Put another whirlwind year in perspective with BMI's annual Year in Beer Webinar, a 60-minute presentation + Q&A, coming right up tomorrow, Jan 28, to break down the past year's most important developments. Get an exclusive first look at 2025 tallies plus a rapid-fire roundup of the stats and stories that mattered most. All registrants will receive access to the live session as well as the full presentation deck for your records and a video replay.

Turns out BMI needs to brush up on its mythology. Yesterday's article on Bud's Super Bowl spot noted that the bald eagle spreading its wings atop the Clydesdale looked akin to a Griffin taking flight, but the correct creature would be a Pegasus, as one astute reader pointed out.

The PGA Tour is expanding its partnership with AB, adding Cutwater as its official canned cocktail, the league announced this morning in press release. The deal runs thru 2030 alongside AB's deal for Mich Ultra as the official beer of the tour and Ultra Zero as official NA beer. It comes at an explosive time for the Cutwater brand. After doubling volume last year, AB is planning to double sales & marketing spend including a 5x increase in natl media, the most for a beyond beer brand in co's history (see yesterday's issue). PGA sponsorship is part of that notable step-up.

In defending against the FTC's sweeping price discrimination allegations against it, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits seeks its own extensive outlays of info during an increasingly dramatic (and expensive) "discovery" phase of the dispute. Last wk, it asked the California fed ct that's handling the lawsuit to force FTC to turn over docs linked to the agency's successful effort to block the proposed Kroger-Albertson's merger. It follows similar motions to compel cooperation from two separate competitors, Hensley in AZ and Favorite Brands in TX, with the very real possibility of parallel disputes popping up soon.

NA beer is still a growth segment but it's growing considerably less in "Dry January" to start 2026. Too early to say if this is a lasting change, but it's notable nevertheless. NA beer $$ sales up just 9% for 4 weeks thru Jan 17 in NIQ data. It still gained 0.2 share to 1.7 for 4 weeks. But for 52 weeks, NA beers up 16% and gained 0.3 share to 1.5 in NIQ. Is it possible that Dry January may no longer be gaining momentum, even if it's still a thing?

After more than 3 decades, Detroit's Motor City Brewing has closed its taproom - but only temporarily, reports Detroit News Online. The culprit is Detroit's thermal steam system, which has powered biz since it opened but is in disrepair, with "leaky valves, broken unions. It's not good, it's showing age," said owner John Linardos. The biz, which reported 351 bbls produced in 2024 to the BA, will close on Feb 8 but John hopes to reopen it and won't pause production during the interregnum thanks to an alternating partnership with Dragonmead Brewing.

Chicago's Alarmist Brewery will shut down on Feb 1 after one final party, co announced on social media. The NW Side co, which was founded in 2014 and opened its taproom in 2017, will cease operations after a party on Jan 31. At one time the neighborhood's only bar - the co had to have a local liquor moratorium lifted to begin ops - Alarmist produced 3K bbls in 2024 per BA estimates. "We've loved being part of Chicago's craft beer community. We made so many new friends and we're going to miss all of you terribly," co wrote in farewell message.

Springfield, MO's 4 by 4 Brewing Co has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but intends to stay in business, reports the Springfield Daily Citizen. Court documents filed on Jan 15 show between $1-$10 mil in liabilities against $500K-$1 mil in assets, with largest creditors Arvest Bank, to which co owes ~$3 mil thru three separate loans; the SBA, to which it owes $983K, and SWMO Mgmt, to which it owes $500K. 4 by 4 reported 2.2K bbls produced to the BA in 2024, continuing a 5-yr growth trend, but has run up against the same tuff environment as so many others. "This move is about protecting the future of 4 By 4, not ending it," co said in a statement. "Like many small breweries, we've faced significant financial headwinds in recent years. This restructuring allows us to realign our finances, strengthen operations, and keep doing what we love, serving our community and brewing great beer.

Josh Pfriem gave a long interview to The New School about his OR-based craft brewery's outlook for 2026 and its release of a Tropical Hazy IPA. "We wanted to create something that we're excited about, but that could be youthful, very tropical forward," Josh said of the new beer, which is available year-round on draft and in 6pks of 12oz cans. "We've had a lot of fun with our foray in our tasting rooms with cocktails and tiki fruit flavors and just the realm of fruit is different than it was even five years ago."