Just as Big Storm was hit with two separate eviction lawsuits, co now faces a lawsuit from an investor alleging that parent co and owner Leo John Govoni "orchestrated a money laundering and embezzlement scheme with the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration Inc," reported Tampa Bay Biz Journal. Yikes.

After stepping in as interim CEO since mid-Jan 2024, Zach Keeling was appointed full-time CEO of Sapporo-Stone late last week, co announced and sibling pub INSIGHTS Express reported. Zach played an integral role in the sale to Sapporo and "developing Sapporo-Stone's integrated long-term strategic plans" as Stone's veep of strategy starting Oct 2020. He previously worked at Stone for nearly 3 yrs from late 2015 thru mid 2018 before brief internship at VMG, same firm that invested in Stone Brewing and remains invested in Stone Distributing, and brief stint as co-founder of a frozen food biz called Nom Pot, while receiving his MBA from Harvard, per LinkedIn.

Atlanta-based New Realm's been among few consistent regional growth cos in recent yrs, essentially doubling shipments since 2019 to near 32K bbls last yr and landing among the BA's top-80 craft brewers in the country. But after slowing to low-single-digit growth in 2023, New Realm bounced back at a brisk growth pace to start 2024. Its beer volume is up 24.4% in yr-to-date NIQ chain sales vs yr ago, with all channel sales up an even faster +30%, CEO and co-founder Carey Falcone shared with CBN in a recent chat.

Richard Herschel Salzman, the peerless chairman of Peerless Bev in Union, NJ passed away last week, after a long, full life and career. Peerless Bev is a 9-million-case Constellation/Molson Coors distributor jointly owned by the Salzman and Beim families. They've built a strong business over many decades. But like many larger distributors, they've come a long way from humble beginnings. Rich Salzman and Norm Beim merged companies that were started by their parents Charles Salzman and Jake Beim back in the 30s. Smart and tough, their early years saw them selling mostly 2d-tier brands. Their lead suppliers had been Schlitz and Schaefer. But Rich worked "tirelessly" through the 50s, 60s and 70s, and "set the company up," as Rich's official obit notes, to get brands like Coors and Corona down the line. Peerless got Coors in 1988 and Corona in 1989. The company was ready to seize the opportunities and the business took off. It has grown, including through M&A, through the years. Peerless Bev now has 70 trucks and 300 employees.

"It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved father, Harvey Chaplin, our Company's Founder and Chairman, and one of the icons of our industry," said Wayne E. Chaplin, ceo of Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits in announcement today. "His influence as a leader, a philanthropist, a loving family man, and patriarch of our family has left an indelible mark on all who have known and worked with him," added Wayne. "Mr. Chaplin was a self-made visionary leader of the industry who was respected by the association's membership and served on the WSWA Board of Directors for over 20 years," wrote WSWA. "Harvey created a story book career that has been transformational to the beverage alcohol industry," added WSWA chmn of the board Doug Shaw, prexy of M.S. Walker Inc. Story book indeed. In 1969, Harvey joined predecessor co Southern Wine and Spirits of America, and over next half century the co built itself to the largest distrib of beverage alcohol in North America, operating in 44 states, Wash DC, Canada and the Caribbean. Since SWS's transformational deal with Glazer's in 2016, revs have grown to $26 bil, noted Shanken News Daily. Our condolences to the Chaplin family and all of those at SGWS.

Defensive work of major beer advocates remained strong so far in 2024, Beer Inst confirmed late last wk, noting a slew of "significant legislative victories across key states." Among top ticket items for last few yrs, pushback against attempts to lower tax rates and expand the availability of spirits-based RTDs once again proved largely successful, BI shared. Bills in 7 states (AZ, HI, IL, MD, MN, VT and WA) "either stalled or failed" so far this yr. That said, recall, VT quickly cleared expanded access to canned cocktails a couple yrs ago, so defensive moves this yr merely blocked further advantages. Proposal to allow RTDs to be sold alongside beer in PA not noted, as it passed the state Senate last wk. It still requires House approval, however.

It's been a long run-up with decades of new suppliers, brands and SKUs coming into distribution. And there's been a lotta talk about cutting back on all the new over the yrs. But distribs (and their suppliers) are seemingly starting to practice what's been preached lately, according to latest Tamarron Supply Chain Survey measuring 2023 performance (conducted with 160 distrib respondents from Mar 1 to Mar 22, 2024).

AB grew 2.2% in its Southeast region in May, according to a note to distribs from region veep Jonathan Wiese. He also noted that Michelob Ultra grew at a double-digit pace in the region (10%), that every state in region was up and that AB grew share in region for the month, including over the Memorial Day holiday. Since AB took some of its toughest blows last year in Southeast, better trends especially welcome.