The next craft entry into the wild and wooly, fast-paced flavored malt bev segment will come from PA-based Troegs, co announced last wk. New Freaky Squeeze line of fruit-forward FMBs are showing up now in 6-pks of 12oz cans in 2 flavor combos: Black Cherry Limeade and Peach Orangeade. The new brand fam is getting a strong reception out of the gate, "off to a phenomenal start," co-founder and VP Chris Trogner told CBN. And the co's core craft beer biz is off to a "tremendous start this year," he added, with its flagship Perpetual IPA up solidly and brand new Graffiti Highway IPA on pace to be co's #2 brand by yr-end.

This weekend in NY, legions of affluent young beachgoers will be heading not to the Hamptons 100 miles away but to Rockaway, the once resolutely working class peninsula at the end of the subway line that's taken on a new life in recent years as culturally relevant figures like Patti Smith and Mac De Marco at various times have made it their hangout. A new adaptogenic brand called Rockaway Plant Powered Soda is seeking to trade on that currency in hands of Bridget Firtle, who was raised in so-called Irish Riviera and earlier brought rum distilling back to Brooklyn via brand called Owney's that exited to Proximo wine & spirits co. Her brand is not related to more established local craft brewer called Rockaway that brought brewing back to Queens in 2012.

Struggling Stop & Shop grocery chain has joined the ranks of retailers like Target that are planning to get more aggressive on pricing, CEO JJ Fleeman of parent Ahold Delhaize USA indicated in investor presentation yesterday at which he also raised prospect of unquantified number of store closures. "The value proposition and pricing at Stop & Shop are simply not strong enough," he said, as reported by Grocery Dive newsletter. After seeing strong results from the roughly half of Stop & Shop's 400 stores that have been remodeled, Delhaize seems to be taking triage approach, selecting some of remaining units for remodeling and making decision to shutter others. The chain "will focus on the markets that are most important, including those where the brand has strong density, holds a strong market position or has stores that are performing well," he said.

Chicago-based Heywell, the adaptogenic sparkler launched by Molson Coors vets Ashley Selman and Britt Dougherty, has recruited one of their former colleagues, Scott Coligan, to serve as CMO. Moves comes as brand has refined concept over its 4 years since launch and is ready to move beyond in-store activities. Coligan had spent 14 yrs at MC in areas like brand planning and consumer insights, including establishing human experience (HX) team that sought to deepen understanding of user motivations. After departing in 2020 he moved to vp marketing role at design/packaging agency SGS & Co. Selman, who serves as CEO, noted that Coligan had been advising her and Dougherty since brand's inception, and time has come to put him on team. They've lately been buoyed by first institutional capital round, as Selman and Dougherty informed us at Expo West a coupla months back (BBI, Mar 15).

Hemp advocates seemed to be in shock today after amendment that would ban all ingestible hemp items with any level of THC passed house committee during Farm Bill markup yesterday, but vowed to continue to press for legalization but stricter safeguards as bill advances.

The complete 2024 Beer Industry Update is almost here. Order your copy of this year's edition now to save $150 and be among the first to receive this year's full e-book and companion excel files when it becomes available next week.

Yesterday, the DOJ made its next big move in stepped up antitrust enforcement, announcing fed lawsuit against Live Nation explicitly seeking to force the co to sell Ticketmaster, an acquisition the agency approved 14 yrs ago. But now "it's time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," atty genl Merrick Garland said of the suit, joined by AGs from over half the states. A long road awaits the challenge, but even the attempt underscores the DOJ's willingness to unscramble eggs, a bold move long seen as all but impossible. And maybe it will be. But DOJ argues that the co's activity since the 2010 deal amounts to "a systemic and systematic pattern of anticompetitive conduct that addressed nearly every aspect of the live music supply chain," as asst AG for DOJ's antitrust division, Jonathan Kanter commented.

Lagunitas made the tuff call to close its Chicago brewery operations and move all production back to its HQ in Petaluma, CA by early Aug, co announced yesterday and sibling pub Craft Brew News reported. News comes as Lagunitas is coming off its 6th straight year of decline in the US in 2023, continuing to slip thru first 5 mos of 2024. A long way from the rapid growth trajectory co saw when founder Tony Magee first had the idea to build a 2d brewery in his hometown Chicago after a "wake-n-bake" driving past AB's Fairfield, CA brewery over a decade ago. Lagunitas will maintain operations of its adjacent warehouse in Chicago, but the brewery and taproom "will close permanently."