Mary mixes. Instead, nearly a decade in now, the much-awarded line focuses on sophisticated recipes like its #1, Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Fashioned, its #3, Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour, or its #5, Charred Grapefruit Tonic with Bulls Bay Sea Salt, packed in brown glass apothecary bottles with antique-looking labels.

Arm yourself with facts and figures for informed decision making in today's fast-changing landscape with the 2024 Beer Industry Update. After an unprecedented year in beer, this deep-dive report delivers everything you need to understand key trends and develop strategy going forward. Update's comprehensive coverage spans everything from total industry shipments, to brewer, brand & segment figures, to regional & state data and much, much more.

Molson Coors has found another unique way to market Coors Light with Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes while skirting around NFL rule barring active players from endorsing beer brands. Mahomes filmed an ad for Coors Light and on Fri, it's going to be buried in a time capsule at Coors brewery in Golden, CO, shared Molson Coors blog. Ad won't be viewed presumably 'til Mahomes retires or rule changes. To commemorate the ad, MC will sell "a special limited-edition 'Redatrick Figurine,' a pixelated figurine redacted to obscure its identity," per blog. There will be 450 of them available for $75 each at shopcoorslight.com. Proceeds go to Mahomes' charity 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. "Not only is Patrick a huge fan of Coors Light, he's also an incredible partner who always goes the extra mile to show love for his favorite beer," said Marcelo Pascoa, vp of mktg for Coors Light. Folks can watch the ceremony live at 9am ET on Fri here.

While blaring headline data about total alcohol-related deaths, the World Health Organization buried the fact that key measures of alcohol's burden on health declined substantially from 2010-2019. Just over 2.6 mil people died of alcohol-attributable causes in 2019, the WHO reported, emphasizing this core finding from a new 330+-pg report on alcohol and other drugs. That total number is down 2.5% from around 2.7 mil in 2010. So deaths linked to alcohol dipped from 5.2% of total global mortality in 2010 to 4.7% in 2019. That's still "unacceptably high," as org's director-general wrote.

Same five RTD brands primarily sold with spirits or wine bases continue to grow strong double-digits or better in latest scans, climbing the ranks among all RTD alc bevs. High Noon grew more than 20% to $52.6 mil for 4 wks, closing in on Truly hard seltzer, -22% to $58.4 mil, for the #3 RTD alc bev brand family overall in scans. BuzzBallz grew 46% to $24.6 mil for 4 wks, making it #8 RTD brand family overall for period; more than $6 mil ahead of Simply Spiked (-20%) and just ~$3 mil behind Cayman Jack (+16%) and Mike's Hard (-18%). Impressively, BeatBox sales grew 123% to $16.15 mil, slightly edging past Clubtails (+18%) to become #10 RTD family by $$ for latest 4 wks.

While RTDs collectively continue to grow $$ and gain share of beer & alc bevs in scans, growth is slowing in recent periods and volume's starting to decline. Total RTDs (across beer, spirits and wine) slowed from $$ up nearly 6% and volume +0.3% for 52 wks to $$ up 2%, volume down 2% for latest 4 wks thru Jun 16 in Circana multi-outlet + convenience channels. Key growth drivers slowed, including FMB $$ +5% for 4 wks vs +14% for 52 wks and spirits-centric seltzer up 9% for 4 wks vs +40% for 52 wks. Premixed cocktails maintained nearly 20% growth for 4 wks, yet beer-centric seltzer $$ were still down 10% and wine-centric seltzer down 35%.