In new national campaign for its sizable 805 brand fam, "Long Live Cold Beer," Firestone Walker seeks to embrace "something more simpler and more human," co announced. The 30- and 15-second ads make their debut during X Games broadcasts on ABC and ESPN before expanding to World Surf League Channels and, finally, "home placements, retail, and live experiences nationwide." There is also a long-form film narrated by Jake "The White Buffalo" Smith, featuring "a mix of real people and respected figures from surf, moto, snow, and combat sports, including Connor Coffin, Lakey Peterson, Nate Tyler, Tyler Bereman, Tyler McCaul, Ryan McCelemon, and Tabatha Ricci."

San Diego's Latitude Brewing has purchased the House of Mason portfolio of beverages from holding company West Coast Ventures & Resources (WCVR), reports SD Beer News. The deal closed Dec 31 and includes Eppig Brewing, Second Chance Beer Co, Shoots Beer Co, Castellum Ciders, Old Harbor Distilling and Swell Soda, plus two taprooms. WCVR bought Mason in 2023 but the brand will now operate alongside Latitude under the Finest City Beverages (FCB) umbrella.

Two of the Music City's biggest breweries are joining forces as Nashville's Jackalope Brewing has acquired Black Abbey. Jackalope will continue to brew Black Abbey's beer and will expand its regional availability and "presence at festivals and events," per the Nashville Biz Jnl. The combined co will approach 9K/bbls of production per year, per Biz Jnl stats, with Jackalope at 5.2K bbls in 2024 and Black Abbey at 3.7K bbls. Recall, Jackalope was acquired by investment firm Tacoma and Hoyt in Oct 2024, with its then-new CEO, Steve Barone, promising further investment and expansion (see Oct 11, 2024 issue).

Megadistrib Columbia has deal to acquire 1-mil-case craft-centric Point Blank in OR, with lead brands pFriem and Boneyard. Deal expected to close by May 31. Point Blank has been around for over 25 years and its owner is Scott Willis, who formerly worked for Columbia for 15 yrs. "Following the close, Point Blank will operate as a dedicated craft beer division within Columbia, maintaining its craft-first focus, service model and brewer relationships," wrote Columbia in announcement, "now backed by Columbia's statewide logistics network, unmatched merchandising and category resources."

AB acquired craft beer portfolio had its best yr in 5 yrs in 2025 scans. AB craft collectively grew $$ nearly 1% to $450 mil with volume down just 1% to 10.5 mil cases vs yr ago, per Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. That amounted to a 0.5-pt share gain of both craft $$ and volume to 10.2 and 10.5, respectively. AB craft gained share of total beer as well, holding slightly over 1 share of total beer $$ and 0.7 share of volume on its own. Trends were only a bit softer including steep drops from beyond beer products made by AB's various craft brewers, most notably Karbach Ranch Water $$ down 10.5% and Kona hard seltzer down 90%.

Put another whirlwind year in perspective with BMI's annual Year in Beer Webinar, a 60-minute presentation + Q&A, coming right up on Wed, 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, the full presentation deck for your records and a video replay.

Goldman Sachs' "Beverage Bytes" survey of 42K c-store locations (~30% of c-store channel) pegged beer sales growth at 1% in Q4, per retailers. That matched 1% gain retailers reported in Q3 while c-store retailers said beer sales grew 2% for full yr 2025. That's a rosier picture than either Circana or NIQ c-store data suggests, as $$ sales dipped 2-3% in Q4 scans. But at least in these c-stores surveyed, trends are expected to be even rosier in 2026. "For this year, retailers now expect +3% Beer category sales growth in the c-store channel - which is above our Q3 survey, where retailers indicated expectations for +1% growth," reported Bonnie Herzog. Expectations for full yr 2026 in c-stores: AB flat; STZ +3%; TAP flat; SAM +1% and HUSA -3%, hard seltzers +2%.

Before deal officially closes with AB, BeatBox is going thru a sizable restructuring. Parent co Future Proof Brands, LLC reportedly filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice with TX Workforce Commission late last yr citing 158 employees at its Austin, TX hq that would be let go, Austin Business Journal and Austin American-Statesman wrote, among others. That'd be the majority of BeatBox's employees, which totaled 210 in Mar 2025, last we wrote. Tho some portion of the impacted employees could ostensibly get picked up by AB. Layoffs are expected to take place between Feb 21 and Mar 7, seemingly indicating timeframe for when the deal with AB is expected to close. Co didn't comment at presstime, but INSIGHTS has heard about broad layoffs coming since mid last mo, and some top execs have already stepped down from their respective roles since. Once the deal's complete, BeatBox will have full power of AB's beyond beer team plus remaining employees as it looks to reach new levels.

AB has officially unveiled its Super Bowl ads for Budweiser and Bud Light, two weeks ahead of the big game. The Budweiser spot, which is a hit with distribs, shows a baby bald eagle and baby Clydesdale growing up together while "Free Bird" plays in the background, culminating in a memeable moment when the adult horse jumps over a log while the now-grown eagle, riding the horse, spreads its wings to take flight, making them look like a Griffin. Some farmers, holding Budweisers, watch the event take place and get teary-eyed but are too gruff to admit it. Even for Bud, which regularly plays up patriotic messaging, the level of Americana is turned up to 11 here in honor of the brand's 150th anniversary. Recall, Bud topped last year's USA Today ad meter (see Feb 10, 2025 issue) yet brand still declined 8% by vol in scans in 2025. Tho AB grew share in all.